SMETANA Libuse - overture
SUK Fantasy in G for Violin and Orchestra
MAHLER Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen
DVORAK Symphony No. 9, ‘From the New World’

Jiri Belohlavek conductor
Dagmar Peckova soprano
Ivan Zenaty violin

Tonight’s profusely romantic programme celebrates the vibrancy of Czech music, the strength of which influenced young Mahler and soared to sublime creative heights in Dvoøák’s ‘New World’ Symphony. Mahler, who grew up in a town today located within the Czech Republic, was entranced by the piquant flavour of local folk music as a lad. The Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, performed here by the wonderful Czech soprano, Dagmar Peèkova, draw deep from the composer’s memory banks of folksong, natural wonders and rural life.

Pre-concert talk, 6.00pm
Fountain Room
An introduction to tonight’s concert

VIC HOYLAND Phoenix (BBC commission: world premiere)
STRAUSS Hymne an die Liebe Op. 71 No. 1; Das Rosenband Op. 36 No. 1; Die heiligen drei Könige Op. 56 No. 6; Morgen Op.27 No. 4; Cäcilie Op. 27 No. 2
STRAUSS Ein Heldenleben

Andrew Litton conductor
Soile Isokoski soprano

Finnish soprano Soile Isokoski’s quintessentially romantic Richard Strauss interpretations are always characterful and heartfelt and here she turns to a beautiful collection of orchestrated Strauss songs. Tonight’s concert opens with Phoenix, the final part of an orchestral triptych specially commissioned from Yorkshire-born composer Vic Hoyland. Andrew Litton crowns his return to the BBC Symphony Orchestra with Strauss’s immense tone-poem, Ein Heldenleben.

Pre-concert talk, 6.00pm
Fountain Room
Vic Hoyland in conversation