Guildford International Concert Season

Priority Live & Subscription pre-sales: Tue 6 May 2025 General on-sale: Fri 16 May 2025, 10am Silver Subscription - 3 Concerts Gold Subscription - 4 Concerts Platinum Subscription - 5-6 Concerts The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra returns to G Live with a programme of masterworks by Dvořák, Mendelssohn and Beethoven.   ‘I am the new Bacchus, pressing out glorious wine for the human spirit’: Ludwig van Beethoven never pulled his punches, but until you’ve heard his Seventh Symphony in full flight, you’ve never known just how intoxicating music can be. That’s just the climax to a whole concert that highlights some of these composers’ most well-known works.   Before that, British virtuoso violinist Jack Liebeck brings his ‘flawless technical mastery’ and a ‘beguiling silvery tone’ to Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto. One of the foremost violin pieces of the Romantic era, it took Mendelssohn over six years to complete and was the last concerto he composed before his untimely death at the age of 38.  Kevin John Edusei launches the evening with Dvořák’s joyous Carnival Overture, the third a final work in his Nature, Life and Love trilogy; a celebration of the composer’s love for his native land and its majestic landscape. Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Conductor - Kevin John Edusei  Soloist - Jack Liebeck, violin Dvořák -Carnival Overture  Mendelssohn - Violin Concerto in E minor  Beethoven - Symphony No. 7 This season we are proud to introduce The Cheryl King Trust as our charity partner. Please note: For the enjoyment of all those attending, and in respect of those performing, please note that latecomers will not be admitted until the end of a work. Similarly, should you need to leave the auditorium during the concert, re-admittance will also be at the end of the work. For clarity, latecomers and re-admittance is not permitted between movements.

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra return to G Live for a performance filled with drama, conducted by Kristian Sallinen. We begin with the thrilling Overture to Beethoven’s Egmont. The music was written for Goethe’s play about Count Egmont, who tried and failed to overthrow the Duke of Alba, resulting in his execution. Listen out for the final, fateful movement of the sword, which is audibly played out by the violins. The RPO’s Principal Clarinet, Katherine Lacy, will then take to the stage to perform Mozart's Clarinet Concerto, a cornerstone of the clarinet repertoire and regarded as one of the finest pieces for the instrument. The concert concludes with Brahms’ monumental First Symphony, which took the composer nearly fifteen years to write, as evidenced by the pure musical intensity throughout the work. Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Conductor - Kristian Sallinen Soloist - Katherine Lacy, clarinet Beethoven - Egmont Overture   Mozart - Clarinet Concerto   Brahms - Symphony No. 1 We are pleased to renew our partnership with The Cheryl King Trust, whose vital work ensures that young people across Surrey can access music lessons regardless of financial barriers, and experience the transformative benefits of learning an instrument. Please note: For the enjoyment of all those attending, and in respect of those performing, please note that latecomers will not be admitted until the end of a work. Similarly, should you need to leave the auditorium during the concert, re-admittance will also be at the end of the work. For clarity, latecomers and re-admittance is not permitted between movements.

We’re very pleased to welcome the Flanders Symphony Orchestra and the British conductor Duncan Ward, who as part of their programme will pay their respects to two English composers - Ralph Vaughan Williams and his great friend George Butterworth, to whom he dedicated his second symphony after which he tragically died during the Battle of the Somme in 1916. His haunting ‘A Shropshire Lad Rhapsody’ will open the programme and after the interval we’ll hear Vaughan Williams’s ethereal Lark Ascending, beloved by British audiences. In the first half Alexandra Soumm will perform the second of our Mozart concertos, his 5th Violin Concerto, with its pulsating finale. The programme will end with Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8, commissioned by London’s Royal Philharmonic Society and regarded as one of his greatest works. Flanders Symphony Orchestra Conductor - Duncan Ward Soloist - Alexandra Soumm, violin Butterworth - A Shropshire Lad Rhapsody Mozart - Violin Concerto No. 5 Vaughan Williams - The Lark Ascending Dvořák - Symphony No. 8 We are pleased to renew our partnership with The Cheryl King Trust, whose vital work ensures that young people across Surrey can access music lessons regardless of financial barriers, and experience the transformative benefits of learning an instrument. Please note: For the enjoyment of all those attending, and in respect of those performing, please note that latecomers will not be admitted until the end of a work. Similarly, should you need to leave the auditorium during the concert, re-admittance will also be at the end of the work. For clarity, latecomers and re-admittance is not permitted between movements.

