Spectacular Six offers an easy way to book the six biggest and loudest concerts, saving 25% on all tickets. You must book all six concerts to claim the discount, which applies to all seats apart from the £12 and £9.50 (bargain) seats. Spectacular Six Packages can be booked online, through our Box Office or using the form in the Nottingham Classics brochure.
The Hallé
Tuesday 30 September 2025, 7.30pm
Kahchun Wong conductor
Truls Mørk cello
Shostakovich Festive Overture
Elgar Cello Concerto
Rachmaninov Symphony No. 2
A majestic fanfare opens our new season, as the trumpets of Shostakovich’s 1954 Festive Overture herald five-minutes of joyful high spirits. Its dutiful optimism, composed in just three days in celebration of the 37th anniversary of the Bolshevik revolution, would no doubt have felt forced to him, having been harried by the Soviet regime for several years. But it’s hard to resist the overture’s blistering momentum and the soaring nobility of its big tune. The mood of Elgar’s Cello Concerto could hardly be more different; his last major work is a poignant farewell to a world blown apart by the Great War. The acclaimed Norwegian cellist Truls Mørk is our soloist in this emotive dialogue between soloist and orchestra.
Rachmaninov’s Second Symphony was a major personal achievement given the critical mauling his First had received, but he was in a positive mood when he wrote his second, with a settled home life and space to think whilst on a retreat in Dresden. The most expansive of his symphonic works, it has drama and passion to match its epic span. At its heart is one of the most rapt slow movements ever heard, sharply contrasted by a wildly inventive scherzo and the exhilarating energy of the finale.
Free pre-concert talk, 6.20pm in the auditorium: David Butcher, Chief Executive of the Hallé, in conversation.
City Of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Wednesday 15 October 2025, 7.30pm
Michael Seal conductor
Marie-Christine Zupancic flute
Katherine Thomas harp
Britten The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra
Mozart Flute and Harp Concerto
Mussorgsky (orch. Ravel) Pictures at an Exhibition
For a showcase of all the colours in an orchestra’s palette, this CBSO concert is a great place to start. Benjamin Britten’s famous orchestral guide began life in 1945 as the soundtrack to an instructional film, but its pitch perfect spotlighting of each instrument, all based around Henry Purcell’s Rondeau from the play Abdelazar, has never dated. On a more intimate scale, Mozart’s much-loved Flute and Harp Concerto gives two CBSO Principal players a chance to shine. Composed in 1778 for the flute-playing Duke of Guines and his harpist daughter, it wasn’t exactly Mozart’s most cherished commission, as he admitted to disliking both solo instruments. Nonetheless he delivered it in style, its graceful interplay showing Mozart at his most charming and lyrical.
Mussorgky’s Pictures at an Exhibition began life as a finger-crunching solo piano piece, written in tribute to his artist friend Viktor Hartmann, whose memorial exhibition the composer had viewed in 1874. It became a concert hall classic in Maurice Ravel’s peerless 1922 orchestration, which added lustre to Mussorgsky’s gallery of vivid portraits and scenes, from a grotesque gnome and squabbling children to a lumbering ox cart and the legendary Russian witch, Baba Yaga. Finally, peeling bells and blazing brass summon a spectacular procession through the Great Gate of Kiev.
Free pre-concert talk, 6.20pm in the auditorium: Michael Seal in conversation.
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
Friday 7 November 2025, 7.30pm
Elena Schwarz conductor
Peter Moore trombone
Debussy La Mer
Dani Howard Trombone Concerto
Mahler Symphony No. 1
How often do you hear a trombone concerto in an orchestral programme? It’s a rarity at best, but the most versatile instrument in the brass section can tingle spines and melt hearts in the hands of a great soloist, and with Peter Moore, former BBC Young Musician winner at the age of just 12, we’re in the presence of trombone superstardom. For his Nottingham concerto debut he’ll be playing the piece specially written for him by the brilliant young British composer Dani Howard, whose sparkling sound world has been winning legions of fans. Written during the pandemic her concerto is a celebration of hope and humanity during the most difficult times and draws on every element of the trombone’s enormous expressive range, from warm, soaring lyricism to spring-heeled, sonic gymnastics.
The rest of the brass section also gets plenty of places to shine in this concert. Mahler’s epic 1st Symphony features seven French horns, standing to deliver in its stormy finale, whilst Debussy’s Symphonic Suite, La Mer, is a memorable showpiece for trumpets, adding their brilliance to his impressionistic study in light and movement, beginning with the sea emerging at dawn and ending in a tumult of crashing waves.
Free pre-concert talk, 6.20pm in the auditorium: Peter Moore in conversation.
