Chineke! return to the festival in 2024. The concert begins with the sparkling Ballade, Op. 33, by the British composer Samuel Coleridge- Taylor, a work of late Romanticism that immediately catches the ear. It might be reminiscent of Tchaikovsky or Dvořák. The latter undoubtedly influenced the symphonic music of the African American composer Florence Price. In 2022, Yannick Nézet-Séguin introduced Price’s First Symphony to Lucerne, and now we can hear her Third. In between, things get jazzy with the Violin Concerto by the legendary trumpeter and composer Wynton Marsalis.

EPSG:4326

Lucerne Festival: Coleridge-Taylor, Marsalis, Florence B. Price

KKL Luzern Concert Hall

Both Elvis Presley and Stanley Kubrick were partial to a (Richard) Strauss sunrise, and his early morning wake-up call for Zarathustra gives us one of music’s most glorious openings ever. The rest of it isn’t half bad either. Strauss’s take on Nietzsche is philosophy “lite” but “full fat” on flair. Gregorian chant, mathematical puzzles and an uplifting Viennese waltz are all whizzed up in a blender to create one of the most sumptuous orchestral pieces ever written. We rewind to the delight of Mozart – the melodies in this symphony are as characterful as anything he wrote in his operas. And taking centre stage is Bruch’s First Violin Concerto – rich melodies, dazzling folk rhythms and a glorious slow movement are just some of the reasons why this Romantic giant repeatedly tops the Classical charts.

Rise and Shine

The Bridgewater Hall

Watts’ piece, Majestique – a rhythmically driven symphonic work which blends mainstream classical influences, particularly Beethoven and Mendelssohn, with a unique personal voice – opens the concert. It also marks Watts’ first orchestral piece to implement full sonata form and it, as its name suggests, is truly majestic.

Southbank Centre: Watts, Saint-Saëns, Coleridge-Taylor

Southbank Centre

In his debut with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Leslie Suganandarajah conducts BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist, the Scottish classical accordionist Ryan Corbett in Václav Trojan’s Fairy Tales in a concert also featuring Unsuk Chin’s brief and colourful subito con forza, and Brahms’ serene Symphony No. 2.

Leslie Suganandarajah

Events

Past events

Sep 3, 2024

Lucerne Festival: Coleridge-Taylor, Marsalis, Florence B. Price · Chineke! Orchestra

Mar 23, 2024

Rise and Shine · BBC Philharmonic

Future and recently performed repertoire

Conductor in Also sprach Zarathustra by Strauss

BBC Philharmonic

Conductor in Symphony No. 25 by Mozart

BBC Philharmonic

Conductor in Symphony No. 3 by Price

Chineke! Orchestra

Conductor in Symphony No. 3 (Organ Symphony) by Saint-Saëns

Chineke! Orchestra

Conductor in subito con forza by Chin

BBC Symphony Orchestra

Conductor in Ballade in A minor by Coleridge-Taylor

Chineke! Orchestra

Conductor in Violin Concerto No. 1 by Bruch

BBC Philharmonic

Conductor in Violin Concerto in D by Marsalis

Chineke! Orchestra

Conductor in Symphony No. 2 in D Major by Brahms

BBC Symphony Orchestra

Conductor in Fairy Tales by Trojan

BBC Symphony Orchestra

Conductor in Majestique by Watts

Chineke! Orchestra

Conductor in Symphony No. 1 by Coleridge-Taylor

Chineke! Orchestra

About

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