Join us as we start our new season on Sunday 13 October with Wagner's Flying Dutchman Overture, The Garden of Fand from Arnold Bax and Bizet's Symphony in C.
The overture to Wagner's The Flying Dutchman is a dramatic and rousing opening to the 1843 opera which was conducted by Wagner himself at it's premiere. He began writing the opera after his extravagant lifestyle left him unable to pay his debts and creditors seized his passport, leading to an illegal and dangerous escape from Paris to London during which he was inspired to begin his work.
The Garden of Fand is a tone poem by the English composer Arnold Bax, which was inspired by an Irish mythical figure, Fand, the daughter of the Lord Of The Ocean. The work does not portray the events of the mythical tale, but evokes Fand's island and is greatly influenced by Celtic culture.
Rounding off our season opener is Bizet's Symphony in C. Composed as a student assignment in less than an month, when Bizet was just 17 years old, this is one of Bizet's earliest works. Remarkably, the piece was never performed during Bizet's lifetime, and since its premiere in 1935 has quickly become a favourite of orchestras and audiences across the world.