Composer

Depicting a man’s final hours on earth and his soul’s journey to judgement, The Dream of Gerontius contains some of Elgar’s most moving and powerful music, from the quiet but fervent opening to the sublime ‘Angel’s Farewell’. Life and death, angels and demons, love and faith, all are explored in heart-rending music that Elgar himself described as “the best of me”.

Three Choirs Festival: The Dream of Gerontius

Gloucester Cathedral

Sheku Kanneh-Mason catapulted to stardom after his performance at the royal wedding of Harry and Meghan. But it’s his superb musicianship that has led him to work with the world’s greatest orchestras and conductors, including our own Chief Conductor Simone Young.

Simone Young & Sheku Kanneh-Mason

Sydney Opera House

Simone Young demonstrates her mastery of the music of Richard Strauss in the vast An Alpine Symphony. Experience the power of this evocative ascent, from majestic daybreak to triumphant summit, complete with a thunderous storm.

For Schools: Open Rehearsal with Simone Young

In anticipation of the forthcoming 200th anniversary of Gloucester Docks, experience the majesty of the sea in tonight’s dramatic concert from the Three Choirs Festival Youth Choir and Philharmonia Orchestra.

Three Choirs Festival: Songs of the Sea

Experience the power of Janáček’s dramatic Glagolitic Mass as the Festival Chorus and Philharmonia Orchestra bring this magnificent work to life. Listen out for joyful fanfares, vibrant colour, and thrilling organ solos played by young American virtuoso Katelyn Emerson.

Three Choirs Festival: Glagolitic Mass

Dramatic, thrilling, magnificent – we open the 2026 Three Choirs Festival in Gloucester with a concert full of dazzling music.

Three Choirs Festival: Belshazzar’s Feast

Join the NYOS Development orchestra for an enchanting evening at Perth Concert Hall. This July, they celebrate British orchestral voices, performing works from Holst, Grace Williams, and Elgar. Opening with a mystic dance for the spirits of earth, fire andwater, Holst’s The Perfect Fool conjures scenes of sorcery and mischief through vivid orchestration and bold musical gestures. Grace Williams’ symphonic poem Penillion follows, a lush evocation of Wales’s verdant landscapes and proud folk tradition. Turning a corner in the programme, Elgar’s fin-de-siècle masterstroke Enigma Variations closes the performances. A cornerstone of the British orchestral repertoire, Elgar’s variations distil the personality of his inner circle through richly expressive, often playful musical ideas. This promises to be a rousing showcase of Scotland’s brightest young musicians.

NYOS Development Orchestra 2026

Perth Concert Hall

The Folkestone Symphony Orchestra returns with another of its much-loved Summer Prom concerts, raising funds for the Motor Neurone Disease Association, kindly sponsored by The Brelade-Harman Trust.

Folkestone Symphony Summer Prom Concert

Leas Cliff Hall

Elena Urioste and Tom Poster explore an idea first floated in The Jukebox Series, their compelling pandemic project to bring together works united by shared threads of beauty and authentic expression rather than their relationship to any -ism or arbitrary historical period. The mood for each half of their recital is set by impassioned works by Mark Simpson and Clarice Assad, both created for the duo during the COVID-19 lockdown.

EPSG:4326

Elena Urioste violin; Tom Poster piano

Wigmore Hall

The programme is a love letter to 20th-century song in all its forms. 

From the soaring romanticism of Alma Mahler and Richard Strauss to the bittersweet elegance of Cole Porter and Stephen Sondheim, this concert brings together worlds that rarely meet. 

You’ll hear music from beloved films and musicals alongside lush orchestral arrangements of song cycles and solo pieces all carefully curated to tell a story that is moving, varied and richly expressive.

Fantasia Orchestra with Niamh O’Sullivan

Smith Square Hall

Conductor Laureate Carlos Kalmar returns to the Festival with the technically brilliant pianist Olga Kern for Rachmaninov’s highly virtuosic Piano Concerto No. 3. The program also features Stravinsky’s mischievously charming ballet Game of Cards and Elgar’s sunny In the South.

Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 3

Millennium Park

Amicus Orchestra are delighted to present this programme in collaboration with flautist Caglayan Barbaros.

