Talented violinist Maria Włoszczowska performs Sibelius with the Plymouth Symphony Orchestra on Sunday March 15, Public Hall, Liskeard at 5.30pm – Wednesday March 18, Plymouth Guildhall at 7.30pm
It’s certainly a sign that spring is around the corner, when our own Plymouth Symphony Orchestra publishes details of its first concert of 2020.
Bernstein, Sibelius and Tchaikovsky
Press Officer and cellist Emma Batley writes: ‘Join the Plymouth Symphony Orchestra on Sunday March 15 at 5.30pm in the Public Hall, Liskeard or on Wednesday March18 at 7.30pm in Plymouth Guildhall, for a programme of Bernstein, Sibelius and Tchaikovsky.
Candide
The concert begins with Bernstein’s light-hearted overture from his comic operetta Candide. The overture was received well from the start and has become a popular curtain-raiser, with its distinctive opening fanfare, which serves as the unifying element of the piece.
Maria Włoszczowska
Young polish violinist, Maria Włoszczowska, joins the orchestra for the popular and passionate Sibelius Violin Concerto. Maria currently lives in London and performs as a soloist and chamber musician worldwide. She is recognised for her versatile musicianship, having won the First Prize and Audience Prize at the XXI Leipzig International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition in 2018. Sibelius only wrote one concerto, though he also wrote other works for solo instrument and orchestra. The concerto was so virtuosic that the work’s premiere, in 1903, was a disaster. However, it was much better received after the revisions, which took Sibelius around two years to complete. The concerto is both dramatic and mysterious – at times showy, virtuosic and exhilarating and at others characterized by broad and thought-provoking melodies.
‘With desire and passion’
The final work is Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No.5, a piece which has become one of the most popular large-scale symphonies ever composed. Tchaikovsky approached this composition from a position of self-doubt, after the unsuccessful premiere of his Symphony No.4 ten years previously, and he was determined that No.5 would receive a favourable response. It is an often played and highly regarded work of the Romantic era – Tchaikovsky himself wrote ‘with desire and passion’ on his score. It was premiered in St Petersburg in 1888 with Tchaikovsky conducting and is a powerful, dark and dramatic work’.
Anne Kimber conducts, with Dave Adams leading the orchestra on this occasion.
The Plymouth Symphony Orchestra is one of the longest-established orchestras in the country and attracts many distinguished soloists, with Ralph Kirshbaum, Guy Johnston, Tasmin Little, Joanna MacGregor, Michael Petrov and Savitri Grier amongst the performers to play with the orchestra.
For ticket information, visit www.plymouthsymphony.co.uk
Philip R Buttall
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