Sibelius’ Violin Concerto | RPO Big Give Christmas Challenge Concert

Shostakovich and Sibelius, with conductor Tito Muñoz and violinist Francesca Dego.

“I need the sound of the trampling of steel-shod boots”, Shostakovich told the first performers of his Ninth Symphony – but this audacious, irreverent mini-masterpiece certainly wasn’t the victory march that the Soviet authorities were expecting at the end of the Second World War. Great music never plays by the rules, and this is a concert full of wonderful surprises – whether a radiant vision of the Northern sunrise by a neglected Finnish genius, or a joyous glimpse of Grieg and his family celebrating a wedding at home.

The dynamic American conductor, Tito Muñoz, joins superstar violinist Francesca Dego (described by Bachtrack as “utterly flawless”) in a song of fire and ice: Sibelius’s windswept, wildly romantic Violin Concerto.

RPO Big Give Christmas Challenge Concert

The RPO is thrilled to be taking part in this year’s Big Give Christmas Challenge, a match-funding initiative that allows you to have double the impact. Our campaign is raising funds for our vital series of Relaxed Concerts which are specially designed for people of all ages who may find traditional concert settings challenging.

Every donation to the campaign will be doubled thanks to the generous support of an RPO benefactor and our Big Give Champion funder, the Reed Foundation.

Please help us open up the thrill of live orchestral music to the widest possible audience.

Our target: £35,000

Find out more and donate

Large print versions and digital formats of the programme for this concert are available on request for customers with accessibility requirements. Please email your request to Doran Crowhurst crowhurstd@rpo.co.uk at least one full week before the performance.