Amicus Orchestra & Caglayan Barbaros

Royal Conservatoire of Scotland

Ralph Vaughan Williams’ monumental »Sea Symphony« merges solos, choir and orchestra into an ode to the sea and the longing for distant shores. This symphony is full of indulgent romantic exuberance and yet is far more than just a musical description of nature. It deals with the fundamental questions of human existence, which the American poet Walt Whitman expresses with enormous linguistic power. For him, the sea itself is a symbol – of the innermost self that man can and must discover and explore, just as he explores the sea.

Choir St. Michaelis / Ensemble Reflektor / Jörg Endebrock

Elbphilharmonie Hamburg

Following our captivating performance at Halifax Minster in 2025, we are delighted to return to Halifax as part of our ongoing commitment to Culturedale and our work with UNESCO’s Seeds of Hope initiative.

As echoes of The Lark Ascending continue to resonate across the town, we look forward to bringing another vibrant programme of string repertoire to the Victoria Theatre, celebrating the very best of English music alongside inspiring works from around the world. The programme includes Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on Greensleeves, Piazzolla’s The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires, and Grieg’s much-loved Holberg Suite.

We are especially pleased to premiere a new arrangement of Malcolm Arnold’s English Dances and to share the stage with talented young musicians from the Calderdale Music Youth Ensemble. This special concert provides a wonderful opportunity to showcase our award-winning work with schools and community groups across the region before we return to Calderdale again in August.

Close Encounters: Beyond the Lark

Victoria Theatre Halifax

Miniatures

Künstlerhaus am Lenbachplatz

Edinburgh-based Ninfea-Cruttwell-Reade, a Royal Philharmonic Society featured composer, won ardent admirers in 2025 with her Piano Concerto and motet for The Sixteen, The Call of Gideon. The Carducci Quartet and Tom Poster, persuasive and committed advocates of contemporary compositions, give the first performance of her new piano quintet, conceived for Wigmore Hall Voices of Today to mark the Hall’s 125th anniversary.

Carducci String Quartet; Tom Poster piano

Sir Simon Rattle | The Dream of Gerontius

Munich Residence

Ottobeuren Abbey

The American cellist Seth Parker Woods and the Ensemble Resonanz bring six voices to life that connect with each other across time and borders. They tell of struggle and loss, of rebellion and hope, of fractures and the attempt to heal them. Memory is their common foundation.

Ensemble Resonanz / Seth Parker Woods

ENGLAND AND EMPIRE with RAPHAEL WALLFISCH cello

Dorchester Abbey

Its lofty vision, its inexhaustible melodic flow and the lively writing of the solo instrument, playing breathlessly for forty-five minutes, have made Elgar's Concerto a touchstone of the cello repertoire. In 1919, it closed the illustrious career of a composer inseparable from the Victorian era. Could his compatriot Anna Clyne have inherited the passion and pomp of this predecessor? His festive Masquerade , written for the Last Night of the Proms, has something to conquer all audiences. It will be another instrumental celebration with the new concerto for orchestra by the royal Thierry Escaich.

Elgar, Cello Concerto / Kian Soltani

Maison de la Radio et de la Musique

Friendship and love underpin Elgar’s orchestral work, written in 1899. Each variation on the main theme is a tender, often gently mocking, portrait of a friend or family member. The ‘Enigma’ or mystery surrounding the origin of the theme is still unsolved.

London Symphony Orchestra: Half Six Fix – Enigma Variations

Barbican Centre

Adrian Wittmer, bassoon

Northwestern Bienen School of Music

Is there an English sound we can all agree on? Of course not. But at least we can celebrate the music of English composers and how they have depicted the country over time. Ralph Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending is enduringly popular as a portrait of rural England. But it was written amongst military manoeuvres preparing for World War I and so must be heard as much as a heartbreaking piece about loss as it is some depiction of bucolic Albion. Our leader, Sophie Rosa, is our violin soloist. If you’ve heard Sophie before you know what a treat you’re in for, and if you haven’t then you really wouldn’t want to miss this performance

We also have music by two composers who bookend the idea of English classical music. Henry Purcell wrote wild, emotive music for both the palaces and backstreets of early 17th century London. Edward Elgar is the composer we associate with pomp and circumstance and the rigour of Empire. But actually no – listen to Elgar’s Serenade for Strings and you can hear the same raw emotion of Purcell. Maybe the English aren’t so straight laced after all!

