Nielsen, Beethoven and Mendelssohn

Finchley Symphony Orchestra

FSO is back in its regular North Finchley venue following major refurbishment.

Beethoven had four goes writing an overture for his only opera, Fidelio.  We play the third which he rejected as it too completely charts the dramatic course of the opera itself, making it as much a tone poem as an overture.

Mendelssohn’s violin concerto needs no introduction.  It will be played by Leona Gogolicynová, one of London’s foremost young violinists, a Fellow of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama who has performed around the world and in London’s Barbican and Royal Festival Halls.

Nielsen’s second symphony was inspired by a picture he saw while enjoying a beer in a country inn.  It caricatured “the Temperaments” (choleric, sanguine, melancholic and phlegmatic) each of which is given a movement in the symphony.  Dr Christopher Tarrant, Nielsen expert, will give a pre-concert talk at 7pm to introduce Nielsen and the symphony.    

The orchestra is dedicating this concert to the memory of Tom Hammond, our popular and talented Music Director who died suddenly in December.  We welcome Christopher Stark as guest conductor for this concert.