Immerse yourself in the enchanting world of Duke Ellington's musical genius with a series of captivating events happening in St Marys, Cleveland, and Cincinnati. From the soulful notes of 'I Ain't Got Nothing But The Blues' to the symphonic splendor of 'New World A-Comin’' and the evocative 'Black, Brown and Beige', these performances promise an unforgettable journey through music history.

A Musical Odyssey: Duke Ellington's Legacy Across St Marys, Cleveland, and Cincinnati

The Ulster Orchestra invites you to a dazzling array of performances this winter, featuring timeless classics and festive favorites. From the tragic romance of 'Star-Cross'd Lovers' to the joyful melodies of 'The Snowman Family Concert,' and the majestic oratorio 'Messiah,' these events promise to captivate and inspire. With talented performers like Clare Hammond and the renowned Belfast Philharmonic Choir, each concert offers a unique musical journey. Embrace the magic of the season and the enchanting atmosphere as the Ulster Orchestra brings these extraordinary events to life across Northern Ireland.

Ulster Orchestra's Enchanting Winter Season: From Romance to Festive Celebrations

This magical concert is the perfect night out for the whole family featuring a dazzling programme of festive favourites such as Let It Snow and White Christmas. With guest vocalists – Northern Ireland’s own Dana Masters (renowned jazz singer who toured with Van Morrison) and Patrick Smyth (Strictly Come Dancing tour, John Williams Orchestra), this promises to be a truly special evening.

The Magic of Christmas

Waterfront Hall

Millennium Forum

No Christmas would be complete without the majestic performance that is Handel's Messiah. Still one of the best oratorios ever written, its impact and appeal never diminishes. If you've never heard it, now is the time, especially when it's performed by the Ulster Orchestra, guest soloists and Belfast Philharmonic Choir. 

Messiah

Guildhall

This special event has become an enjoyable family tradition to start the festive season. Generations have loved the timeless tale of a boy and his magical snowman, shown on a big screen and accompanied by the Orchestra and young guest soloists. Combined with some seasonal music and some festive fun at the end, this is a must-see for all the family!

The Snowman Family Concert

A tragic love story is perfect for the drama of ballet and opera – if not for the story’s protagonists! Prokofiev’s ballet depicts the most infamous ‘star-cross’d lovers’ of them all, Romeo and Juliet, with music that is a brilliant realisation of Shakespeare’s play and some of Prokofiev’s most memorable and instantly appealing work, while Wagner’s Prelude from Tristan und Isolde is a lushly hypnotic, yearning depiction of two more tragic lovers, this time from Renaissance romance. Pianist Clare Hammond performs Kenneth Hesketh’s Uncoiling the River, a piece which loops round itself, sinuous and labyrinthine, and explores our perception of the passing of time.

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Star-Cross'd Lovers

Ulster Hall

Our regular performance partners Belfast Philharmonic Choir have a special birthday this year, and we’re delighted to be part fo their 150th celebrations! ‘The Phil’ are one of only a handful of choral societies that have an unbroken record of performance since their inception and their first performance in 1874 of Mendelssohn’s Elijah. The date and music couldn’t be better, so join the celebrations with a performance of Mendelssohn’s dramatic, epic oratorio that depicts earthquake, fire and the still, small voice of God.

Elijah: The Power of Sound

An evening in the company of Michael Collins is one well-spent, as he brings his deeply-held musicality and mastery of both the clarinet and the conductor’s podium to the Ulster Hall. This concert opens with Grażyana Bacewicz’s, vibrant, driving Concerto for String Orchestra, before Michael performs Crusell’s Second Clarinet Concerto, full of exuberance and lyrical grace and Busoni’s Concertino, a virtuosic 20th century tour-de-force written in the style of Mozart. And it’s Mozart, with whom Michael has a special affinity, that closes the concert; the exhilarating pinnacle of all his symphonic writing, Symphony No.41

More Than Mozart

This popular concert provides the perfect escapism on a Sunday afternoon, guiding you through some of the most exhilarating music from the worlds of fantasy that have been so impactful in creating atmosphere and excitement in cinema, anime, television or gaming. Hear music from Lord of the Rings, Wonder Woman, Halo, Top Gun: Maverick, Game of Thrones and many more!

