Music Director of Opera North, Richard Farnes concludes his illustrious 12-year term with the company with a performance of Lutosławski’s Concerto for Orchestra and Mahler’s First Symphony at Leeds Town Hall on Saturday 5 December.
The Concerto for Orchestra by the Polish composer Witold Lutosławski was premièred in 1954 and, like Bartók’s earlier work of the same title, is a remarkable demonstration of the virtuosity of the modern symphony orchestra. With folk melodies rubbing up against 20th century atonality and building to a dramatic climax, it’s the perfect piece with which to celebrate the creative partnership of Richard Farnes and the Orchestra of Opera North.
Mahler’s First Symphony is full of vivid orchestral scene-painting, from the ethereal, glorious opening sunrise from which the work derives its nickname, ‘Titan’, to a fittingly triumphant conclusion. Mahler’s breath-taking work uses the full dynamic range of the orchestra in its shifts from intimate to epic: “The symphony should be like the world,” said the composer; “it should embrace everything.”
Richard Farnes, Music Director, Opera North, comments:
“For this concert one of Mahler’s most exciting and popular scores is paired with a thrilling orchestral showpiece from the middle of the twentieth century, never before performed by the Orchestra of Opera North. Don’t be reluctant if the title’s unfamiliar: Witold Lutosławski’s Concerto for Orchestra is a roller-coaster half hour of pulsating, energetic, nimble and very striking music – and that’s not just for the audience! It seems highly appropriate that for my final concert as Music Director it is the entire, wonderful Orchestra of Opera North that are the soloists.”
Tickets for this concert are priced at £12.50-£33.50 and are available from the Box Office on 0113 376 0318 or book online at www.leedsconcertseason.com.
Don’t forget that 50% discounts are available for students, under 18s and jobseekers. Plus, if you’re under 26 you can purchase tickets for an orchestral concert for just £5 in the seven days before the concert.