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Details
The Forum - Malvern Theatres
Grange Road
Great Malvern
Malvern
Worcestershire
WR14 3HB
England
Programme
Ottorino Respighi – Ancient Airs and Dances, Suite no.3
Pyotr Tchaikovsky – Souvenir de Florence, Op.70
Hugo Wolf – Italian Serenade
Felix Mendelssohn – Concerto for Violin and Strings in D minor
Performers
Zoe Beyers – violin
Kenneth Woods – Conductor
English Symphony Orchestra
Programme Note
As part of their ‘Journeys and Discoveries’ season, the first of two concerts to be given by the English Symphony Orchestra (ESO) at Malvern Theatres on Saturday 21 January is entitled ‘Visions of Italy’ and features the strings of the orchestra in an Italian inspired showcase, full of verve and vitality – aimed to appeal to a wide audience and with tickets affordably priced.
The programme opens with Respighi’s colourful ‘Ancient Airs and Dances’ and ends with Tchaikovsky’s beautiful ‘Souvenir de Florence’. “I’ve wanted to perform Souvenir de Florence with the ESO since I first joined the orchestra, so this is an especially exciting concert for me,” says Artistic Director and Conductor Kenneth Woods. “It’s one of the glories of the string orchestra repertoire, and to do it with one of the most admired string orchestras around is a thrill.”
In between, Zoë Beyers, Leader of the ESO, will perform as soloist in Felix Mendelssohn’s sparkling D minor Violin Concerto, written while the composer was still a young teen prodigy in 1822, at an age when most students are grappling with the basics of harmony!
Forgotten and overshadowed by the composer’s well-known E-minor Concerto, which has become a stalwart of the repertoire, the D minor Concerto was only published in more recent times thanks to a revival by the internationally renowned violinist, Yehudi Menuhin, who, for the last ten years of his life, served as Principal Guest Conductor of the ESO. Menuhin found the piece, “full of invention” and, at the American premiere, The New York Times admired its "lively jesting finale in the gypsy style".
The English Symphony Orchestra
Firmly established as ‘The International Orchestra of Elgar country’, the English Symphony Orchestra, under their Artistic Director and Principal Conductor, Kenneth Woods, has become synonymous with artistic excellence, innovative and visionary programming, distinctive commissioning, ground-breaking recording, a welcoming and immersive concert experience, transformative youth programmes and service to the community.
Each year, the ESO headlines an ambitious series of concerts in Worcester, Malvern, Hereford, and across the Midlands’ region and as far as Oxford, Bristol and London. Full details of the orchestra’s current schedule can be found at www.eso.co.uk
