Bristol Concert Orchestra

‘Brilliant, thrilling performances’ ( from Evening Post review) Bristol’s longest established orchestra opens an exciting new chapter with dynamic guest conductor Simon Hilberding, in a programme of vivid musical confrontations.

Wagner’s Tannhäuser is a man torn between holy love and debauchery, finally granted redemption after tragedy. The overture that starts our concert distils the conflict in the sensually chromatic Venusberg music and the exalted pilgrims’ chorus.

Sibelius’s Violin Concerto is a dialogue between the glowing southern warmth of the solo line and the dark northern austerity of the pared-back orchestral accompaniment. We are thrilled to welcome Geza Hosszu-Legocky from Brussels as our soloist, fresh from acclaimed performances in Paris and London. The final work is Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony. Written out of the turmoil of his disastrous attempt at marriage, it is obsessed with the struggle between hope and Fate: ‘the force which prevents our hopes of happiness from being realised … Life is a perpetual alternation between grim reality and transient dreams of happiness’.