<p>London Concert Choir and conductor Mark Forkgen with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra present an all-Russian concert at the Barbican. The evening begins with a fanfare introducing the grand Polonaise from the ball scene of Tchaikovsky’s opera Eugene Onegin. Next will be Borodin’s exotic and exhilarating Polovtsian Dances for choir and orchestra from the opera Prince Igor. The first half ends with Tchaikovsky’s Fantasy Overture – Romeo and Juliet, his impassioned orchestral interpretation of the contrasting themes of Shakespeare’s tragedy: romantic love, violent conflict and final reconciliation. The second half of the concert showcases choir, orchestra and soloists in Rachmaninov’s choral symphony The Bells, said to be his favourite composition. In its four movements he uses the orchestra to portray the glittering silver sleigh-bells, mellow golden wedding bells, loud brass alarm bells and mournful iron funeral bells on the journey from youth to the grave. The words are from a Russian version of the poem of the same name by Edgar Allan Poe. Soloists in The Bells are the soprano Natalya Romaniw, tenor Andrew Rees and bass Michael Druiett. London Concert Choir is one of London’s leading amateur choirs. With Mark Forkgen, who this season celebrates 20 years as the choir’s Music Director, LCC regularly appears at all the major London concert venues and is notable for the conviction and expressiveness of its performances in an unusually broad repertoire.</p>
