Wednesday 10, Thursday 11* and Sunday 14 January 2007, 7.30pm

Rossini Overture: The Barber of Seville  8'
Chopin Piano Concerto No.1 in E minor 41'
Mendelssohn Symphony No.3 in A minor, 'Scottish' 27'

Rory Macdonald conductor • Evgenia Rubinova piano

Evgenia Rubinova was an immediate hit with the Hallé when her performance with the orchestra won her the silver medal in the 2003 Leeds Piano Competition, and Opus One audiences will remember her generous encore from her last appearance at The Bridgewater Hall. She returns in Chopin's First Piano Concerto, with its lovely central romance and vibrant Polish national colour. When Chopin toured Scotland the journey and the weather nearly killed him. Mendelssohn's visit some years earlier, however, inspired his delightful 'Scottish' Symphony, its jaunty tunes associated, according to the composer, with men with 'long red beards, tartan plaids, bonnets and feather, naked knees and bagpipes in their hands'.

Wednesday 10 January - BUY ONLINE
Thursday 11 January - BUY ONLINE
Sunday 14 January - BUY ONLINE

* Sponsored by BASF plc