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Your essential guide to all the best concerts taking place in the UK and Ireland
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Format: 2013-05-18
Format: 2013-05-18
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    Sat, 2013-05-18 19:45
    Bromley Symphony Orchestra - Shostakovich, Khachaturian and Tchaikovsky
    Adrian Brown, Bernard Brook, Bromley Symphony Orchestra
    Langley Park Centre for the Performing Arts, Langley Park School for Boys Beckenham BR3 3BP
    United Kingdom

    The final concert of our season opens with the brilliant Festive Overture, a vivacious musical firework. Khachaturian's concerto is a magnificent whirlwind of powerful emotions and unbridled energy. The Pathétique is a complex mixture of emotions – sorrow, hope, and happiness tinged with a foreboding of despair – a mixture that has ensured its enduring popular appeal.

    Festive Overture in A
    Dmitry Shostakovich (1906-1975)
    Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D minor
    Aram Khachaturian (1903-1978)
    Symphony No 6 in B minor, 'Pathétique'
    Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
    £8, £10, £12 (children half price) Available from (020) 3627 2974 .
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    Sun, 2013-05-19 15:00
    Wagner, Schumann and Beethoven | London Philharmonic Orchestra
    Benjamin Grosvenor, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Nicholas Collon
    Congress Theatre Eastbourne BN21 4BP
    United Kingdom

    A concert that has it all: embracing majesty, inspiring warmth, flashing virtuosity, touching romance and fortifying revolution. Be swept along by the processing glory of Wagner’s Overture to Die Meistersinger and the rapturous sweep of Schumann’s heartfelt Piano Concerto. Next comes utterly different Wagner; the intimate strains of the piece he arranged to be played on his wife’s birthday morning, Siegfried Idyll. To end, one of the most iconic pieces in all music: Beethoven’s musical vision of fate, his proclamation of victory over tyranny and fate – the ever-surprising and exhilarating Fifth Symphony.

    Overture from Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, 'The Mastersingers of Nuremburg'
    Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
    Concerto for Piano and Orchestra in A minor
    Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
    Siegfried Idyll
    Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
    Symphony No 5 in C minor
    Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
    £12 - £24 (premium seats £28) Available from 01323 412000 Mon-Sat 10am-8pm, and Sunday if there is a performance.
  • Fri, 2013-05-24 19:30
    Britten Sinfonia - Adams and Muhly
    Britten Sinfonia, Clark Rundell, Colin Currie, Thomas Gould
    West Road Concert Hall Cambridge CB3 9DP
    United Kingdom

    Rhythms, loops and electronic fusions combine in this programme celebrating American minimalism and cross-genre inventiveness. Showcasing his highly musical and energetic style, percussionist Colin Currie performs the UK première of Nico Muhly’s Double Percussion Concerto. Muhly’s concerto for electric violin Seeing is Believing is also a showcase for its dedicatee, Britten Sinfonia leader, Thomas Gould. Opening the concert is John Adams’s rippling Shaker Loops and flamboyant, cartoon music inspired Chamber Symphony.

    Shaker Loops
    John Adams (1947-)
    Chamber Symphony for 15 instruments
    John Adams (1947-)
    Seeing is Believing
    Nico Muhly ()
    Double Percussion Concerto (UK première)
    Nico Muhly ()
    £15 -£30 Available from 01223 357 851 10am - 6pm: Mon to Sat.
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    Sun, 2013-05-26 15:00
    Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra Benevolent Fund Concert
    Bournemouth Symphony Chorus, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Jennifer Pike, Owain Arwel Hughes
    Lighthouse Poole BH15 1UG
    United Kingdom

    Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and Bournemouth Symphony Chorus, under the baton of dynamic Welsh conductor Owain Arwel Hughes CBE, open the annual BSO Benevolent Fund Concert with Brahms’s lyrical Academic Festival Overture.

    Jennifer Pike, former winner of the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition and one of the most gifted of the younger generation of British artists, features as soloist in Sibelius’s exhilarating Violin Concerto.

