Programme

Nino Rota The Godfather Suite
Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco Violin Concerto No.2 The Prophets
Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Symphony No.6 Pathétique

Performers

Daniele Rustioni Conductor
Francesca Dego Violin

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Tonight’s concert opens with one of the most recognisable melodies of all time from Rota’s The Godfather Suite. A lone trumpet rings through the hall, lamenting a world slipping away, before taking us through a world teeming with Italian folk colour and romance. Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s The Prophets blazes with Jewish cultural pride and identity, written at a moment when that pride was becoming dangerous. Tchaikovsky’s Pathétique, conducted by the composer himself just nine days before his death, closes the evening in extraordinary fashion, fading to near silence rather than triumph. Music Director Laureate Daniele Rustioni returns to celebrate the orchestra’s 60^th anniversary, joined by violinist Francesca Dego.