Sorcery, Magic & Fireworks | Worthing Symphony | Worthing Theatres and Museum

About Worthing Symphony Orchestra: Sorcery, Magic & Fireworks

Worthing Symphony Orchestra invites you into a world of enchantment with Sorcery, Magic & Fireworks—a dazzling programme of spellbinding music and orchestral spectacle.

From the sultry hedonism of Saint-Saëns’ Bacchanale and the dark mischief of Dukas’ The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, to the sensuous duet that is Offenbach’s Barcarolle and the thrilling energy of Grieg’s In the Hall of the Mountain King, this concert brims with drama and imagination. Symphonic favourites meet cinematic magic, with music from John Williams and Danny Elfman conjuring fantastical worlds.

At its heart, Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, performed by WSO alongside Julian Jacobson, ignites the stage with dazzling orchestral brilliance, while Ravel’s Boléro builds to a breathtaking, fiery climax. An afternoon of colour, mystery, and electrifying orchestral storytelling awaits.

For half a century Julian Jacobson has been a vital presence on the British music scene as well in more than forty countries on five continents. He has given concerts in most of the principal UK venues and appeared at the major festivals including Aldeburgh, Bath, Brighton, Cheltenham, Dartington, Edinburgh, Huddersfield, Prussia Cove on Tour, and the Proms. Abroad he appears in North and South America, China and Hong Kong, Japan, Australia and in most European countries. As a chamber musician he has partnered many distinguished musicians. A large and varied discography for labels including Decca Argo, Hyperion, Chandos, SOMM, Naxos and Meridian covers a repertoire from Beethoven to Gershwin and contemporary music.

His involvement with the Beethoven sonatas dates back to his time as Head of Keyboard Studies at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in the 1990s where he gave one of his first complete cycles. He has since presented the 32 sonatas on eleven separate occasions, five of which were “marathon” performances where he played the complete cycle from memory in a single day, one of only two pianists to have done this. He is Chairman of the Beethoven Piano Society of Europe. Recently he has developed a parallel interest in French music, giving several performances of the complete 24 Debussy Preludes as well as less often heard French repertoire.

Jacobson has given many world or UK premieres of works by major composers including Ligeti’s Etudes Book 1 in 1987. His own compositions include five film scores including “To The Lighthouse” and “We Think The World Of You”, and several instrumental pieces published by Bardic Edition, as well as his highly acclaimed Gershwin transcriptions which he has recorded with his duo partner Mariko Brown.

He was one of the very first musicians to start a daily broadcast during lockdown, commencing on day two and continuing for six weeks with a different piece every day. Currently he teaches at the Royal College of Music London and the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, and is Guest Professor at Xiamen University, China.

Julian was already performing and composing at a very early age. At 7 he began studying with Lamar Crowson (piano) and Arthur Benjamin (composition), and by the age of 10 he had four songs published. Later he studied at the Royal College of Music and at Queen’s College, Oxford, and had private lessons with the great Hungarian pianist Louis Kentner. He was also a founder-member of the National Youth Jazz Orchestra.