Bath Symphony Orchestra is pleased to announce a very special and exciting concert to mark the beginning of its 70th anniversary season. The orchestra will be joined by the highly acclaimed Bristol Choral Society.  Mahler’s Second Symphony is one of the most expansive symphonies ever written, which will make this concert a spectacular aural and visual experience for all. Mahler demands an orchestra of more than one hundred performers, two off-stage brass and percussion ensembles, an organ, two vocal soloists and a large choir that adds to the musical texture in the final movement. The enormity of the symphony makes [...]

Our programme explores the expression of contrasting moods. En Saga was Sibelius’ first major tone poem. In spite of its title (‘A Story’) it is an abstract piece depicting the feelings inspired by the Finnish landscape. Variations on a Theme by Haydn is also a rather misleading title, as the St Anthony Chorale tune on which Brahms based the work later turned out not to have been composed by Haydn — but its unique character is the basis for a set of variations exploring a wide variety of moods and colours. Danish composer Nielsen’s Second Symphony is subtitled The Four [...]

Our Czech programme opens with the fourth of Smetana’s cycle of patriotic tone poems, Má Vlast. From Bohemia’s Forests and Meadows conjures up the feelings inspired by the Czech landscape, from the grandeur of great forests to the exuberance of village festivals. Viola player Laura Sinnerton joins the orchestra for Martinů’s melodic Rhapsody Concerto. Martinůe migrated to the USA in 1941 and the many Moravian folk tunes he employs express his longing for his native Czechoslovakia. Dvořák’s carefree Eighth Symphony is steeped in the atmosphere of the Czech countryside and features hunting horns, bird calls and lively folk tunes. Along [...]