Shostakovich 5

A concert of bold voices and fearless invention. We open with the stormy, impassioned overture to The Wreckers, Ethel Smyth’s opera set on the rugged Cornish coast. With sweeping melodies and dark intensity, this powerful curtain-raiser announces Smyth as one of the great unsung heroines of British music.

Next, superstar pianist Benjamin Grosvenor takes the spotlight in Richard Strauss’s Burleske – a dazzling, high-octane work that brims with sardonic wit and virtuosic brilliance. Part concerto, part musical prank, Burleske dances on a knife-edge between mischief and majesty.

Shostakovich’s gripping Symphony No 5 – veiled protest or triumphant apologia – delivers emotional power and biting irony in one of the 20th century’s most compelling orchestral works.