sinfonia ViVA in Lancaster

Thursday 11th February 2010 at 7.30pm
Lancaster University
Ticket details from the Box Office on the number below
Box Office: 01524 594151
Online booking available

• Milhaud: Chamber Symphonies No.2 and No.3
• Berlioz (arr. Matthews): Nuits d'été
• Ravel: Introduction and Allegro
• Dvorak (arr. Hertl): Serenade in D minor

Alexander Shelley makes a welcome return as conductor and sinfonia ViVA is joined by the vocal talents of celebrated soprano Sophie Bevan as soloist for this fascinating programme of classics in Lancaster.

The concert opens with two chamber symphonies from the prolific French composer Darius Milahud, a member of the famed Les Six. On to Berlioz and the song-set Nuits d'été (Summer Nights) which was written in 1840-1, though orchestration of individual songs continued over the next 15 years. The composer may originally not have intended the songs as a connected series, but this they subsequently became, joined by their shared exploration of the themes of passion and sorrow as expressed in the poetry of Théophile Gautier upon which they were based. The version by David Matthews being performed tonight is for a chamber orchestra of flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, harp and solo strings and was specially commissioned by sinfonia ViVA. Ravel's 1905 composition the Introduction and Allegro had a somewhat humble beginning, produced as the result of a commission by a harp manufacturer to help promote a new instrument. It took the composer only days to write what has since become an enduring and widely appreciated piece. And finally to Dvorak, whose career was in its ascendancy when in 1878 he composed the Serenade in D minor, which received its first performance with the composer conducting in Prague during the winter of that year. The version we hear most often today is the 20th century revision of the work done by František Hertl.

Supported by Orchestras Live and Arts Council England