The Lark Ascending

Derby Cathedral

There’s a good reason why Elgar’s Cello Concerto is a classic: deep emotions surge beneath its haunted surface and if anyone can uncover them it’s our soloist, the remarkable Kian Soltani. Today, it’s just one stage on an emotional odyssey devised by our Principal Guest Conductor Patrick Hahn: a voyage that embraces the infinite longing of George Crumb and Richard Wagner, the volcanic grief of Benjamin Britten, and Scriabin’s final, multicoloured starburst of pure sonic bliss. Join us and be transported.

Elgar’s Cello Concerto

Usher Hall

Stewart Bridgeforth, bass trombone

Yo-Yo Ma takes the stage with conductor James Gaffigan and the San Francisco Symphony for one night only. Written in the aftermath of World War I, Elgar’s Cello Concerto is an urgent elegy, a late-life affirmation of Englishness. Also heard on the program is Mozart’s final symphony, the majestic Jupiter.

Yo-Yo Ma with the San Francisco Symphony

Davies Symphony Hall

With Casual Conversations, you'll witness the world-class artistry of your BSO while gaining deeper insights into the music's context and inspiration. Perfect for new listeners and curious BSO fans alike, this innovative series invites you to reflect on the beauty of live classical music.

Casual Conversations: Heyward Conducts Enigma Variations

Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall

England’s musical tradition is like a parchment on which voices have been superimposed over the centuries – from the Renaissance to the present day, from Thomas Tallis to Edward Elgar and Joanna Marsh. The RIAS Chamber Choir from Berlin and the Ensemble Resonanz make these layers resound and address the questions of farewell and transience as part of the International Music Festival »Ende«. An evening of requiem-like depth, in which the past resonates and the present pauses.

Ensemble Resonanz / RIAS Chamber Choir Berlin / Justin Doyle

SF Philharmonic and Anne Richardson

War Memorial and Performing Arts Center

“Here is enshrined the soul of…” This mysterious note, scribbled by Elgar opposite the title page of his Violin Concerto, sets the tone for an unforgettable end to the Season. Journey from the deeply introspective beauty of Elgar’s concerto to the playful charm of Vaughan Williams’s Wasps Overture and the sweeping grandeur of Strauss’s Viennese gem Der Rosenkavalier. This concert is a celebration of life’s full emotional spectrum - joy, sorrow, love and everything in between.

Ulster Orchestra: Soul Music

Waterfront Hall

Two exciting young musicians are the stars of our seventh Friday concert : cellist Anastasia Kobekina and conductor Nil Venditti, making their debuts with the Beethoven Orchestra. The Turkish-Italian conductor Nil Venditti has selected a program of opulent, large-scale orchestral music, juxtaposing English and Italian works from the pre-World War II era: the festive Concert Overture by the recently rediscovered Grace Williams from 1932 and Ottorino Respighi's Feste Romane from 1928. Anastasia Kobekina has been the rising star of the cello scene in recent years.

Large images

Beethoven Hall

“Here is enshrined the soul of…” This mysterious note, scribbled by Elgar opposite the title page of his Violin Concerto, sets the tone for an unforgettable end to the Season. Journey from the deeply introspective beauty of Elgar’s concerto to the playful charm of Vaughan Williams’s Wasps Overture and the sweeping grandeur of Strauss’s Viennese gem Der Rosenkavalier. This concert is a celebration of life’s full emotional spectrum – joy, sorrow, love and everything in between.

Soul Music

Belfast

The serene, pastoral beauty of England emerges through Coleridge-Taylor’s spiritual-inspired Violin Concerto, performed by signature interpreter Elena Urioste, and the grandeur of Elgar’s Enigma Variations. With expressive strings, warm brass, and idyllic melodies, this program highlights the orchestra's depth and expressiveness.

