Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra play it smooth at Portsmouth Guildhall

Following her season debut, Marta Gardolińska returns to Portsmouth Guildhall to conduct Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in Smooth Classics II.
Marta Gardolinska, BSO Leverhulme Young Conductor in AssociationMarta Gardolinska, BSO Leverhulme Young Conductor in Association
Marta Gardolinska, BSO Leverhulme Young Conductor in Association

Unwind with a programme of relaxing symphonic music, including four incredibly beautiful slow movements from piano concertos performed by internationally renowned pianist Anna Fedorova.

Polish conductor Marta Gardolińska was appointed as the BSO's Leverhulme Young Conductor in Association earlier this year and performed her first main season concerts with the BSO last month, stepping in at the last minute for Ben Gernon who was indisposed due to ill health. Marta's performances were extremely well-received by both audiences and critics.

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Anna will be joining Marta and the orchestra to perform the slow movements from Piano Concertos by Shostakovich, Rachmaninov, Mozart and Beethoven. Born In Ukraine in 1990, her international concert career took off when she made her debut at the Concertgebuow, Amsterdam playing Chopin's Piano Concerto No.2 aged 16. She has now performed there more than 30 times.

Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on Greensleeves is an exquisite four minute orchestral miniature that was inspired by the traditional English folk song and tune Greensleeves that was extremely popular during the Tudor period. Williams once said that '˜the art of music above all arts is the expression of the soul of the nation', and in this piece he captures the essence of England in music.

The orchestra will also be performing the second movement, andante cantabile, from Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony. The initial reaction to this symphony was muted, at best. But after his death the work grew in popularity and both audiences and critics acknowledged Tchaikovsky's great skill as an orchestrator and now it is one of his most famous pieces.

Other works featured in this concert include Intermezzo from Bizet's Carmen, Ravel's Pavane, Sibelius' Valse Triste and Dvořák's Serenade for Strings.

SMOOTH CLASSICS II

Portsmouth Guildhall

Friday, November 16

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