violin

Characterised by striking tensions, and bold rhythms, harmonies and orchestration, its florid passages and extended double-stopping figures demand a virtuosic soloist.

There’s a languid, sun-kissed feel to Camille Saint-Saëns’ Fantasie for violin and harp that may well reflect the composer’s state of mind when he composed it.

“The Sibelius Violin Concerto is always a favourite. It’s an evocative journey through the icy Finnish landscape, with the lone voice of the violin weaving in and out of the brooding orchestral timbres below.”

“…Here we get the composer at his most light-hearted – you can almost hear in these dances a young Shostakovich playing the piano to accompany silent films,” writes Angus McPherson.

“I have always been drawn to the intimate and vulnerable nature of chamber works, so this collection is an ode to the introverts out there. These smaller-scale works and soaring lines offer glimpses into sound capsules of different worlds – I hope you’ll find moments of incredibly moving depth and stillness.”

The mainstage is our epicentre, where a hundred voices move as one to delight, inspire, soothe and uplift. Join us with open hearts for the big human stories: revolution, loss, redemption and connection.

Inspired by a poem by George Meredith, “The Lark Ascending” is one of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ most beloved works.

“The weaving, soaring violin melody that opens Australian composer Arthur Benjamin’s Sonatina for Violin and Piano immediately beguiles the listener and attests to Hubert Howells’ description of Benjamin as ‘an unashamed Romantic,’ writes Angus McPherson.

Bartók incorporates “elements of Hungarian peasant songs into his own, complex harmonic language,” writes Angus McPherson.

“The guitar makes the dreams weep,” Poulenc inscribed above the central movement of his Violin Sonata, completed under Nazi occupation.