Sheffield Chamber Orchestra's 2026-27 season starts in vibrant style and provides a very rare opportunity to hear an Ophicleide played (as we're playing Mendelssohn's piece as originally composed.)
The concert opens with Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream Overture, one of the most astonishing works of his teenage years.
We then travel to Bohemia with Dvořák’s Czech Suite, a celebration of Czech folk traditions and landscapes. Its contrasting movements reveal Dvořák’s gift for melody, from gentle pastoral music to lively dances full of rhythmic energy.
Handel’s Concerto Grosso in B-flat major, Op. 6 No. 7 provides a fascinating contrast. Written in the grand Baroque concerto grosso tradition, the work alternates between the full ensemble and a smaller group of soloists, creating an elegant conversation between different sections of the orchestra.
The concert concludes with Louise Farrenc’s Symphony No. 1 in C minor an ambitious and powerful work, combining the influence of Beethoven with her own distinctive melodic voice and sophisticated orchestral writing.
Felix Mendelssohn – A Midsummer Night's Dream, overture, Op.21
Antonin Dvorak – Czech Suite, Op.39
George Frideric Handel – Concerto Grosso in B flat major, Op.6 no.7 (HWV 325)
Louise Farrenc – Symphony no.1 in C Minor
Event description by organisers.
