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Something Old, Something New

Tuesday 27th January 2009 at 7.30pm
Assembly Rooms, Derby
Tickets: £17 to £26
Box Office: 01332 255800
Online booking available

Antje Weithaas, Violin - photo credit Marco Borggreve

We combine traditional and new music in brilliant style in tonight's programme with sinfonia ViVA and Principal Conductor André de Ridder and the remarkable Antje Weithaas (violin), one of the most sought-after soloists and chamber musicians of her generation, as soloist.

This evening's programme features two works by Mendelssohn spanning the composer's orchestral symphonic output. The concert opens with the Symphony No.1, composed in 1824 when he was just 15, his first symphony for a full orchestra, which came on the heels of no less than 12 symphonies for strings alone produced over the previous three years.

Next we have a brand new short commission by the ground-breaking 28 year-old American composer and keyboardist Nico Muhly. Muhly has worked with artists as diverse as Philip Glass and Bjork, and tonight's world premiere promises to be an exciting one.

The Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg's Chamber Symphony No.1 was premiered in 1907, an unconventional work produced at a time when public acceptance of his compositions was rather variable, and shortly before his pieces were to become even more experimental in structure.

Finally, we return to Mendelssohn and the Violin Concerto in E minor Op 64, his final orchestral work, for which 6 years passed from its original composition until its premiere in 1845. Nevertheless, it was an instant success and has since become a much-loved part of the standard repertoire for both concert-goers and accomplished violinists the world over.

Supported by Rolls-Royce plc, Derby City Council, Derby LIVE, Orchestras Live and Arts Council England.

Photo credit: Marco Borggreve.