Heyward Conducts Enigma Variations

The Music Center at Strathmore

Artist-in-Residence Sheku Kanneh-Mason joins conductor Elim Chan for the aching beauty of Elgar’s Cello Concerto. The Orchestra also performs selections from Prokofiev’s Cinderella — a harmonically rich, at times whimsical ballet not often heard in an orchestral setting — plus the New York Premiere of Noriko Koide’s Swaddling Silk and Gossamer Rain, with textures as delicate as the title suggests.

Sheku Kanneh-Mason Plays Elgar

David Geffen Hall

The London Philharmonic Orchestra perform at the Dresdner Musikfestspiele.

Principal Conductor Edward Gardner conducts Elgar’s grandiose First Symphony and is joined by superstar violinist Nicola Benedetti for Elgar’s Violin Concerto.

Dresdner Musikfestspiele

Palace of Culture

Schoenberg was one of the most revolutionary & challenging composers, but his early works are among the most lyrical & romantic pieces ever written. Mahler’s heart-rending Adagietto needs little introduction and is regularly in the Top 40 of Classic FM’s annual Hall of Fame, while Schoenberg’s impassioned Transfigured Night is a musical realisation of a Richard Dehmel poem, in which a young woman confesses to her betrothed that she bears another man’s child, conceived before they met. His acceptance of her, and resolve to raise the baby as theirs, is one of the most touching moments in classical music.

English Symphony Orchestra Residency: Schoenberg, Mahler, Elgar, Taylor & Copland

Cheltenham Town Hall

The theme of the 2025/26 Orchestra Unwrapped concerts is centered around the history of the Philharmonia Orchestra, which was founded in 1945 by Walter Legge and celebrates its 80th birthday in 2025. Legge worked for a company called EMI, who was responsible for making recordings of classical music. 

The pieces you’ll hear take us on a journey through time linking to the exciting history of the Philharmonia, from 1945 to today – a history you are all part of by being part of Orchestra Unwrapped in its 80th year!

Bedford: Orchestra Unwrapped

Bedford Corn Exchange

Mahler was unaware that he would not live past the age of 50 when he composed Symphony No. 9. Many have espoused that every bar is filled with a sense of foreboding and despair, but Mahler's dualism is ever-present. When he's happy, he's sad. When he's tragic, he's hopeful. We open the concert with Brinton Smith performing Elgar's Cello Concerto, the visionary work which saw Elgar exploring a more intimate and compact, musical language following the cataclysm of World War I.

Mahler's Ninth

University of Colorado Boulder

Some pieces define composers, their technique and their sound. The SLS closes it’s 50th Season with a performance of two composers who created works that set their legacy in place. Florence Price’s Mississippi Suite was almost unknown, however. This was one of many works discovered after the composer’s death, in an attic, almost discarded. Luckily for us, it was saved! The work is 20th Century Americana at its finest, describing the Mississippi River through the people that lived on its banks, from Native Americans to settlers, to the descendants of Black slaves. The journey takes us both through history and time, culminating with a moving setting of the spiritual, Deep River. One of classical music’s most enduring works, Elgar’s Enigma Variations is a look at friendship, love, and the human psyche, through the lens of the composer’s imagination. The great English composer gives us intimate portraits of his friends, relations, co-workers, and fellow musicians, culminating in a rousing self-portrait of the composer himself, with an added pipe organ, for added affect! Join us as we close out our 50th Year of concerts!

Signature Sounds

University of Utah

Mahler and Elgar were not just composers. They were both among the greatest conductors of their, or any, generation. Their deep experience on the podium, engaging on an intense creative level with the great works of the past, had a profound impact on their composition. Mahler's "touch-ups" of Beethoven's final symphony show Mahler's determination that his use of the orchestra be not just an end in itself, but a servant of meaning and logic of the score, while Elgar's Bach transcription represents something much more radical - a melding of two great creative minds. Elgar's own genius as an orchestrator may have even surpassed that of Mahler, all the more remarkable since he was completely self-taught - just as Steve Elcock was, whose 11th Symphony receives its world premiere on this thrilling and revelatory program.