The Hanover Band was formed in London by Caroline Brown in March 1980 and has an international reputation for the excellence of its performances and recordings of 18th and 19th-century music. The orchestra comprises some of the best period instrument specialists in the UK. Their performances and recordings have been described as ‘revelatory, luscious, outstanding and illuminating’ Performing Handel’s Messiah in this concert, the subject is the ‘greatest story ever told’ and Handel’s setting has been described as the ‘greatest single work in the English language’. It is certainly the most popular and probably the best loved oratorio of all time, a perfect festive treat for music lovers of all ages. The Hanover Band Handel - Messiah We are pleased to renew our partnership with The Cheryl King Trust, whose vital work ensures that young people across Surrey can access music lessons regardless of financial barriers, and experience the transformative benefits of learning an instrument. Please note: For the enjoyment of all those attending, and in respect of those performing, please note that latecomers will not be admitted until the end of a work. Similarly, should you need to leave the auditorium during the concert, re-admittance will also be at the end of the work. For clarity, latecomers and re-admittance is not permitted between movements.

Emma Johnson and Orchestra for the Environment are excited to return to G Live to present Mozart’s Jupiter Symphony. Its elemental energy will be a fitting climax to an evening of music inspired by the power of nature. The cavernous depths of Fingals Cave, resounding with waves and rolling surf, moved Mendelssohn to write his exhilarating Hebrides Overture. Handel’s Water Music on the other hand is a celebration of a statelier stretch of water - the River Thames, replete with royal pleasure barges carrying King George I and his courtiers. Emma Johnson’s Icelandic Scenes will be heard for the first time in concert and were written on a visit to Iceland when she was bowled over by the sheer natural force of the spectacular Waterfall of the Gods. Emma will also play a perennial favourite for clarinet, the Clarinet Concerto by Gerald Finzi, a work of emotional depth evoking the English countryside. Orchestra for the Environment Director and soloist - Emma Johnson OBE, clarinet Handel - selection from The Water Music Mendelssohn - Hebrides Overture Finzi - Clarinet Concerto Emma Johnson - Icelandic Scenes – Whale Song and Waterfall of the Gods Mozart - Jupiter Symphony We are pleased to renew our partnership with The Cheryl King Trust, whose vital work ensures that young people across Surrey can access music lessons regardless of financial barriers, and experience the transformative benefits of learning an instrument. Please note: For the enjoyment of all those attending, and in respect of those performing, please note that latecomers will not be admitted until the end of a work. Similarly, should you need to leave the auditorium during the concert, re-admittance will also be at the end of the work. For clarity, latecomers and re-admittance is not permitted between movements.

Winner of the 2025 RCM Concerto Competition, Misha Kaploukhii makes his G Live debut, joining conductor Oliver Zeffman and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra as soloist in Beethoven’s poetic Piano Concerto No.4. To close the concert, the RPO will perform Sibelius' Symphony No.5 in all its glory, from its enigmatic opening to the blazing triumphal finale. But first, the evening opens with Carl Nielsen’s life-affirming Helios Overture, the Danish composer’s radiant evocation of the sun god and his chariot as it journeys across the sky. Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Conductor - Oliver Zeffman Soloist - Misha Kaploukhii, piano Nielsen - Helios Overture   Beethoven - Piano Concerto No. 4   Sibelius - Symphony No. 5 We are pleased to renew our partnership with The Cheryl King Trust, whose vital work ensures that young people across Surrey can access music lessons regardless of financial barriers, and experience the transformative benefits of learning an instrument. Please note: For the enjoyment of all those attending, and in respect of those performing, please note that latecomers will not be admitted until the end of a work. Similarly, should you need to leave the auditorium during the concert, re-admittance will also be at the end of the work. For clarity, latecomers and re-admittance is not permitted between movements.