    A double helping of Tchaikovsky; the concert suite from his romantic ballet score Swan Lake, followed by the majestic 1812 Overture, brings the afternoon to a rousing conclusion.

    All artists participating in this event are donating their services in aid of the BSO Benevolent Fund, which was founded in 1958 to help musicians in times of need.

    Academic Festival Overture (with chorus)
    Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
    Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D minor
    Jean Sibelius (1865-1957)
    Concert Suite from Swan Lake
    Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
    1812 Overture (with chorus)
    Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
    £9, £14, £19, £21, £23, £27, £31. Children 18 and under half price. Available from 0844 806 8666 Tuesday to Saturday: 11am to 8pm, Monday 11am-5pm.
  • Fri, 2013-05-24 19:30
    Mark Bebbington (piano)
    Mark Bebbington
    Sheldonian Theatre Oxford OX1 3AZ
    United Kingdom

    Mark Bebbington’s polished and perceptive interpretations of 20th century piano music are internationally recognised. His skill in creating insight through his programming is exemplified here, as he contrasts English and French Impressionism and explores the links between the late-romantic worlds of Alban Berg and Frank Bridge.

    ‘Bebbington brings out the opalescent harmonies and wayward phrases of these pieces to perfection.' BBC Music Magazine

    The Island Spell
    John Ireland (1879-1962)
    Month's Mind
    John Ireland (1879-1962)
    Elegy from A Downland Suite, arranged for piano
    John Ireland (1879-1962)
    Amberley Wild Brooks from 2 Pieces
    John Ireland (1879-1962)
    5 Préludes
    Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
    Sonata for Piano
    Alban Berg (1885-1935)
    Piano Sonata
    Frank Bridge (1879-1941)
    Tickets £20 (£5 students, JSA and under 18s) Available from 01865 244806 9.30am to 5pm Monday to Friday.
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    Mon, 2013-05-20 19:30
    Moscow State Symphony Orchestra - Tchaikovsky Cycle 3
    Moscow State Symphony Orchestra, Natalia Lomeiko, Pavel Kogan
    Cadogan Hall London SW1X 9DQ
    United Kingdom

    For almost seven decades, the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra has been recognized as one of the foremost interpreters of the classic Russian composers. An L.A. Times critic recently said the orchestra ‘might well be the world’s least-heralded great orchestra’. Since Pavel Kogan became Music Director he has earned the orchestra a high reputation for artistic excellence and in 2011 his name went into a list of the ten greatest conductors of the 20th century. Along with a line-up of virtuosic young soloists this series of concerts celebrating the key works of Tchaikovsky is a treat not to be missed.

    Part of Cadogan Hall's Zurich International Concert Series 2012/13.
    Series discounts of up to 30% discount available.

    Polonaise from Eugene Onegin
    Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
    Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D
    Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
    Symphony No 6 in B minor, 'Pathétique'
    Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
    £39, £32, £26, £18 Available from 020 7730 4500 Monday to Saturday, 10am - 6pm (to 8pm performance days). Sunday from 3pm to 8pm (performance days only).
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    Wed, 2013-05-22 19:30
    Royal Philharmonic Orchestra - Classical music alive in Reading
    Arianna Zukerman, Pinchas Zukerman, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
    The Hexagon Reading RG1 7UA
    United Kingdom

    Reading welcomes back the phenomenal Pinchas Zukerman to direct and perform elegant and moving music from two of the finest composers ever to call Vienna their home. Mozart's Third Violin Concerto, written when he was only nineteen, ius full of youthful charm, with a slow movement of tender romance. The final Rondo features a lively dance-tune associated with Strasbourg, from which the Concerto gets its nickname. Mahler's Fourth Symphony, which opens with jingling sleigh-bells, is one of his most dlicate. Yet there is all the contrast you'd expect from Mahler: a quirky scherzo, and a slow movement of yearning beauty, ending with the finale's soprano solo unfolding a child's vision of Heaven.

