Our next performance

Marking the 250th Anniversary of the United States of America’s independence from Great Britain in 1776, this concert presents the work of American composers of the twentieth century.

The concert will get off to a rousing start with the unique blend of exciting cross-rhythms and jazz harmonies of Leornard Bernstein as we play the overture to his operetta Candide, written in 1956.

We will then be joined by the pianist Jackson Leung to play George Gershwin’s ever-popular Rhapsody in Blue. This piece is not only a tour de force for the piano soloist but challenges the whole orchestra to adopt the jazz and dance idioms that Gershwin brought to the concert hall.

Chorus and soloists then take the stage in the second half to perform the Grand Mass in E-flat by Amy Beach. One of the long list of overlooked women composers, Amy Beach was a child prodigy pianist who performed widely in the USA before her marriage at 18 years old. She then devoted most of her time to composition and, upon widowhood 15 years later, resumed her musical career to wide acclaim. In recent years many orchestras world-wide are now rediscovering this forgotten talent.