Dear Friend,

The Studio Symphony Orchestra is marking its 75th anniversary with a thrilling programme of Shostakovich and Mozart at the Elmwood Hall in Belfast on Saturday 25th March 2023 at 7.45pm.

Festive Overture by Shostakovich opens this celebratory concert with a fanfare fitting to the occasion before Michael McHale performs Mozart’s universally popular Piano Concerto No.9, known familiarly as Jeunehomme.

Belfast-born Michael McHale has established himself as one of Ireland’s leading pianists and has developed a busy international career as a solo recitalist, concerto soloist and chamber musician. A technically complex work, Jeunehomme is also beautifully expressive – a melancholic lament in the slow movement followed by a swirling and jovial finale.

The second half of the concert features Shostakovich’s magnificent 12th Symphony. Lavishly orchestrated, this powerful work, ostensibly written to commemorate the life of Lenin, is widely recognised nowadays as instead mocking Stalin, who sought to suppress Shostakovich's creativity. It is both powerful and at times very beautiful music, with what must be one of the most dramatic climaxes to any symphony!

This concert also marks the retirement of our long-standing principal conductor David Openshaw MBE, and our leader Ottoline Maas. Both David and Otti will be greatly missed as the orchestra moves into a new chapter in it's history.

Tickets £16 (£14 concession) Available online at www.studiosymphony.org.uk or via Facebook from Matchett’s Music, 38 Wellington Place, Belfast or at the door, subject to availability. We strongly recommend booking in advance.

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