Delyana Lazarova – conductor

Wagner Siegfried Idyll
Bacewicz Concerto for Orchestra
Arensky Variations on a Theme by Tchaikovsky
Stravinsky/Schäffer The Firebird (1945)

Pre-concert talk at 6.45pm.

Winner of the Siemens-Hallé International Conducting Competition, Delyana Lazarova begins the concert with Wagner’s beautiful birthday present to his wife Cosima. Grażyna Bacewicz’ Concerto for Orchestra is one of the finest examples of neoclassicism in Polish music. It was written in 1948 in the style of a Baroque concerto grosso but with modern harmonies and influences of Polish folk music. Stravinsky’s ballet music for The Firebird, depicting the breath-taking battle between good and evil, propelled him to international fame and began his enduring relationship with the choreographer Sergei Diaghilev.