    Concerto for Violin and Orchestra No 3 in G, 'Strassburg'
    Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
    Symphony No 4 in G
    Gustav Mahler (1860-1911)
    £32, £28.50, £25.50, £20.50, £16. Concessions & Groups £2 off. Pre-booked children & students £10. Schools Groups & Student Standby £5. Subscription Packages available. Available from 0118 960 6060 .
  • Sat, 2013-05-18 19:30
    York Guildhall Orchestra - Wagner and Mahler
    Simon Wright, York Guildhall Orchestra
    York Barbican York YO1 4NT
    United Kingdom

    The York Guildhall Orchestra concludes its 33rd season with a final visit to the symphonies of Gustav Mahler. We shall perform his last symphony as he left it - an incomplete work with just one movement. This has been an epic journey over a number of years and the orchestra has grown in maturity during the process. Of the ninth symphony's performance (May 2012), the orchestra's conductor Simon Wright said that it was some of the finest orchestral playing he had ever conducted - and some of the best string sound the players had ever produced. Praise indeed of what is basically an amateur group.

    The concert will start with a real concert favourite - the overture to Wagner's Meistersinger. And the concert will end with... well, that was up to you the audience! Simon has now chosen the second half from the very eclectic suggestions - for which many thanks to our loyal audience. Benjamin Britten will feature with his Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes - appropriate in his celebration year. The work also featured in Simon's first concert with the orchestra.

    Overture from Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, 'The Mastersingers of Nuremburg'
    Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
    Symphony No 10 in F sharp minor
    Gustav Mahler (1860-1911)
    España
    Emmanuel Chabrier (1841-1894)
    The Banks of Green Willow
    George Butterworth (1885-1916)
    4 Sea Interludes from 'Peter Grimes'
    Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)
    £22, £19 and £15. Senior Citizens £1 off all tickets. Children under 16 and students in full time education £5 Available from 0844 854 2757 Monday to Saturday: 9am till 2pm.
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    Sun, 2013-05-19 19:30
    Vivaldi and Bach from the Freiburgh Baroque Orchestra
    Anna Katharina Schreiber, Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, Gottfried von der Goltz, Petra Mullejans
    Town Hall Birmingham B3 3DQ
    United Kingdom

    Formed twenty-five years ago to ‘enliven the world of baroque music with new sounds’, the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra is now acknowledged as one of the world’s finest early music ensembles. Virtuosity, elegance and sheer joie de vivre have become watchwords for captivating music-making that bubbles with exuberance and brings the music of the past leaping into the present.

    Overture from L'Olimpiade
    Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
    Concerto for Violin and Strings in A minor
    Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
    Concerto for 2 Violins and Strings in D minor
    Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
    Sinfonia for Strings in B minor
    Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
    Concerto for Violin and Strings in E major
    Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
    Concerto for 3 Violins and Strings in D
    Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
    £9.50, £17.50, £25, £35. Discounts available, please visit website for more details Available from 0121 345 0600 .
  • Tue, 2013-05-21 19:30
    Tchaikovsky's Pathétique Symphony | Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
    Boris Berezovsky, Neeme Jarvi, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
    Symphony Hall Birmingham B1 2EA
    United Kingdom

    The tragic Pathétique was written just months before its composer’s suicide. Neeme Järvi conducts this famous Swiss orchestra in Tchaikovsky’s final testament, preceded by Grieg’s Piano Concerto and Arvo Pärt’s coolly beautiful Silhouette, inspired by the Eiffel Tower’s visionary architect.

    Classic FM’s Anne-Marie Minhall, says of tonight’s recommended concert:

    Go on and don’t let anything scare you; you’ve got what it takes – Liszt’s words of encouragement for the 26 year-old Grieg, having just played through a draft of the young Norwegian’s Piano Concerto. From that famous dramatic opening flourish to the energetic final movement, it’s easy to understand the enduring appeal of Grieg’s sole concerto.

    Silhouette, Hommage à Gustave Eiffel
    Arvo Pärt (1935-)
    Concerto for Piano and Orchestra in A minor
    Edvard Grieg (1843-1907)
    Symphony No 6 in B minor, 'Pathétique'
    Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
    £9.50, £15, £22.50, £27.50, £33.50, £38.50, £45. Discounts available please visit website for details. Available from 0121 345 0600 .