
Featuring
Programme
- Smetana The Bartered Bride: Overture and Three Dances, 20′
- Shostakovich Piano Concerto No. 2, 20′
- Schumann Symphony No. 3 (Rhenish), 33′
Schumann’s “Rhenish” symphony opens in a blaze of glory, and ends at a beer festival. He’d just taken a new job, and everything about the Rhineland intoxicated him – from the majestic sweep of the river itself, to the gothic grandeur of Cologne Cathedral. So he poured it all into his biggest and most ambitious symphony: five movements of romantic melody at its most exuberantly unbuckled. There’s still no more tuneful way to take a cruise down the Rhine, and you don’t even have to leave your seat in Symphony Hall! But that’s just the climax of this colourful programme from Jac van Steen – always a very welcome guest here in Birmingham. He gets the party started with a musical circus trick: a set of sparkling Czech dances from Smetana’s funniest opera. And Steven Osborne is the soloist in Shostakovich’s wickedly entertaining Second Piano Concerto, written as a birthday present for the composer’s teenage son and never far from the Classic FM Hall of Fame.
CBSO+ 1pm: A pre-concert performance of Nielsen's Maskarade Overture and Bartók's The Miraculous Mandarin: Suite by the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Michael Seal.
Afternoon Tea with Jac van Steen
Join fellow members post-concert for a delicious Afternoon Tea where Jac van Steen is guest.
Tickets
For events sold by B:Music Box Office, the B:Music per-ticket commission of £3.50 is included in the price of every individual ticket priced over £15. For full details see cbso.co.uk/terms.
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