The Hallé in Nottingham: April 2023

Norwegian conductor Tabita Berglund is one of an exciting new generation of conductors emerging from Scandinavia and the Baltic, and has been widely praised for her positivity and ‘boundless energy’ (The Guardian). She finds a natural partner in the brilliant young Swedish cellist Jakob Koranyi, described by The Strad as ‘a force to be reckoned with’. For this visit he’ll be playing Dvořák’s passionate Cello Concerto, whose emotive themes are played out in an expansive, symphonic soundscape.

The Hallé’s new Composer in Residence, Dobrinka Tabakova, is known for her richly atmospheric yet immediately accessible music. Inspired by the opening melody of Schubert’s C major Fantasy for violin and piano, her Fantasy homage is a shimmering, cosmological tone poem for strings, built on multi-layered textures with solo viola. Sibelius’s Fifth Symphony is more rooted in the rugged

landscape of Finland, with its clean lines and etched rhythms. Nevertheless, he succeeds in creating real sweep and grandeur, building from hushed daybreak to a visionary hymn-like finale, inspired by witnessing a flight of swans ascending into a radiant solar haze.