Programme

Ian Wilson Goodnight stars, goodnight air (goodnight noises everywhere)
Franz Schreker Romantic Suite
Antonín Dvořák Symphony No. 8

Performers

Kevin John Edusei Conductor
Ioana Petcu-Colan Violin

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It’s time to leave all external distractions at the Ulster Hall door and bathe in a concert full of rich melody and lush orchestration.

Dvořák’s Eighth Symphony finds absolute joy in the natural world, from its opening flute solo that sounds like birdsong to its whirling dervish of a finale. The mood is warm and uplifting, sounding like sunlight diffused through the trees. Schreker’s Romantic Suite brings a little more darkness to contrast the sun; this is music where things not quite of this world sit in the shadows, just out of reach. And the evening opens with a work by Ian Wilson that invokes the simplicity of the children’s book Goodnight Moon to bring the noises of the day down to a gentle murmur.