Programme
BERNSTEIN：Candide OvertureListen
COPLAND：Clarinet ConcertoListen
DVOŘÁK：Symphony no. 9, From the New WorldListen

As our esteemed Music Director embarks on his new venture as Music Director of the world renowned New York Philharmonic, we honour him with this American-themed programme. Premiered 125 years ago rather aptly by the New York Philharmonic, Dvořák’s most popular and beloved symphony is perhaps best known for its cor anglais solo in the slow movement’s main theme, inspired by the African-American spirituals and plantation songs the composer had heard. Andrew Simon, an acclaimed concert soloist as well as our own Principal Clarinet, will take centre stage in Copland’s Clarinet Concerto, a thrilling musical journey from the lyrical and charming to the quirky and energetic.

Programme Charles IvesCentral Park in the Dark BERNSTEINSerenadeListen SAINT-SAËNSSymphony no. 3, OrganListen World-renowned violinist James Ehnes, recently named Instrumentalist of the Year by the Royal Philharmonic Society (2017), will perform Leonard Bernstein’s Serenade. This lyrical and elegant, Plato-inspired Serenade for solo violin, strings, harp and percussion is a piece for which Ehnes is praised for his “lustrous tone, rock-solid intonation and impeccable phrasing.” The concert starts with Central Park in the Park which the composer, Charles Ives described as “a picture-in-sounds of the sounds of nature and of happenings that men would hear some 30 years ago”. In the same programme, the largest pipe organ in Southeast Asia will show its mettle in Saint-Saëns’ spectacular symphony under Leo van Doeselaar, official organist of the Concertgebouw.