Beethoven's Ninth (Mahler's Version)

Scotland’s best-loved classical violinist, Nicola Benedetti, joins Scotland’s National Orchestra for Elgar’s lyrical Violin Concerto. Her performance is the big, passionate heart of a concert that begins with a garland of musical fairy tales from Azerbaijan (a special favourite of conductor Kirill Karabits) and ends amid the dark magic and glittering romance of Stravinsky’s great ballet The Firebird. Music doesn’t get more colourful.

Nicola Benedetti Plays Elgar

Glasgow Royal Concert Hall

Caird Hall

Usher Hall, Edinburgh

Join the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra for a joyful evening celebrating a significant birthday of one of Britain’s most beloved composers and conductors, Sir John Rutter. A cherished friend of the Orchestra, John returns to the podium to lead a programme featuring his celebrated works.

Sir John Rutter Birthday Celebration

University of Oxford

An event of the Peter Vischer School in cooperation with the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra.

Vischer's Symphony No. 116 Very British

Meistersinger Hall

Season 61 Finale Concert

First Baptist Church of Decatur

In its 40 year history, Berkshire Music Trust has proudly supported children and young people to develop their passion for music. The Berkshire Youth Symphony Orchestra is formed of some of the most talented and dedicated young musicians in Berkshire.

Berkshire Youth Symphony Orchestra

St Nicolas Church

Dexter Doris, Violin

The Juilliard School

A Grand Finale (2025-2026 Season)

Pantages Theater

Solve the hidden melody of this captivating musical cryptogram that has stumped audiences for over 125 years. “Commenced in a spirit of humour & continued in deep seriousness” by composer Edward Elgar, Enigma Variations showcases the true inspiration that friendship can bring. Concertmaster Grace Park brings the most popular American violin concerto to life in this program of treasured favorites conducted by Principal Guest Conductor Thomas Wilkins.

Elgar’s Enigma Variations & Barber’s Violin Concerto

Ferguson Center for the Arts

Sandler Center for the Performing Arts

Sol Gabetta returns to Antwerp, following her stunning performance of Lalo’s concerto last season, this time captivating audiences with Elgar’s Cello Concerto. Heralded by Gramophone as ‘one of the best around’, Gabetta’s performance is a masterclass in balancing stillness and glorification, imbuing the piece with profound emotion. Maestro Mikko Franck, renowned for his mastery of orchestral timbres, leads the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra through this poignant journey, culminating in Strauss’s majestic Tod und Verklärung. A concert not to be missed by lovers of deep musical expression.

Sol Gabetta shines with Elgar

Queen Elisabeth Hall

Music Center De Bijloke

Maxine Silverstein is a senior at Washington University in St. Louis. Maxine has a major in mathematics with a minor in music, focusing on music composition and voice. Their musical journey began in elementary school, where they experimented with the piano and violin before settling on the cello. They discovered their passion for voice in the theater, participating in several musicals throughout their middle and high school years. For the past four years, they have been studying voice under Nathan Ruggles, with a focus on classical voice. They have had the privilege of performing in masterclasses with Lawrence Brownlee, Marques Jerrell Ruff, and Dr. Bethany Worrell. Maxine wants to extend their gratitude to their family, friends, and mentors who have supported their endeavors at WashU.

Maxine Silverstein, Senior Minor Recital, voice

560 Music Center

Leicester: Orchestra Unwrapped

De Montfort Hall

ESO’s dementia friendly concerts are integral to our ethos as musicians and performers. Our musicians have many years of experience in this field and are committed to bringing their talents to members of society who are living with dementia and other life debilitating conditions.

Research supports our experience that live music benefits people living with dementia by stimulating memories, reducing agitation and stress and improving communication between residents and staff.

Dementia Friendly Concert – ESO Wind Quartet

Malvern Theatres

May Concert 2026

Pomona College

The Czech Philharmonic concludes its spring tour in the Bavarian town of Erlangen—known to Czech audiences as "Erlanky." In the modern Heinrich-Lades-Halle, the orchestra presents a signature program of the tour: Dvořák’s Carnival Overture, Elgar’s Cello Concerto featuring Sol Gabetta, and Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, under the direction of Semyon Bychkov.

