English

The St Albans Symphony Orchestra are playing at St Paul's Church on Saturday 6 March 2027, with the concert starting at 7:30pm. It's a full evening of orchestral music, and the programme pulls from a few different eras, so there's a fair bit to get through.

The centrepiece is Britten's Violin Concerto, with Fenella Humphreys taking the solo part. It's a substantial work, and having a dedicated soloist on the night means the violin gets its own space rather than just blending into the orchestral texture. That's the one that takes up the most room in the set, and it's the piece the evening is built around.

Around it, the orchestra will run through three other works. There's Bax's Tintagel, a piece of late-Romantic orchestral writing that's known for its scale and sea-swept mood. Then there's the overture to The Wreckers by Ethel Smyth, a composer who doesn't always get the same billing as the names usually on these programmes. And finally, Elgar's Enigma Variations, which is one of the most recognisable pieces in the British orchestral repertoire — a series of variations, each a musical portrait of one of Elgar's friends, and a long, detailed work that takes up a good chunk of the night on its own.

Guest conductor Alex Mackinder will be leading the orchestra through the whole thing. The concert is at St Paul's Church on Blandford Road, AL1 4JP, and tickets are £18, £13, £5 for students, and £2 for accompanied children. It starts at 7:30pm on Saturday 6 March.