This romantic programme opens with dreamy imagery of the Scottish countryside evoked in Mendelssohn’s Hebrides Overture . This is followed by perhaps the most-loved pianist on the planet, Maria João-Pires, playing one of Schumann’s piano concerto. Finally, the London Symphony Orchestra performs what many regard as Mendelssohn’s finest orchestral work, his Scottish Symphony .
The London Symphony Orchestra brings ‘vitality and insight into every phrase’, according to a Seen and Heard review. Since his conducting debut at the Wigmore Hall in 1966, the British Sir John Eliot Gardiner has become a conducting legend. Last year due to health concerns he had to cancel his tour to Australia with the Monteverdi choir, but fingers crossed this season sees him restored to health and back to conducting again. With more than 250 recordings to his name, it is no wonder he has won so many awards internationally. Trumpeter, Michael Harrison who has worked under his baton, says: ‘I would say that no other musician brings more intellectual rigour or innate musical sensibility to their work.’
Grammy-nominated Pires turns 60 next year (2014). She made her first public piano appearance when she was just seven years old and rose to international fame in 1970, when she won the Beethoven Bicentennial Competition in Brussels. In 2006 she moved to Brazil, but she continues to delight audiences all over the world.
Tickets: fee, £3.50 telephone booking fee)
Address & Map: Silk St, EC2Y 8DS
Nearest Tube: Barbican, Moorgate
| What | Sir John Eliot Gardiner and the LSO, Barbican Hall |
| Where | Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London, EC2Y 8DS | MAP |
| When |
On 21 Jan 14, 7.30pm |
| Price | |
| Website | Click here to book via the Barbican |
