Saturday 23 May 2026, 4pm
West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge
Ethel Smyth: Overture to The Wreckers
Richard Strauss: Burleske – Piano soloist: Benjamin Grosvenor
Dmitri Shostakovich: Symphony No 5
Performed by:
Cambridge Philharmonic Orchestra
Benjamin Grosvenor – Piano
Conductor Otis Enokido-Lineham
Orchestra Leader: Phillip Granell
Performance – 1 hour 50 minutes including interval
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.
Conductor: Otis Enokido-Lineham (b.1996) British/Japanese conductor currently based in London.
Last season’s highlight including winning 1st prize at the Giancarlo Facchinetti Conducting Competition in Brescia and reaching the finals of the 2025 International Khachaturian Competition in Armenia, both of which have led to upcoming debuts and concerts throughout Europe.
For the 22/23 season Otis was an Assistant Conductor with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO). He also held the position of associate conductor with the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group NEXT Programme and worked with both ensembles in a variety of concerts and projects.
Upcoming engagement include work with the Orchestra Sinfonica della Città Metropolitana di Bari, returning to the St.Endellion Festival and National Youth Orchestra and debuts at Opera Holland Park and Glyndebourne.
Since 2021 Otis has taught at the Yehudi Menuhin School as Head of Orchestras and features in their CD release ‘Around The World In 80 Minutes’ alongside artists such as Maxim Rysanov on Orchid Classics. He has also worked with the National Youth Orchestra GB (National Tour), Purcell School Symphony Orchestra (Southbank), London Schools Symphony Orchestra (Barbican), National Children’s Orchestra (London Weekend Project) and on a side-by-side project with the London Mozart Players and students from the GDST.
In the field of contemporary music, he has worked with several of the major ensembles in the UK including London Sinfonietta, BCMG and at the Aldeburgh Festival. Abroad he has performed with the Divertimento Ensemble, Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto and Danubia Orchestra and continues a number of these collaborations in the next season. In 2023 he premiered a new opera ‘Hey Maudie’ commissioned by the Roberts Institute of Art and co-written by artist Rachel Jones, composer Joseph Howard and poet Victoria Adukwei Bulley.
“Pianism of the first order” (Boston Classical Review)
“Grosvenor is the real deal” (Financial Times)
British pianist Benjamin Grosvenor has an acclaimed international career as a soloist and chamber musician, which is reflected in his extensive discography on Decca Classics.
During his 2025/26 season, Benjamin debuts with the Swedish Radio (Beethoven 1), performs Ravel’s G major Concerto with Filharmonica della Scala, San Diego Symphony, City of Birmingham Symphony and Orchestre Svizzera Italiana and closes the Philharmonia Orchestra’s 80th anniversary season with a UK tour of Stauss’s Burleske. He also returns to the Concertgebouw Amsterdam for his debut performance with John Wilson’s Sinfonia of London.
Previous concerto engagements have included Cleveland, Chicago Symphony, Boston Symphony, NHK Symphony, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Orchestre National de France and Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. In the UK, Benjamin has performed with all the major London orchestras and very regularly at the BBC Proms, including at the First and Last Nights. As well as a solo recital in the Royal Albert Hall, his concerto performances at the Proms have included works by Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt, Busoni, Shostakovich and Britten. Benjamin’s conductor collaborations include Marin Alsop, Elim Chan, Edward Gardner, Paavo Jarvi, Nathalie Stutzmann, Krzysztof Urbanski and Kazuki Yamada.
Benjamin’s solo recitals have included Tokyo, Berlin, Warsaw, Barbican Centre, Southbank Centre, Wigmore Hall and at Klavierfest Ruhr and La Roque d’Anthéron. Last season he was a featured artist at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris and in 2024 he premiered Hommage à Liszt by Brett Dean.
In 2011 Benjamin signed to Decca Classics, the youngest British musician ever to do so, and also their first British pianist in almost 60 years. His impressive discography encompasses solo, chamber works as well as concertos; and has attracted numerous accolades; Chocs de l’année, Prix de Caecilia, Diapason d’or de l’année and Gramophone awards. His most recent release is of solo repertoire by Chopin.
Benjamin is an Ambassador of Music Masters, a charity dedicated to making music education accessible to all children regardless of their background; championing diversity and inclusion.
Philip Granell: Lead violin
Philip Granell is a violinist, violist and string arranger based in Stroud, Gloucestershire.
He is Artistic Director and violinist of Phaedra Ensemble, a London-based contemporary chamber music group with whom he has led and performed extensively across the UK and internationally for over a decade.
As a performer and recording session musician, he has worked internationally and recorded on major Hollywood film scores and for television with the likes of Netflix, Amazon and Apple. His wide-ranging musical interests span Eastern European gypsy music, contemporary classical repertoire, and collaborations with bands and artists including Arctic Monkeys, Pulp and Richard Ashcroft of The Verve.
Phaedra Ensemble release their debut album on Cantaloupe Records in September, and will be performing extensively in London and across the UK in 2027.
Photos Credit: Bill Hiskett