The Hallé
Friday 13 March 2026, 7.30pm
Alpesh Chauhan conductor
Denis Kozhukhin piano
Britten Courtly Dances from Gloriana
Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 3
Walton Symphony No. 1
Commissioned for the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, Gloriana attracted controversy in exploring the hidden romantic life of the monarch’s namesake and predecessor. Britten’s music, though, brilliantly captures the spirit of Elizabethan dances and lute songs, whilst giving them an ironic 20th-century distance. The seven Courtly Dances that open this concert are an immediately appealing example.
Rachmaninov performed his Third Piano Concerto as part of his first tour of the United States in 1909, and the first concerts in New York set it on the road to becoming an essential part of the repertoire. Loved by millions for its waves of epic melody and exhilarating shifts of gear, it also tests the mettle of every concert pianist with its daunting technical demands. Facing the music in this performance is Belgian pianist Denis Kozhukhin, an artist with a great gift for performing big Russian repertoire. Now regarded by many as the finest British symphony ever, Walton’s First Symphony was written when he was just 30 and his turbulent relationships with two women – Imma von Doernberg and Alice Wimborne – drive its edge-of-the-seat emotions and partly explain why it took him five years to finish. Nevertheless it shows the young Walton at his ambitious best, his unbridled energy and impish wit running riot.
Free pre-concert talk, 6.20pm in the auditorium: William Ruff introduces Walton’s First Symphony.
Spanish Galicia Symphony Orchestra
Thursday 16 April 2026, 7.30pm
Roberto González-Monjas conductor
Thibaut Garcia guitar
Falla Three Dances from The Three-Cornered Hat
Rodrigo Concierto de Aranjuez
Ravel Ma mère l’Oye (Suite)
Turina Sinfonía sevillana
Ravel Boléro
Our first visit from a Spanish orchestra in many a year brings this exciting young ensemble from the port city of A Coruña. They’re joined by Thibaut Garcia, who’s been hailed as ‘the new face of classical guitar’ after winning every major international guitar competition within the space of just a few months. His performance of Rodrigo’s evergreen Concierto de Aranjuez – so popular that it’s been recorded over a hundred times – is the centrepiece of a richly varied programme from Spain and France.
Manuel de Falla gets things started with three catchy dances from his big-hearted pantomime of 1919, a tongue-in-cheek tale of amorous rivals. More magical stories make up Ravel’s captivating Ma mère l’oye (Mother Goose), his peerless orchestration breathing new life into famous fairy tale characters. Joaquín Turina’s evocative Sinfonía sevillana dates from 1920 and won him the Gran Casino de San Sebastián prize. Its impressionistic three movements offer colourful views of Andalusia: a scene-setting panorama, the river Guadalquivir, and a joyous fiesta in San Juan de Aznalfarache. Ravel’s famous Boléro ensures a suitably spectacular ending. Starting out as a commission for ballerina Ida Rubinstein it became a concert hall classic whose appeal lies in it its daring simplicity: two hummable tunes weaving together over a relentless snare drum rhythm into a glorious musical procession.
Free pre-concert talk, 6.20pm in the auditorium: Dr Sophie Redfern introduces the programme.
The Hallé
Thursday 4 June 2026, 7.30pm
Euan Shields conductor
Simone Lamsma violin
Janáček Taras Bulba
Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto
Dvořák Symphony No. 8
The prodigiously gifted Euan Shields signs off his tour of duty as the Hallé’s Assistant Conductor with this red-blooded Slavic programme, beginning with Janáček’s atmospheric rhapsody for orchestra, Taras Bulba. Inspired by Gogol’s novella, this gritty portrait of the Cossack leader and his ill-fated sons vividly captures their battle-scarred lives and loves. Dutch violinist Simone Lamsma, whose dazzling artistry blew us all away last season, makes a welcome return with Tchaikovsky’s ardent Violin Concerto. It was written amidst the wreckage of his ill-advised marriage but the composer found inspiration in his friendship with violinist Yosif Kotek and completed the score in less than a month. The result was a triumph; unashamedly virtuosic yet fresh and lyrical, with a heartfelt slow movement and a whirling gypsy finale.
We wrap up our season with Dvořák’s colourful Eighth Symphony, written at the height of his popularity in 1889. One of his most joyful works, it radiates all the energy and charm of his Bohemian homeland. Sounds of the countryside and village life are vividly evoked, from birdsong to brass bands, and it’s packed with glorious, feelgood tunes, all the way to its roof-raising conclusion.
Free pre-concert talk, 6.20pm in the auditorium: Euan Shields in conversation