Chineke! Orchestra’s first concert of the year at the Southbank Centre opens with Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's charming Petite Suite de Concert.
Written in 1911, the year before his untimely death aged 37, the work has a refinement and light-heartedness that evokes Edwardian Britain of the pre-war years, and is one of the composer’s most highly regarded works.
The American composer George Walker's Concerto for Trombone and Orchestra (1957) was one of the very first works written for a trombone soloist, though few musicians have had the opportunity to perform it with a full orchestra.
Walker was encouraged by his publisher to make a piano reduction of the orchestral part to create a sonata instead.
Chineke! Orchestra is delighted to be performing the work in its original concerto form as Walker intended, with Kenneth Thompkins making his solo debut at the Southbank Centre.
The programme ends with Beethoven's timeless Pastoral Symphony, a piece that takes the listener on a journey through rolling landscapes of Arcadia.
Performers
Chineke! Orchestra
Anthony Parnther conductor
Kenneth Thompkins trombone
Repertoire
S Coleridge-Taylor: Petite suite de concert, Op.77
Ravel: Pavane Pour une Infante Défunte
Walker: Trombone Concerto
Interval
Beethoven: Symphony No.6 (Pastoral)