Talented Bulgarian pianist Emanuil Ivanov will be joining the Plymouth Symphony Orchestra at two forthcoming concerts.

Plymouth Symphony Orchestra will be at the Public Hall, Liskeard on November 20 at 5.30pm and Plymouth Guildhall, November 23 at 7.30pm.

The opening work is the cheerful and light-hearted Karelia Overture by Sibelius. It features beautiful bold themes, as well as references to the better-known Intermezzo. This is followed, in great contrast, by Wagner’s moving and mystical Siegfried’s Death and Funeral March from Götterdämmerung, which was the last in Wagner’s cycle of his four music dramas, The Ring.

Emanuil Ivanov joins the orchestra for Grieg’s well-known Piano Concerto in A Minor (Plymouth concert only). He has performed at festivals around the world, as well as playing with leading orchestras in Bulgaria and Italy. This talented young pianist has won many prizes, including being awarded first prize at the Busoni International Piano Competition in Italy in 2019.

 Dvorak’s Slavonic Dances (Liskeard concert only) are a series of popular orchestral pieces, which were originally written for piano duet. Although these were modelled on Brahms’ Hungarian Dances, an important difference is that he didn’t actually use Slavic folk melodies and instead used their characteristic rhythms to create the Slavonic flavour.

The final work, Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, was inspired by the loss of his artist friend, Viktor Hartmann. The work is based on an exhibition of Hartmann’s pictures and Ravel’s popular arrangement has ensured the work’s enduring popularity.

For ticket information see ad below.