Kindred Spirits: Shostakovich and Britten

Britten: Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge
Anna Clyne: Glasslands for Saxophone and Orchestra
Shostakovich: Symphony No.9

Jonathon Bloxham: Conductor
Jess Gillam: Saxophone

Benjamin Britten spoke no Russian and Dmitri Shostakovich spoke no English, but they found in each other a kindred spirit, becoming firm friends, supporters of each other’s work and using a sort of broken German as a shared language.

Britten’s tribute to his teacher and mentor Frank Bridge uses each variation to loosely sketch a facet of Bridge’s personality, while Shostakovich’s Ninth Symphony was not the grand artistic statement Russia expected and instead is a witty, playful and sarcastic work that inevitably led to political trouble. And we are delighted to welcome Jess Gillam to perform Glasslands by Anna Clyne, inspired by the banshee of Irish mythology.

Doors open: 6.30pm approx.
Pre-concert talk: 7.00pm
Concert start: 7.45pm
Concert end: 9.45pm approx.