Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra - British Classics

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra bring a full programme of British classics to the Royal Concert Hall on Wednesday 17 February 2027. They're conducted by Andrew Manze, and the night is built around British writing from the early to mid-twentieth century, with violinist Braimah Kanneh-Mason taking the solo part in Vaughan Williams's The Lark Ascending.

The programme opens with Holst's A Fugal Overture, followed by Butterworth's The Banks of Green Willow. The Lark Ascending is the evening's centrepiece, set to George Meredith's poem about a lone lark in flight above rolling meadows. From there, it's Walton's Spitfire Prelude and Fugue, which chronicles two key scenes from the wartime drama The First of the Few, and Elgar's Enigma Variations, which personifies fourteen of the composer's closest compatriots and comes with a spoken introduction. The whole thing is part of Nottingham Classics, the venue's season whose Orchestral Series brings large-scale performances from one of the world's leading orchestras to the city, pairing popular classics with rarer gems and renowned soloists and conductors.

If you want a bit more context before the music starts, there's a free pre-concert talk by Dr Joanne Cormac that fills the auditorium from 6:20pm. The evening is recommended for ages 7 and over, with under-14s needing an adult.

Doors open at 6:00pm, and the concert starts at 7:30pm. The first half runs from 7:30 to 8:05pm, followed by a 20-minute interval, with the second half running from 8:25 to 9:15pm. Tickets are £44.50 to £32.50 in Tier 1, £32.50 to £13.00 in Tier 2, and £13.00 to £44.50 in the Choir Stalls. Under-26s and full-time students pay £5 each, and there are bargain seats for £10 on the day.