Details

Conductor Alexander Shelley, a frequent guest conductor with London orchestras, joins the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at Hull City Hall for the second concert of its 2014-15 concert series. Versatile Italian pianist Alessio Bax, who is no stranger to Beethoven piano works, performs Beethoven's 'Emperor' Concerto. This all-Beethoven programme opens with the dramatic Coriolan Overture. Based on the tale of banished Coriolanus, the Overture captures a series of stormy episodes. Beethoven's Piano Concerto No.5 (nicknamed the 'Emperor' by audiences), written only a few years after the suspenseful Overture, is one of the most energetic - and yet moving - piano masterpieces of its time, with beautiful melodies, varied textures and sheer flamboyance. The composer's emphatic Symphony No.5, completed three years before the 'Emperor' Concerto, really needs no introduction other than its own: the motif that dominates the Symphony (made up of four notes) epitomises all that was brilliant about the Classical era and still dominates concert halls today, as it will tonight. Royal Philharmonic Orchestra website.

Cast/Performers

Alessio Bax (piano)

Creatives/Company

Company: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Conductor: Alexander Shelley