We’re delighted to welcome more friends from Ukraine and are very pleased that the Ukrainian National Philharmonic Orchestra, under their Music Director Theodore Kuchar, will perform a mixed programme which concludes with Beethoven’s iconic Symphony No. 5 with its famous fate motif. This will be preceded by music from the Ukrainian composer Ivan Nebesnyy’s exciting ballet suite ‘Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors’. The first half of the concert will begin with Brahms’s exhilarating Hungarian Dance No. 5 followed by Mark Bebbington continuing the Mozart theme with a performance of the most popular of all Mozart piano concertos, his deeply romantic Concerto No. 21 which became famous when it was used in the film Elvira Madigan. The first half will end with Manu Martin’s Lim Fantasy of Companionship for Piano & Orchestra. Ukrainian National Philharmonic Orchestra Conductor - Theodore Kuchar Soloist - Mark Bebbington, piano Brahms - Hungarian Dance No. 5 Mozart - Piano Concerto No. 21 Manu Martin - Lim Fantasy of Companionship for Piano and Orchestra Ivan Nebesnyy - Suite from the Ballet Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors Beethoven - Symphony No. 5 We are pleased to renew our partnership with The Cheryl King Trust, whose vital work ensures that young people across Surrey can access music lessons regardless of financial barriers, and experience the transformative benefits of learning an instrument. Please note: For the enjoyment of all those attending, and in respect of those performing, please note that latecomers will not be admitted until the end of a work. Similarly, should you need to leave the auditorium during the concert, re-admittance will also be at the end of the work. For clarity, latecomers and re-admittance is not permitted between movements.

Tonight, conductor Olivia Clarke will lead the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in one of Tchaikovsky’s most highly regarded works (albeit one that was overshadowed by the composer’s untimely death just nine days after its premiere): his Sixth Symphony, ‘Pathétique’. This towering work perfectly encapsulates the composer’s ability to translate emotional power into music. Performing Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No.3 will be the outstanding Canadian pianist and 2024 winner of the Dame Fanny Waterman Gold Medal at the Leeds International Piano Competition, Jaeden Izik-Dzurko. Throughout its forty-odd minutes, Rachmaninov maintains an extraordinary degree of melodic and structural spontaneity, fully reflecting the blistering speed at which the work was composed. Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Conductor - Olivia Clarke Soloist - Jaeden Izik-Dzurko, piano Rachmaninov - Piano Concerto No. 3 Tchaikovsky - Symphony No. 6 ‘Pathétique’ We are pleased to renew our partnership with The Cheryl King Trust, whose vital work ensures that young people across Surrey can access music lessons regardless of financial barriers, and experience the transformative benefits of learning an instrument. Please note: For the enjoyment of all those attending, and in respect of those performing, please note that latecomers will not be admitted until the end of a work. Similarly, should you need to leave the auditorium during the concert, re-admittance will also be at the end of the work. For clarity, latecomers and re-admittance is not permitted between movements.

Our old friends, the Czech National Symphony Orchestra, will return to Guildford to end the season with a performance featuring two Tchaikovsky masterpieces and one of the most popular symphonies in the repertoire, Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9. The programme will start with Tchaikovsky’s dramatic and passionate music depicting Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet, which will be followed by his epic First Piano Concerto, performed by the leading Israeli pianist Alon Kariv. The Orchestra’s current Music Director is the distinguished American conductor Steven Mercurio so it is appropriate that he conducts Dvořák’s 9th Symphony ‘From the New World’, providing a perfect finale to our season. Czech National Symphony Orchestra Conductor - Steven Mercurio Soloist - Alon Kariv, piano Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture Tchaikovsky - Piano Concerto Dvořák - Symphony No. 9 ‘From the New World’ We are pleased to renew our partnership with The Cheryl King Trust, whose vital work ensures that young people across Surrey can access music lessons regardless of financial barriers, and experience the transformative benefits of learning an instrument. Please note: For the enjoyment of all those attending, and in respect of those performing, please note that latecomers will not be admitted until the end of a work. Similarly, should you need to leave the auditorium during the concert, re-admittance will also be at the end of the work. For clarity, latecomers and re-admittance is not permitted between movements.