Season Ticket bookings available from 22/03/18
General Ticket bookings available 30/04/18

Ottorino Respighi was born in Bologna, but Rome was the love of his musical life. His tone poem Pines of Rome has always been popular, and rightly so: this symphonic panorama of Rome’s haunted ruins and shaded gardens is one of the 20th century’s most joyous orchestral showpieces. But to hear it performed alongside its less familiar companion pieces – the glittering Fountains of Rome, and the wild, sensual Roman Festivals – is to see the very life and soul of the Eternal City laid out before you, in full orchestral widescreen. BBC SSO Associate Guest Conductor John Wilson is a master of orchestral sound; and he’s paired Respighi’s Roman triptych with exquisite works by Donizetti and Puccini.

Prelude: 6.45pm in the Recital Room

Dr Harriet Boyd-Bennett, from the University of Nottingham, discusses Respighi’s Roman music in the cultural and political context of its time.

Donizetti
Overture: Don Pasquale

Puccini
Capriccio Sinfonico

Respighi
Roman Festivals

Respighi
Fountains of Rome

Respighi
Pines of Rome

John Wilson conductor

Concert ends at approx. 9.30pm