Claus Efland conductor
Peter Smith principal tuba, Philharmonia Orchestra

Elgar ‘In the South’
Vaughan Williams Tuba Concerto
Holst The Planets
With the Ladies of the Leicestershire Chorale

The Bardi start their 25th Anniversary season with a celebration of English music by three of the country’s greatest composers.

Gustav Holst’s musical depiction of ‘The Planets’ is a favourite in the orchestral repertoire, and calls for huge instrumental forces, including six horns, organ and wordless female chorus, to bring the seven spheres to life.

Peter Smith, the principal Tuba of the Philharmonia Orchestra, will give the Leicester audience a chance to hear Ralph Vaughan Williams’s rarely performed masterpiece for the orchestra’s lowest instrument, the Concerto in F minor.  

The concert opens with Edward Elgar’s sparkling and evocative depiction of a family holiday in the town of Alassio, on the Italian Riviera, with his overture ‘In the South’.

6.30pm Free pre-concert talk from BBC Radio Leicester’s John Florance.

“The playing was stunning. Every section was well prepared and confident, with radiant surging strings, luminous woodwind, glowing brass and two sets of battling timpani." Leicester Mercury