With sweeping strings, swelling crescendos and fervent drama, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Ballade in A minor has all the hallmarks of a masterpiece – after all, with Edward Elgar as your mentor it’s hard to go wrong. Soak up the atmosphere in Ralph Vaughan Williams’s tribute to the city, from Tower Bridge and St Paul’s to the evening buzz of Embankment and the tranquillity of Hampstead Heath.
But not before soloist Leia Zhu takes centre stage in Johannes Brahms’s only violin concerto: a notoriously technical yet luxuriously lyrical piece that cemented the composer’s place in the violin concerto hall of fame. A concert with such an array of distinct stylistic elements is a fitting endeavour for a youth orchestra as diverse and dynamic as this – and trust us, this orchestra is ‘seriously good’ (Financial Times).
Promoted by the Centre for Young Musicians
