Thursday 18th January 2018
The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester
From £13.50 (inc. booking fees); £5 student offer available
Concert begins at 7.30pm
Approximate finishing time 9.35pm
Shostakovich - Four Romances on Poems by Pushkin
Shostakovich - Cello Concerto No.1
Shostakovich - Symphony No.5
Conductor
Sir Mark Elder
Featuring:
Alisa Weilerstein, cello
James Platt, bass
Much of Shostakovich’s extraordinary output was profoundly marked by politics and the judgements of censors. The composer was on relatively safe ground when he wrote his Four Romances on Poems by Pushkin to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Russian poet’s death. Nevertheless, the first song, ‘Rebirth’, makes Pushkin’s battles with the critics very much the composer’s own. There are strong links between the songs and Shostakovich’s monumental Fifth Symphony, one of the greatest and most powerful of twentieth-century orchestral works. The great American cellist Alisa Weilerstein performed Shostakovich’s Second Cello Concerto in 2015 and now returns to perform its ground-breaking predecessor, one of the highlights of the entire cello repertoire.
This concert will be broadcast live on BBC Radio 3. Please visit the BBC Radio 3 website for more details.
Pre-concert event 6:30pm – at The Bridgewater Hall auditorium, free to concert ticket holders
Sir Mark Elder is joined by long time Hallé collaborator and composer, Gerard McBurney as they discuss the evening’s all-Shostakovich programme, touching on the influence of literature and external influences on Shostakovich’s work.
(Image credits: Benjamin Ealovega; Decca-Harald-Hoffmann; Askonas Holt; Deutsche Fotothek)
The Bridgewater Hall applies booking fee of £2 per ticket to telephone and online transactions. No fee applies to tickets bought in person or purchased as part of a fixed or flexible subscription.
Security
Patrons should note the new measures in place for admission to The Bridgewater Hall. Please visit here for details.