Presenting: Worlds of Fantasy

Belfast

One of the great masterworks, Elgar’s Cello Concerto is a wistful, beautiful piece that falls towards the end of his composing career, when he wondered if he had any musical relevance, and there’s a sense of solitude – even loneliness – that haunts this work. Elsewhere, the Ulster Orchestra brass take to the skies, first in the sun chariot of the Greek God Helios in Saint-Saëns’s Phaeton Overture and then as a flock of whooper swans in that famous finale of Sibelius’s triumphant Fifth Symphony.  

Soaring Spirits

Freddie White is a masterful guitar player, singer-songwriter and interpreter of classic songs who has captivated audiences during a career spanning five decades. A founding member of Scullion and The Fake, Freddie’s career skyrocketed touring alongside Eric Clapton. With timeless albums like Live on Tour and Do You Do, Freddie’s eclectic repertoire and the magnetic energy of his live shows resonates with fans old and new.

Blues & Ballads: An Evening with Paul Jones & Dave Kelly, and Freddie White

Grand Opera House

Bernstein’s Three Dance Episodes from On The Town start a riotous orchestral celebration that continues with Joe Chindamo’s new work, Ligeia. Peter Moore takes on a no-holds-barred virtuoso showcase of all the trombone’s sonorities, from its melodic tenderness to its capacity to bend, growl and swing as if on-stage at Ronnie Scott’s or Birdland – it’s the party you won’t want to miss! We also plunge into the romantic melodies and vivid orchestral colours of Rachmaninoff’s symphonies this Season, starting with the darkly fiery Symphony No.1.

Rhythm and Romance

A heady evening awaits, rich with storytelling, comedy and drama. We open with Lutosławski’s Little Suite, with its driving energy inspired by Polish folk songs, and close the concert with a virtuosic violin taking the narrator’s role in Rimsky-Korsakov’s series of hedonistic musical adventures, Scheherazade. A characterful duo is required to give life to all the humour of Shostakovich’s Concerto No.1 for Piano, Trumpet and Strings – the one and only Barry Douglas is joined by trumpet player Niall Keatley for this performance.

Symphonic Storytellers

Mahler’s First Symphony opens with shimmering sunlight and sounds of nature, starting 2024/25 in a wakening landscape scene that seems to pick up the idea of ‘rebirth’ that closed the 2023/24 Season. We join a walking wayfarer as they make peace with their tempestuous past and stride confidently into their future – not a bad way to start a new Season!

New Beginnings

### Event Description: On Your Doorstep: Symphonic September - Ulster Orchestra

**Event Name:** On Your Doorstep: Symphonic September

**Date and Time:** 01 September 2024, 3:00 PM (Doors open at 2:30 PM)

**Venue:** The Hill of the O'Neill & Ranfurly House, Dungannon

**Event Overview:**
Kick off September with an enchanting symphonic afternoon as the Ulster Orchestra returns to the Hill of the O'Neill. This annual event is a highlight in the orchestra's calendar, promising a delightful performance filled with classical favorites, music from stage and screen, and a few unexpected surprises. It's a fantastic program designed for all the family to enjoy.

**Additional Information:**
- There will be a 20-minute interval during the performance.
- Tickets are available for booking.

**Contact Information:**
- **Box Office:** 028 9033 4455 (Open 12 noon - 6 PM, weekdays)

Don't miss out on this spectacular musical event that promises to be a memorable experience for all attendees.

On Your Doorstep: Symphonic September

Hill of The O'Neill & Ranfurly House.

This lunchtime programme takes us into the magical world of Cinderella and Hansel and Gretel, courtesy of Rossini and Engelbert Humperdinck. Rossini wrote La Cenerentola when he was 25 years old, following the success of The Barber of Seville, and its overture is characteristically vivid and tuneful. Humperdinck's response to Hansel and Gretel -- the German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm -- is illuminating and this 5-movement Suite, brought together by the American conductor Gerard Schwarz, includes The Witch's Ride, The Gingerbread House, The Witch's Waltz and finally to A Dream Pantomime.

BBC Radio 3 Summer Invitation Series 2024: Concert 3

Hot-property conductor Daniele Rustioni brings his Ulster Orchestra to London for a Prom concluding with Dvořák’s stirring Symphony No. 7, in which dark clouds and bright sunshine jostle for supremacy throughout a melody-fuelled, rhythm-buoyed journey that ends in triumph. 