Czech Philharmonic • Erlangen

Heinrich-Lades-Halle

It may come as a surprise, but the Czech Philharmonic has performed in Düsseldorf quite regularly. Over the years, local audiences have heard the orchestra under the batons of Karel Ančerl, Václav Neumann, Zdeněk Košler, Gerd Albrecht, Jiří Bělohlávek, and Semyon Bychkov. Now, Bychkov returns to the city’s Tonhalle with his ensemble, bringing a program of Dvořák, Elgar, and Stravinsky. He’ll be joined by cellist Sol Gabetta.

Czech Philharmonic • Düsseldorf

Tonhalle Düsseldorf

At the Cologne Philharmonie, the two carefully rehearsed programmes from the April tour will come together in a unique combination. After Dvořák’s rousing Carnival Overture and Elgar’s iconic Cello Concerto performed by Sol Gabetta, the evening will conclude with Mendelssohn’s Italian Symphony. As with all other performances on the tour, the concert will be conducted by Chief Conductor Semyon Bychkov.

Czech Philharmonic • Cologne

Kölner Philharmonie, Cologne, Germany

This concert is included in these packages: Chamber Music Dialogues, A Weekend with Jeremy Denk, Mozart’s Enduring Influence, Fantasy and Fury: Music of the Romantic, and Season Sampler.

Quintet Conversations: From Mozart to Modern, with Jeremy Denk, Piano

Colburn School

Boston Civic Symphony season finale

New England Conservatory of Music

Juana Derdoy, Senior Capstone Recital, voice

The A2SO and Music Director Earl Lee round out an extraordinary 25-26 concert season with Holst’s towering celestial masterpiece The Planets plus Elgar’s poignant cello concerto with in-demand German virtuoso Maximilian Hornung.

Holst’s The Planets

Michigan Theater

Conductor Andrew Manze makes his Utah Symphony debut, bringing this unforgettable program to life with Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3. This concerto packs wit, virtuosity, and lyrical charm into one electrifying package—and with Simon Trpceski at the keys, you can expect musical fireworks and jaw-dropping piano mastery that will leave you spellbound.

Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 3 with Simon Trpceski

Salt Palace Convention Center

Legendary cellist and cultural ambassador Yo-Yo Ma reunites with Maestro Tausk and the VSO for an unforgettable performance of Edward Elgar’s deeply moving Cello Concerto, composed in the aftermath of World War I. Paired with Sergei Rachmaninoff’s towering Second Symphony and Samy Moussa’s evocative Adgilis Deda, this is a concert experience to treasure for years to come.

Yo-Yo Ma with the VSO

Orpheum

Hosted by Classic FM and sports presenter Karthi Gnanasegaram, who knows her way around a football pitch as well as a stadium anthem!

The Beautiful Game

National Football Museum

It was England's first major violin concerto. It quickly became clear that it was by no means banal or purely artistic – after all, in his Opus 61, performed here by the British composer Anthony Marwood, Edward Elgar had laid bare nothing less than his innermost being. Even the Finn Jean Sibelius, whose value has long since been fully recognized after initial public skepticism, famously didn't create a single banal bar. His last symphony, premiered in the 1920s, is, like its predecessors, dark and profoundly serious, emotionally gripping, and, with just one movement, formally revolutionary. The second half of the concert, conducted by Anna Rakitina, opens with a cheerful work by the early Haydn: his Symphony
"Morning" features a beautiful sunrise.

Change

Stadthalle Göttingen

Since its inaugural concert in 2005, Philharmonie Luxembourg has become a home for international ensembles—including the Czech Philharmonic, now appearing there for the fourth time. The programme features music by Antonín Dvořák, Edward Elgar, and Igor Stravinsky. Sol Gabetta returns as soloist, with Semyon Bychkov conducting.

Czech Philharmonic • Luxembourg

Philharmonie Luxembourg

The Czech Philharmonic returns to Dortmund’s Konzerthaus—opened in 2002—for the third time. The evening features Elgar’s Cello Concerto with Sol Gabetta, Dvořák’s Carnival, and Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, led by Chief Conductor and Music Director Semyon Bychkov.

