Overview

Debussy’s Petite Suite, orchestrated from the original piano duet version, provides a delightful introduction to an evening of enjoyable festive classical music.

Lyrical and impressionistic, its four movements conjure up pictures of rippling water, a festival parade, a minuet and a spirited dance.

The Sinfonietta is joined by critically acclaimed Norwegian pianist Natalia Strelchenko, recently appointed as Artist in Residence at the college, in Hummel’s Piano Concerto in A minor, widely regarded as the finest of his seven piano concertos and comparable with those of Mozart and Beethoven.

The concert concludes with Beethoven’s cheerful and celebratory Symphony No 8 in F major, his shortest symphony, written in only four months.

The symphony is lighthearted with some humorous touches and an apparent tribute to the invention of the metronome in the second movement!

“The next time Natalia Strelchenko comes to town, be there.” – Geoff Brown, The Times