2025/26 season

Performance

Welcome to the first concert of our 2025/26 season.....and what a first concert!

Lann - Dancing to an Orange Drummer
Shostakovich - Piano Concerto No 2
Soloist:  Benjamin Powell
Strauss - Ein Heldenleben
Violin solo:  Clare Bhabra

We start with the cool grooves of Dancing to an Orange Drummer by Vanessa Lann.  It is inspired by her experience of moving to the Netherlands and adapting to a new culture. The piece features two contrasting musical elements: simple brass melodies and a repetitive rhythmic pattern, which eventually merge and harmonize. It was originally written for a Dutch ensemble and later adapted for the Boston Pops Orchestra. 

The Piano Concerto No. 2 in F major, Op. 102, by Dmitri Shostakovich was composed in 1957 for the 19th birthday of his son Maxim, who premiered the piece on 10 May 1957 during his graduation concert at the Moscow Conservatory. We are delighted to welcome back Benjamin Powell as our soloist for this evergreen work.

The concert concludes with the vast drama of Ein Heldenleben - A Hero’s Life, by Richard Strauss, where our leader Clare Bhabra takes on the soloist role which represents Strauss’s wife.

It promises to be quite a start to the season.  Do join us!


Benjamin Powell

Performance

You are cordially invited to a concert fit for a King, Queen…..Prince or Princess; the NPO’s Annual Family Prom.

Our musical journey will take us to the land of the Arabian Nights with music about the Young Prince and Princess from Scheherezade, we’ll travel to a Whole New World with Princess Jasmine from Aladdin, to a galaxy far, far away with Princess Leia from Star Wars, via gaming adventures with The Legend of Zelda, ending up in Sherwood Forest with Robin Hood:  Prince of Thieves.

With music from The King and I, The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast there’s plenty for all the family to enjoy.  You will even get the chance to sing along to Dancing Queen by ABBA.

Our country has seen many royal occasions over the years, most of them accompanied by music including Music for the Royal Fireworks and Crown Imperial, written for that most royal of occasions; a coronation.

Join us for a fabulous evening of majestic music.

Performance

Our concert in Southwell Minster this year will take you to the theatre for an evening of ballet:

Ravel - Mother Goose
Tomasi - Saxophone Concerto
Soloist: Joao Luis Correia
Tchaikovsky - Excerpts from Sleeping Beauty

Enjoy technicolour music from two of classical music’s greatest storytellers in ballet scores based on two much-loved fairytales. 

Ravel originally wrote Ma mère l'Oye as a piano duet which was later orchestrated into a five-piece suite. This form is the most frequently heard today.  Later the same year, he further expanded it into a ballet, separating the five initial pieces with four new interludes and adding two movements at the start.  The full ballet which we will play includes the "Sleeping Beauty Pavane".

Tchaikovsky's enduringly popular ballet also told the tale of Sleeping Beauty and our concert includes various excerpts from the full score, including the Sleeping Beauty Waltz. 

In addition to all that, Portuguese saxophonist, Joao Luis Correia will captivate us with his virtuosity in Tomasi’s colourful saxophone writing.


Joao Luis Correia

Performance