Czech Philharmonic • Dortmund

Konzerthaus Dortmund

Voice Division Recital

RecitalsMelody Zhang, violin

Mendelssohn´s twelve string symphonies from his youth form the basis for the later peak Romantic symphony. Our orchestra is dedicated to performing these works consistently, and is therefore rightly considered a leading and respected interpreter of Mendelssohn’s early symphonies. Our innovative dramaturgy will enrich the concert with a lesser-known, but very original Romantic composer, the engineer and colonel Gyula Beliczay, whose serenade will be heard next to Elgar’s famous serenade. The evening will close with an internationally acclaimed work by Gustav Holst.

Ludmila Pavlová

Prague Conservatory

The people of Hamburg are in for a treat. During the Czech Philharmonic’s April tour, they’ll be the only audience to hear both of the programmes the orchestra has prepared. The first of the residency concerts will feature cellist Sol Gabetta performing Elgar’s iconic Cello Concerto. Chief Conductor Semyon Bychkov and the orchestra will frame the evening with Dvořák’s Carnival Overture and Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring.

Czech Philharmonic • Hamburg

"I particularly love the Elgar Concerto," Sol Gabetta confessed in an interview in 2023. The colors, the vocal quality – the wit and the vibrancy that always flash up surprisingly: for the star cellist, everything is simply perfect here. The work had a rather rocky start in musical life: A poorly rehearsed premiere in 1919 damaged its reputation, which was only overwhelmingly restored in 1965 by the very young cellist Jacqueline du Pré. Incidentally, Elgar's Cello Concerto shares the fate of success "at the second attempt" with the second major work in the Czech Philharmonic's program: Igor Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring" also initially experienced a resounding scandal as a ballet before beginning its triumphant march on concert stages around the world.

Czech Philharmonic / Sol Gabetta / Semyon Bychkov

The spring tour opens at BOZAR, Brussels’ esteemed cultural center. This marks only the second appearance of the Czech Philharmonic there, once again under the baton of Chief Conductor Semyon Bychkov. Cellist Sol Gabetta joins the orchestra in Elgar’s Cello Concerto, with Dvořák’s Carnival and Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring rounding out the programme.

Czech Philharmonic • Brussels

BOZAR

Bard College Community Orchestra

Fisher Center at Bard

Superstar violinist Nicola Benedetti joins the Philharmonia in Elgar’s tempestuous and tender Violin Concerto.  

Nicola Benedetti is one of the best-loved violin soloists of our time, and a regular and popular collaborator with the Philharmonia. Her chart-topping recording of this formidable work was praised for ‘a sure sense of direction and lots of heart’ (The Guardian) – an accurate description of Benedetti’s approach to everything she does. 

Nicola Benedetti plays Elgar

Southbank Centre

Anyone who thinks of Edward Elgar only in terms of Pomp and Circumstance or Last Night of the Proms should listen carefully to his Cello Concerto. There is perhaps no better work to approach the British late romantic composer. He composed this deeply emotional work under the impression of his beloved wife Alice's serious illness and confessed after her death: 'I cannot imagine ever completing another piece. The Cello Concerto was indeed to remain his last major composition. The work has long played an important role in Anastasia Kobekina's life. It is full of hope, she says. It has a desperate desire to fight, and at the same time it has these enchanting moments of joy and lightness. It is the centrepiece of Kobekina's great career, which the Alte Oper has been following closely for several years.

Composer

Edward Elgar

Events

Upcoming events

Aug 20, 2026 - Mar 9, 2027

Orchestra of the Finnish National Opera @ Musiikkitalo · Finnish National Opera and Ballet

Aug 26, 2026

Berliner Philharmoniker | Kirill Petrenko · Lucerne Festival

Aug 29, 2026

Berliner Philharmoniker: Elgar & Tchaikovsky · Edinburgh International Festival

Aug 29, 2026

Berliner Philharmoniker: Elgar & Tchaikovsky · Usher Hall

3 - 4 Sep, 2026

Sea Music and Symphonic Dances · Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra

Past events

Aug 1, 2026

Three Choirs Festival: The Dream of Gerontius · Philharmonia Orchestra

Jul 30 - Aug 1, 2026

Simone Young & Sheku Kanneh-Mason · Sydney Symphony Orchestra

About

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