Elizabeth Sombart performs Chopin

Although most often associated with solo piano works, Frédéric Chopin also wrote two notoriously challenging piano concertos – and appeared as soloist at each premiere. Celebrated French pianist Elizabeth Sombart joins the Orchestra to perform Chopin’s First Concerto under the baton of Pierre Vallet. The wit and sparkle of the ever-popular comic Overture to Rossini’s vaunting The Barber of Seville gets this concert off to an effervescent start, contrasting with the menacing ‘fate fanfare’ of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No.4. First performed in 1878, this symphonic masterpiece moves through brooding pessimism to a lively Scherzo and a glorious Finale.