BBC Proms: Prom 39 – Dvořák’s 7th Symphony

Royal Albert Hall

In October 1898, the committee of the Norwich Festival requested a short choral work for their next Season. However, during this period Elgar was preoccupied with writing his Enigma Variations, and by the time he returned to the work, the committee had changed its mind. They had engaged the young alto, Clara Butt, and wanted a work which she could premiere. So he crafted Sea Pictures, based on five poems by different authors, each offering a different response to the ocean. A work noted for its drama, serenity and richness, the soloist will be the Northern Ireland mezzo, Sarah Richmond.


Summer Invitation Series 2024: Concert 2

### Event Description: BBC Radio 3 Invitation Concert: Backward Glances And Final Flourishes - Ulster Orchestra

**Event:** BBC Radio 3 Invitation Concert: Backward Glances And Final Flourishes  
**Date:** 18 June 2024  
**Time:** 13:05  
**Venue:** Ulster Hall, Belfast  
**Tickets:** Free (Book in advance)

**Event Overview:**
BBC Radio 3 invites you to a special, free concert featuring the Ulster Orchestra at the historic Ulster Hall in Belfast. This concert, titled "Backward Glances And Final Flourishes," will showcase the works of two iconic composers, Bartók and Mozart, under the baton of the rising Finnish conductor, Kristian Sallinen.

**Program:**
1. **Bartók - Divertimento for String Orchestra**
   - Composed in the summer of 1939 during a working holiday in Switzerland, Bartók's Divertimento is a vibrant piece written in just 15 days. Despite the grim historical context of Europe on the brink of World War II, the music exudes a mood of congeniality. The piece is structured in three movements and features lively dance rhythms, reminiscent of 18th-century Divertimentos, and incorporates elements of the concerto grosso style.

2. **Mozart - Symphony No. 39 in Eb Major, K.543**
   - Written in Vienna in the summer of 1788, Symphony No. 39 is part of Mozart's final symphonic trilogy. This four-movement symphony is notable for its substitution of clarinets for the usual oboes, creating a unique sonorous texture. It also includes a slow introduction and a traditional Austrian Ländler Trio, adding richness and color to the composition.

**Conductor:**
- **Kristian Sallinen**  
  Making his debut with the Ulster Orchestra, Kristian Sallinen is a Finnish conductor known for his dynamic and insightful interpretations.

**Additional Information:**
- **Box Office:** 028 9033 4455 (Open 12 noon - 6pm, weekdays)
- **Social Media:** Follow the Ulster Orchestra on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Spotify, and YouTube for updates and more information.

Join us for an afternoon of exquisite music and experience the brilliance of Bartók and Mozart performed by the Ulster Orchestra. Book your free tickets now and be part of this unforgettable musical journey.

BBC Radio 3 Invitation Concert: Backward Glances And Final Flourishes

### Event Description: On Your Doorstep: Ballycastle Welcomes Ulster Orchestra

**Date and Time:** 14 June 2024, 19:30  
**Venue:** Church of St. Patrick and St. Brigid, Ballycastle  
**Tickets:** £10 (Doors open at 7:00 PM)  
**Presented by:** Lir Arts Festival

**Event Overview:**
Spend a summer's evening immersed in the enchanting sounds of the Ulster Orchestra at the historic Church of St. Patrick and St. Brigid in Ballycastle. This special concert, part of the "On Your Doorstep" series, promises a delightful program featuring a diverse selection of classical pieces.

**Program Highlights:**
- **Dukas:** Fanfare from La Peri
- **Bartók:** Romanian Folk Dances
- **Vivaldi:** Concerto for Two Trumpets
- **Bach:** Brandenburg Concerto No. 3
- **Susato arr. Iveson:** Renaissance Dance Suite
- **Hovhaness:** Alleluia and Fugue
- **Horovitz:** Movements from Music Hall Suite
- **Grieg:** Holberg Suite

**Additional Information:**
- **Refreshments:** Served in the Crypt after the concert.
- **Booking:** Tickets are available for purchase now.

Join us for an evening of exquisite music and community spirit, brought to you by the Lir Arts Festival, dedicated to bringing the arts to Ballycastle.

