Beethoven's Triple Concerto

We start where it all began, back in 2015, with the first piece the ensemble ever played in the Queen Elizabeth Hall – Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Ballade. This wild orchestral ride brims with energy and excitement, and has become something of a signature piece for the orchestra who are long time champions of the composer.

Then it’s an all-star line-up for one of the most renowned works for multiple soloists by Beethoven, as Tai Murray, Sheku Kanneh-Mason and Isata Kanneh-Mason join the orchestra to play Beethoven’s Triple Concerto. The three musicians, all alumni of the orchestra, come together for the first time, bringing their extraordinary talent to this mighty piece.

After the interval we hear a brand new work, the second of three commissions marking the orchestra’s 10th birthday by Belize-born British composer Errolyn Wallen.

And to close the concert it’s William Dawson’s Negro Folk Symphony. ‘To me,’ says Dawson about his piece: ‘the finest compliment that could be paid my symphony when it has its premiere is that it unmistakably is not the work of a white man.’

Owning its history both personally and musically, Dawson’s symphony is enriched with the sounds of Negro spirituals woven throughout the piece. Embodying through sound the link to the African American diaspora, it’s an anthem and a voice for a displaced people.