Programme:
Edward Elgar: Violin Concerto in B minor, Op. 61
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Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 1 in D major “Titan”

Edward Elgar was a richly inventive composer with a unique character, one of the finest European Romantic artists and the very finest exponent of British music in his day. His Violin Concerto  is classically structured but tonally ambiguous and is considered one of the most demanding in the repertoire. Gustav Mahler, who was working in the same period, likewise left an extraordinary mark on musical history. Today his oeuvre occupies an important place in the repertoire of every major conductor and orchestra. His Symphony No. 1  takes us from the awakening of nature, past a wounded heart, to a final triumphant apotheosis. The two works will be directed by the renowned conductor Sir Antonio Pappano, who will take up the role of chief conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra in the 2024/25 season, having previously been music director of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden for 22 years. Over the course of the past century, the LSO has established itself as one of the world’s great musical institutions. It reaches international audiences with tours, artistic residences, digital partnerships and an extensive programme of live broadcasts. The soloist in the first part of the concert will be the internationally acclaimed violinist Vilde Frang, praised by critics for her recordings of composers including Sergei Prokofiev, Jean Sibelius, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Benjamin Britten, Carl Nielsen, among others.

• the London Symphony Orchestra has recorded the musical scores for countless films, including the Star Wars  saga, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Shape of Water,  and many others
• violinist Vilde Frang won the Credit Suisse Young Artist Award in 2012, which led to her debut with the Vienna Philharmonic under Bernard Haitink at the Lucerne Festival
• the winner of the XVIII International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, Bruce Liu is one of the most exciting artists of his generation, whose “playing of breathtaking beauty” (BBC Music Magazine)  has contributed to his “rock-star status in the classical music world” (Globe and Mail)
• Edward Elgar’s Cello Concerto,  composed in 1919 in the aftermath of the First World War, is considered his last major work