Delyana Lazarova conducts the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra with Liya Petrova on Korngold's Violin Concerto, Debussy's 'Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune' and Rachmaninov's Symphony No. 3.
The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra are at Glasgow City Halls on Thursday 4 February 2027, with Principal Guest Conductor Delyana Lazarova on the podium. It's a programme she describes as 'nostalgia, romance and adventure', and the three pieces on the bill fit that description pretty well. The night opens with Debussy's Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune, a short, warm, and sensual piece that sets a relaxed mood before things get more expansive.
The centrepiece is Korngold's Violin Concerto in D major, played by Liya Petrova, the orchestra's own Bulgarian star. The concerto is framed as a song of exile—a dream of Vienna under blue Californian skies—and it's a showcase for Petrova's 'gorgeous, silvery' tone. It's the kind of piece that lets a soloist really stretch out, and with Petrova being part of the SSO, there's a nice sense of the orchestra bringing one of their own to the front of the stage.
Closing the evening is Rachmaninov's Symphony No. 3 in A minor. It's a big, passionate work that glimmers with romance but carries a profound sense of loss underneath, so it sits well with the 'nostalgia' Lazarova mentions. The whole programme is also being played at Usher Hall in Edinburgh, where Lazarova makes her debut.
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As for the people behind it, Lazarova is a Bulgarian conductor who made her professional breakthrough at the Hallé in Manchester. The concerto brings together two Bulgarian stars on the same stage—Lazarova conducting and Petrova on violin—which adds a bit of a personal thread to the night. The concert starts at 7:30pm, and tickets are £34.50, £29.50, £24.50, £19.50, and £16.50, with the price including a restoration fund.
