BBC National Orchestra of Wales’ season of concerts at Brangwyn Hall, Swansea continues on Friday 5 March at 7.30p.m., with music by Schumann, Shostakovich and Beethoven. The Orchestra will be conducted by the Orchestra’s Associate Guest Conductor François Xavier Roth.
Schumann’s Overture, Scherzo and Finale and Beethoven’s heroic Symphony No 3 (Eroica) will be performed alongside Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No 1 performed by Emmanuelle Bertrand, one of the leading French soloists of her generation.
The composer’s first Cello Concerto is concise and razor-sharp in style and shows Shostakovich at his most incisive; ironic and electrically alive. Dark and brimming with high spirits, it is one of the world’s greatest cello concertos.
Discovered by a wide public when she won the young soloist category at the Victoires de la Musique Classique in 2002, Emmanuelle Bertrand is one of the leading representatives of French cello. Her style is adventurous and in 1999 she met the composer Henri Dutilleux whose said of Bertrand: “Among the young artists of her generation, Emmanuelle Bertrand belongs to those who impressed me the most… Her intrepretation and the transparency of her playing filled me with great satisfaction, I do not hesitate to say that is for me a real revelation”.
This BBC National Orchestra of Wales season in Swansea continues until June with a special emphasis on music from Russia.
The final two concerts in the series are 24 April and 19 June. In April Tadaaki Otaka will return to Swansea to conduct three romantic classics; Elgar’s Wand of Youth, Suite No 2, Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder sung by soprano Emma Bell and Rachmaninov’s Symphony No 3. In June Pianist Nikolai Demidenko will join conductor Matthias Bamert in a concert featuring Rossini’s Overture, The Thieving Magpie, Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No 4 and Prokofiev’s Suite, Romeo and Juliet.
The concerts in the season will be recorded for future broadcast on BBC Radio 3.
Further information is available at bbc.co.uk/now
Booking Information:
Tickets for BBC National Orchestra of Wales Swansea concerts are available from the BBC National Orchestra of Wales Audience Line on 0800 052 1812. Ticket Prices: £11.50 to £14.50 with discounts available for students, disabled patrons plus one companion, claimants, MAX card holders and over 60s and groups. Family tickets are also available for £16.50 (for 2 adults and 1-4 children) and £11 (for 1 adult and 1-2 children).
