Rpo: Sibelius Violin Concerto

Vaughan Williams’ dreams of England, plus a gripping showcase for violinist Liya Petrova.In the darkest days of the Second World War, the 70-year-old Ralph Vaughan Williams wrote a symphony that sounded like a vision of peace.

From misty opening to visionary finish, the Fifth Symphony is Vaughan Williams doing what he does best: spacious, eloquent and rapturously beautiful.

But it’s got drama, too, and this evening conductor Adam Hickox places it alongside two powerful and atmospheric 20th-century landscapes by Vaughan Williams’ contemporaries.

Grażyna Bacewicz’s Overture is bold and defiant – the work of a woman who spoke with her own voice in communist Poland.

And RPO Artist-in-Residence Liya Petrova explores the fire and ice of Sibelius’ mighty Violin Concerto: a gripping showcase for the ‘gorgeous sound’ (The Sunday Times) of this award-winning violinist.