Daughter of our professional leader, dazzling violinist Lizzie Dawson provides us with our youthful focus tonight. By the age of 13 Lizzie had already achieved Grade 8 with distinction, gaining a place the following year at the Junior Royal Northern College of Music studying with Deirdre Ward. 2019 saw her leading the Hallé Youth Orchestra and since then she has been studying at the full RNCM with Catherine Yates. She enjoys exploring a wide variety of styles and genres, and last year performed a new piece composed for her by Emily Pedersen, a Faber published composer, entitled “Lizzie Squared”. She has also taken part in the RNCM’s new music concert, as principal 2nd violinist, playing a mix of contemporary compositions. Future plans include continuing to learn, post graduate studies, tackling the vast repertoire for her instrument, and a fervent wish to become a professional musician.

She is joining the orchestra to play the stunning Mendelssohn Violin Concerto. This piece holds a central place in the violin repertoire, and having developed a reputation as an essential concerto for all aspiring concert violinists to master it is usually one of the first Romantic era concertos they learn. It is a firm favourite with performers, orchestras and concert goers alike.

Bartók had an interest in folk music for most of his life, and a lot of his works turn around it including his “Romanian Folk Dances” with which we open our concert. This suite of 6 pieces is based on tunes originally played on either the fiddle or the shepherd’s flute and whilst is was first composed for piano it was orchestrated by Bartók himself. It combines simple tuneful melodies with Bartók’s unique percussive pulsating style and whilst Bartók rarely used key signatures we are using the 1971 edition which does include them!

Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings is full of pathos and cathartic passion and has been described as the saddest music in the classical repertoire. It is an intense and deeply moving piece which was composed during the mid ’30’s — a time of great fear. It is this sense of sadness and of impending doom that infuses the music. More complex musically than it sounds, the music has been featured in many TV and movie soundtracks and was played at Albert Einstein’s funeral as well as immediately following the announcement of the death of JFK.

Our theme on youth continues in our concluding piece, Schubert’s 3rd Symphony, which he wrote when still a teenager — a few months after his 18th birthday!! In contrast to Barber’s work this is a piece full of the positivity and energy of youth which can be seen from his tempi. For, following the usual slow introduction to the fist movement we have Allegro con Brio; then Allegretto; followed by Menuetto and Vivace; and finally a galloping Presto. Influenced by Rossini it will send you home with the sense of the joys of spring.

The programme for the evening is: –

• Bartok — Romanian Folk Dances

• Mendelssohn — Violin Concerto

• Barber — Adagio for Strings

• Schubert — Symphony No. 3