Romantic Awakenings

Bizet’s astonishing Symphony in C was composed when he was only 17 and a pupil of Charles Gounod at the Paris Conservatoire. It only received its premiere in 1935, sixty years after Bizet’s early death.

Brimming with great tunes and a cheerful disposition, Mendelssohn’s Overture ‘The Fair Melusine’ captures brilliantly the elusive legend of the water-nymph Melusine who marries Count Raymond on condition that he does not enter her room on Saturdays – the day she reverts to being a mermaid.

Tchaikovsky’s Second Piano Concerto was given its world premiere in New York in 1881. It is a grand romantic concerto that never fails to uplift the soul. A delicate piano trio at its soft centre, with the orchestra gradually joining the tender proceedings. The last movement is a foot-stomping riot of joyful exuberance that will fully show off Julian Chan’s astonishing technique. Julian is no stranger to Worthing, having played Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto with WPO a few years ago.

Solist
Julian Chan*

Conductor
John Gibbons

Leader
Julian Leaper

Felix Mendelssohn
Overture The Fair Melusine

Georges Bizet
Symphony in C

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Piano Concerto No. 2*