Beethoven’s Overture to his incidental music The Ruins of Athens opens the evening with a portrait ideal of the old world, sublimely represented in Classical style. 2018 Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition Winner Roman Kosyakov provides a thrilling interpretation to Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 2, an extraordinary and colossal work blending intense drama with a lightness of feeling in the exchanges between soloist and orchestra.

Written when the composer was barely 17 years old, Bizet’s Symphony in C major demonstrates the extraordinary prowess of a youth who had yet to make a name for himself. Inspired heavily by his teacher Gounod, there is versatility of expression demonstrated in the lyricism of the Adagio and the breathless tempo of the final Allegro vivo.

This concert is kindly supported by the Fairlight Arts Trust.