World-famous violinist Nicola Benedetti joins forces with Worthing Symphony Orchestra

Worthing Symphony Orchestra principal second violin Helen Allport was asked to name the violin players she most admired.
Nicola BenedettiNicola Benedetti
Nicola Benedetti

She replied: “I find Nicola Benedetti’s playing refreshingly uncomplicated and beautifully shaped.”

Helen and the rest of the orchestra will be in their element when Benedetti joins the WSO in Assembly Hall, Worthing, on Friday, January 15, at 7.30pm.

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WSO spokeswoman Jennie Osborne said: “Since her success in winning BBC Young Musician of the Year as a 16-year-old back in 2004, and her later Assembly Hall appearances, Nicola has held a special place in the hearts of WSO players and the Worthing audiences who have watched her career scale the heights of international superstardom.

“Nicola won Young Musician of the Year performing Polish composer Karol Szymanowski’s First Violin Concerto, and it is with Szymanowski she returns for this evening concert in mid-January. This time it’s his Second.

“Sir Simon Rattle describes Szymanowski as one of the greatest composers of the 20th century, and few have stepped so dramatically from the shadows into the limelight in recent years. His harmonically-adventurous music has been championed by Rattle and others and continues to attract growing ranks of admirers.

“Written in 1933, Violin Concerto No 2 is very different from its predecessor, and little trace is left of the flowery poetry and ornament of the first. No 2 is striking in its originality and is not wholly reminiscent of any other style. In spirit, character and form it is difficult to find any model for it among the violin concertos that precede it, yet it still retails some of the delicate lyricism of the composer’s earlier work and provides a perfect match for Nicola’s artistry.”

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Jennie added: “Elsewhere in this evening concert programme, it is the orchestra that comes to the fore. In Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No 4 the mighty composer proves he knows how to write a great tune – with plaintive oboe, rushing scales, lush strings and booming brass that suits the fine acoustic of the Assembly Hall perfectly, and the fourth swells to the rafters with poignancy and optimism.

“Conductor John Gibbons and the orchestra are also given free rein with Edvard Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suite No 1. Second only to his Piano Concerto, Peer Gynt is Grieg’s most popular work, which includes Morning and In The Hall Of The Mountain King which are among the best-loved of all short orchestral compositions.”

Tickets are available from Worthing Theatres Box Office on 01903 206206, worthingtheatres.co.uk, priced £25 and £28.

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