In 1905, the famed Austrian violinist Fritz Kreisler told the Hereford Times “If you want to know whom I consider to be the greatest living composer, I say without hesitation, Elgar. I wish Elgar would write something for the violin. He could do so, and it would certainly be something effective.” Five years later Elgar delivered Kreisler a concerto by turns grand, brooding and heroic.
Read More
Experience nature and love through music during this concert. Debussy’s sublime suite uses musical impressionism to evoke the gradual blossoming and eventual birth of nature in springtime.
Read More
Kevin Puts’s tone poem The Brightness of Light is inspired by the tender words and images revealed in the letters of the iconic American writer Georgia O’Keeffe to her husband and accomplished photographer Alfred Stieglitz. The impassioned multi-media journey paints a magnificent musical portrait of life in the American Southwest and features star soprano Renée Fleming.
Read More
Scored for 23 solo strings and composed during the final bombing raids of the Allies, Richard Strauss’s Metamorphosen (Metamorphoses) is a memorial to all those that perished in World War II.
Read More
The spirited prelude to Wagner’s comic opera The Mastersingers of Nuremberg highlights his uncanny ability to build suspense with powerful orchestral tuttis and pregnant pauses.
Read More
Nicknamed the “Emperor”, Beethoven’s last piano concerto is bursting with heroic themes and virtuosic cadenzas, as well as one of the composer’s most tender slow movements.
Read More
The stirring overture to Weber’s comic opera Oberon opens with solo horn calls and uses high winds to depict important characters, a practice that had a profound influence on Wagner.
Read More