On Your Doorstep: Ballycastle Welcomes Ulster Orchestra

Church of St. Patrick and St. Brigid

### Event Description: On Your Doorstep: Summer Concert at Bangor Abbey - Ulster Orchestra

#### Event Details:
- **Date:** 14 June 2024
- **Time:** 19:00
- **Venue:** Bangor Abbey, Bangor

#### Event Overview:
Join the musicians of the Ulster Orchestra for a delightful evening of music at Bangor Abbey. This summer concert promises an enchanting musical journey, featuring a carefully curated program designed to showcase some gems for a small ensemble. Whether you are new to orchestral music or a regular concertgoer, there is something for everyone to enjoy.

#### Program Highlights:
- **Handel:** Sinfonia from Solomon, Arrival of the Queen of Sheba
- **Hummel:** Octet
- **Dvořák:** Slavonic Dance Op. 71, No. 1
- **Beethoven:** Rondino in E flat
- **Gounod:** Petite Symphonie

#### Additional Information:
- **Box Office:** 028 9033 4455 (Open 12 noon - 6pm, weekdays)
- **Book Tickets:** [Link to ticket booking]

Don't miss this opportunity to experience a magical evening of orchestral music in the historic setting of Bangor Abbey. The Ulster Orchestra's musicians are excited to perform and share their passion for music with the community.

On Your Doorstep: Summer Concert at Bangor Abbey

Bangor Abbey

Writing in The Guardian, Sir Stephen Hough’s reflections on Brahms’s First Piano Concerto conjure up the fire, intimacy, romance and drama of this phenomenal concerto, one that feels like it contains a whole cosmos in its three movements. It’s paired with a symphony by another composer whose works contain musical universes, Bruckner, as we explore his Symphony No.1.

Flame of Genius

The Priests performed their first musical collaboration in 1974, and in 2024, celebrate 50 years of musical association. Having achieved millions of record sales, received multiple awards, travelled the globe, and played countless concerts as The Priests, Frs Eugene, Martin (brothers) and David perform their last ever concert as a group at the Ulster Hall. The evening will see The Priests perform many of their classic songs including Ave Maria, Amazing Grace, How Great Thou Art and You Raise Me Up with the prestigious Ulster Orchestra.

The Priests: Time to Say Goodbye

Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 makes regular appearances in the top 10 of Classic FM’s annual Hall of Fame and its singing lines for the soloist mean it’s widely considered the best violin concerto of all time. Ukrainian Aleksey Semenenko will bring this concerto to life under the baton of Alpesh Chauhan and with the full Ulster Orchestra in support.

The Ulster Orchestra also performs Mendelssohn’s Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage, which depicts the joy of a gathering wind so a working ship can finally set sail and earn its passage, the exuberant, tempestuous Overture No.2 by Louise Farrenc and Schumann’s intensely passionate Symphony No 4.

On Your Doorstep – Young Romantics

The Braid Museum & Arts Centre

The Rat Pack, comprising Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr., defined an era of entertainment with their charismatic performances, onstage chemistry, smooth vocals and undeniable charm. While their heyday was in the 1950s/60s, their impact endures with their music evoking a sense of timeless sophistication and cool that still appeals to audiences today.

Presenting: The Rat Pack

From Bartók’s passion for learning and collecting the music of his Hungarian homeland to Bloch’s inspiration from both Jewish religious and secular music, and Vaughan Williams’s love of arranging new English discoveries for orchestra, composers have always been fascinated by folk music; learning about it, popularising it and weaving it into their work for orchestra. Much of what you will hear in this concert has its roots in folk music familiar to and beloved by the featured composers and it makes for a vibrant and dramatic evening of music – you might even spot a local favourite!

On Your Doorstep – Saints and Scholars: Newtownabbey

The Market Place Theatre & Arts Centre

Theatre At The Mill

The Alley Theatre

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Ballade sets a wild and windswept tone for a concert that ends with a symphony inspired by the ruins of the chapel at the Palace of Holyrood, full of fierce energy and which even hints at the inevitable and typical Scottish thunderstorm! Mendelssohn’s ability to depict landscape in music is fully evident here and the dramatic Highlands scenery that he enjoyed on holiday is sketched in magical style. Bringing a little musical calm to temper the storm is Scottish pianist Steven Osborne, who performs Mozart’s mellow and serene Piano Concerto No.27.

