Tag: English Symphony Orchestra

Beyond the Horizon – Bristol

Beyond the Horizon – Bristol

Our ‘Music for Humans’ Season continues with a programme that explores music’s power to capture and share moments of happiness, acts of love and kindness and feelings of common purpose and security.

At the heart of this programme is Samuel Barber’s masterpiece, ‘Knoxville: Summer of 1915’, his setting of a prose poem by James Agee. Composed by Barber shortly after World War II, Barber’s setting of Agee’s poem presents a child’s view of life and loss in a rural America that seems, on the surface, far removed from the brutality of the two World Wars. But Barber’s post-War perspective brings extra poignance to Agee’s text, putting to the fore not only the beauty of a world and a community in which a child feels safe and loved, but the tragedy of losing that.

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Beyond the Horizon – Malvern

Beyond the Horizon – Malvern

Our ‘Music for Humans’ Season continues with a programme that explores music’s power to capture and share moments of happiness, acts of love and kindness and feelings of common purpose and security.

At the heart of this programme is Samuel Barber’s masterpiece, ‘Knoxville: Summer of 1915’, his setting of a prose poem by James Agee. Composed by Barber shortly after World War II, Barber’s setting of Agee’s poem presents a child’s view of life and loss in a rural America that seems, on the surface, far removed from the brutality of the two World Wars. But Barber’s post-War perspective brings extra poignance to Agee’s text, putting to the fore not only the beauty of a world and a community in which a child feels safe and loved, but the tragedy of losing that.

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Sibelius – Symphony No.6 & Tapiola

Sibelius – Symphony No.6 & Tapiola

The English Symphony Orchestra’s highly-regarded exploration of the music of Sibelius continues with a programme of two late masterpieces which together highlight the Finnish composer’s breadth of vision and range of emotion.

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Zoë Beyers at Cheltenham Town Hall

Zoë Beyers at Cheltenham Town Hall

Schumann’s complete work Manfred – based upon Lord Byron’s dramatic poem of the same name – is rarely performed these days, however the Overture has found its place in Schumann’s enduring repertoire. Schumann’s love of literature was fostered by his father, a bookseller and publisher, and his affinity for combining great literary works and music, alongside his own writing in the journal Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, led to him becoming one of the influential artistic voices of the Romantic era.

As part of this Romantic composer-led programme, ESO leader and violinist Zoë Beyers will be bringing Tchaikovsky’s challenging but much-loved Violin Concerto to life. Although the concerto was not well received by his friends, family or critics in the first instance, the public’s enthusiasm for the work was swift and triumphant and it remains one of the most difficult violin concertos in a violinist’s repertoire.

The concert concludes with Dvořák’s Symphony No.9 From the New World. Composed during his time as director of the National Conservatory of Music in New York, this symphony was a huge success and the New York Evening Post commented that it is “the greatest symphonic work ever composed in this country”, high praise indeed!

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