Brighton and East Sussex Youth Orchestra

If you are looking for something to do on the evening of Monday, 11 May 2026, the Brighton and East Sussex Youth Orchestra is performing at the Brighton Dome Concert Hall. The concert starts at 19:30 and is part of the Brighton Festival programme. It is worth noting that the event is suitable for families, with a recommendation for those aged five and over, though anyone under 14 will need to be accompanied by an adult.

The programme for the evening covers a mix of styles. The orchestra, led by artistic director Peter Michael Davison—who has been with the group since its formation in 2021—will perform Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto. For this piece, they are joined by the 19-year-old American pianist Curtis Phill Hsu, who won the Hastings International Piano Competition in 2024. Alongside the Rachmaninoff, the setlist includes Ethel Smyth’s overture to 'The Wreckers', a piece based on her opera about Cornish fishermen, and Saint-Saëns’ 'Danse Macabre'. They will also play 'Airs and Fanfares' by Nicola LeFanu, a work composed in 2024 specifically for young musicians to balance technical challenge with accessibility.

The venue itself, the Brighton Dome on Church Street, has a long history in the city, having been converted from the royal stables of 1803 into a concert hall in 1867. For this specific performance, the Brighton Festival has arranged for a Steinway concert piano to be supplied and maintained by Steinway & Sons, London.

Regarding the logistics, tickets are priced at £10, £15, and £17.50. If you are booking online or over the phone, there is an additional £3.50 booking fee per order, though this does not apply to members. It is a straightforward setup for a classical music evening in the city, offering a chance to see a youth orchestra perform a varied programme in a historic venue.