Sunday
15.02.2026
2.00pm
Rachmaninov's symphony no.1
Afternoon Performances on sale from 15 May 2025
£17.50 (includes restoration fund) - Early Bird Rate
£20.50 (includes restoration fund) - if bought less than 2 weeks before the concert
Tea & Symphony
Enjoy lunch before the concert!
Join us for a light lunch of soup and sandwiches followed by a selection of cakes, as well as unlimited tea or coffee for just £13.95, from 12.30pm at any of our Afternoon Performance concerts. Symphony Tea is provided by the venue and is served in the Recital Room at City Halls.
Spaces are always in high demand, so please be sure to pre-book a separate ticket for lunch when purchasing your concert tickets at the Box Office.
Click here to book Tea & Symphony tickets. (Concert tickets are purchased separately.)
DEBUSSY- Prélude á l'aprés-midi d'un faune
PROKOFIEV - Violin Concerto No.2
_Interval_
RACHMANINOV Symphony No.1
HANA CHANG violin
CHLOÉ VAN SOETERSTÈDE conductor
“Vengeance is mine; I will repay, sayeth the Lord”. And taking his cue from those thunderous words, the young Rachmaninov hurled himself into a First Symphony on a formidable scale. Dark, turbulent and burning with unrequited passion, this is music as gothic melodrama - lost (but later recovered) when its composer fled the Russian Revolution for a life of exile.
It’s a gripping climax to this concert from guest conductor Chloé Van Soeterstède: an afternoon that begins in the dream-world of Debussy’s mythical Faun, and ends at the gates of the inferno. But there’s time to sing, and to dance too - and when you hear BBC Radio 3’s New Generation Artist Hana Chang play Prokofiev’s zingy Second Violin Concerto, you’ll believe that a violin can do both.
_Seating for Afternoon Performances is unreserved_