Rossini Overture to Semiramide

Schumann Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54

Brahms Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98

The Bedfordshire Symphony Orchestra are delighted to present their first concert of 2023. We are celebrating a remarkable milestone – 50 years with Michael Rose on the podium.

Michael studied at The Royal Academy of Music with violin and piano as his instrumental studies. He started his career as a schoolmaster, then became a Music Advisor before becoming Assistant-in-Charge of the BBC Training Orchestra in Bristol. During this time he trained and conducted the orchestra regularly and broadcast frequently – twice in the 1970 Proms. In 1972 Michael moved to Bedfordshire as County Music Inspector and, ever since, has conducted the Symphony Orchestra, performing a diverse repertoire over the years and welcoming such high-profile soloists as Tasmin Little and John Lill. In 1990 Michael was awarded the OBE for his services to music.

This celebratory concert open with Rossini’s Overture to Semiramide, Rossini’s last opera for the Italian stage, first performed in Venice in 1823. The overture features two themes – a scampering string theme typical of Rossini, and a contrasting Andantino for four horns.

The orchestra will welcome back superb pianist Mengyang Pan to perform Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A Minor.  The Concerto was premièred in 1845 with Mendelssohn conducting and Schumann’s wife Clara as soloist. Sometimes lively, sometimes tender, the concerto closely entwines the roles of soloist and orchestra.

The concert concludes with Brahm’s majestic Fourth Symphony, completed in 1885. One of the best-loved works in the Symphonic repertoire, the Fourth Symphony, ‘tragic’ in its minor key, combines great lyricism and great drama. It features, amongst its many highlights, arguably the most beautiful melody ever written (for the cellos in the second movement) and a stunning Passacaglia fourth movement rich in contrasts.