Booking Dates
From 10 June : Season Ticket booking
From 17 June: 3-11 concert Multibuy booking, Spectacular Six Packages & Concert Coaches
From 23 June: General booking for individuals and groups

The Hallé
Kahchun Wong                conductor
Jan Vogler                         cello

Sibelius                              Andante Festivo
Shostakovich                    Cello Concerto No. 1
Beethoven                        Symphony No. 3 ‘Eroica’

Three contrasting moods frame this Hallé concert, beginning with the hushed solemnity of Sibelius’s Andante Festivo, originally written to mark the 25^th anniversary of the Saynatsalo plywood mill but later a mainstay of dignified Finnish state occasions, including the composer’s own funeral. Steely defiance defines Shostakovich’s 1^st Cello Concerto, performed here by leading German cellist Jan Vogler. Although he wrote it during the Soviet thaw under Kruschev, Shostakovich drew deeply on his memories of years of harassment suffered during the Stalin years, filling it with searing energy and keening melodies.

Beethoven’s Third Symphony confounded the expectations of its first listeners, many of whom were perplexed by its unprecedented length and emotional extremes. But its epic narrative of heroic struggle, as Beethoven broke away decisively from Haydn and Mozart to herald the beginning of the Romantic age, has lost none of its potency over two centuries later.

Free pre-concert talk, 6.20pm in the auditorium: Jan Vogler in conversation.