Highland Journey

Charles Ives described the opening of The Unanswered Question as a ‘cosmic landscape’ and this concert is very much rooted in landscapes of all types, from Ives’s exploration of the human spirit’s connection to the realm of nature to the pastoral idyll of Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony. Gavin Higgins’s Horn Concerto was written for our soloist, Ben Goldscheider, and is inspired by the Forest of Dean, where Higgins grew up. There are echoes of hunting calls and Wagner in a work that finishes with a movement uniquely inspired by the forest floor and titled Mycelium Rondo.

The Great Outdoors

Take a journey from nostalgic musicals such as Oklahoma!, West Side Story, The Sound of Music, Les Misérables and Phantom of the Opera up to more recent productions with songs from Wicked, Come From Away, Dear Evan Hansen, Hamilton, Waitress and many more.

Presenting: Essentially Broadway

It’s Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire falling in love in Funny Face. It’s Catherine Deneuve beneath the cheerfully coloured Umbrellas of Cherbourg. It’s Audrey Tautou as a waitress helping others find happiness in Amélie. Fiona Monbet conducts and performs her own work, Faubourg 23, written for jazz ensemble and orchestra; a celebration of both jazz and symphonic music that sits in a lineage that flows from Stephane Grappelli and is effervescent, uplifting and full of the joys of spring in Paris!

April in Paris

Haydn’s The Seven Last Words of Christ is a deep, contemplative drama based on the events leading up to the crucifixion and the earthquake that marked the moment of Jesus’s death. The music pulls us into an ominous and unsettled world; a lament at the foot of the cross. Richard Strauss’s Metamorphosen for strings is another lament, this time for the destruction wrought in Munich in World War II and the shattering of cultural life as the composer knew it. Full of loss and anguish – but also serenity and majesty – this is music for meditation and reflection this Good Friday.

Music for Good Friday

This concert shines a spotlight on music filled with sumptuous drama. Strauss’s incidental music for Ariadne auf Naxos gives more than a flavour of its protagonists flitting across the opera stage. Mozart’s Piano Concerto No.24 just pre-dates Don Giovanni and The Marriage of Figaro and it too brings all the poise and characterful drama of opera to the concert stage. Our second half moves from the world of opera to ballet, as Tchaikovsky finished his Third Symphony before writing Swan Lake and this work pirouettes with the kinetic energy of the corps de ballet.

Take the Stage

Hans Zimmer and John Williams are two of the greatest film music composers of all time, creating epic scores for some of the most iconic films ever made. Experience this incredible symphonic celebration of music from blockbusters such as Gladiator, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jurassic Park, Superman, Batman Begins and of course Harry Potter and re-live your memories of hearing and seeing it for the first time.

Epic Film Scores: Hans Zimmer & John Williams

Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky and Rachmaninoff are three giants of Russian music, and this concert foregrounds all their exceptional talents. Arensky uses one of Tchaikovsky’s Sixteen Children’s Songs to capture a range of moods and character, while Stravinsky’s Concerto for Violin is a feisty, joyful romp for the instrument, full of cheerful melody and musical wit. To close, a second visit to the no-holds-barred emotional world of Rachmaninoff’s symphonies (though you’ll have to wait until 2025/26 for Symphony No.3!) and the achingly beautiful, flamboyantly majestic Second.

Grand Masters

Was it, or wasn’t it, an act of defiance and bitter retort to Stalin’s displeasure? Shostakovich’s life was so utterly and constantly in peril that he could never publicly declare whether his Fifth Symphony was simply ‘a Soviet artist’s reply to just criticism’ or a satirical puncturing of the dictator, deliberately hollow but dressed as adulation. But either way, it’s a phenomenal piece of music – playful, poignant and magisterial, it’s a blockbuster end to the Season. Walton’s lyrically romantic Cello Concerto sets the scene for Shostakovich’s dramatic fireworks.

Ulster Orchestra

17 - 18 Dec, 2024

The Magic of Christmas

Jan 5, 2025

The Priests: Time to Say Goodbye

30 - 31 Jan, 2025

On Your Doorstep – Young Romantics

Feb 1, 2025

Presenting: The Rat Pack

6 - 8 Feb, 2025

On Your Doorstep – Saints and Scholars: Newtownabbey

17 - 18 Dec, 2024

The Magic of Christmas

14 - 15 Dec, 2024

Messiah

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