Elgar’s Cello Concerto

Composed during the blitz and premiered at the 1943 Proms, Vaughan Williams’ serene Fifth Symphony seems like a retreat from the real world to an imagined paradise. Elgar’s equally lyrical Cello Concerto, composed in 1919, also feels like a reaction against the horrors of wartime. Vernon Handley, such a tireless champion of English music, precedes these two masterpieces with a musical fairytale by Granville Bantock, who did so much for Birmingham’s musical life and was instrumental in the founding of the CBSO in 1920.

1.15pm Pre-concert talk – Vaughan Williams’ Fifth
Baz Chapman – Programme Director of Sing Up – shares his enthusiasm for Vaughan Williams’ great wartime symphony.

We have received the very sad news that the conductor, Vernon Handley, died on 10 September aged 77. We will be looking for another conductor for this concert, and will announce the change shortly. We are dedicating this concert in memory of Vernon Handley.

£9.50, £13.50, £17.50, £21.50, £24, £28, £32

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