Mendelssohn: Overture: Midsummer Night’s Dream
Respighi: Il Tramonto (‘The Sunset’)
Haydn: Symphony No. 6 Le Matin

Conductor: David Brophy
Mezzo Soprano: Sarah Richmond

Conductor David Brophy makes a welcome return to the Ulster Orchestra for a concert which starts at dusk in an Athenian forest, traces a Romantic sunset and ends with the start of a brand new musical day!

Mendelssohn’s Overture for A Midsummer Night’s Dream was written when he was just 17 and it is a fantastically clever piece of writing, with musical references to the play’s key themes – you’ll hear the Athens court, the star-crossed lovers, dancing fairies and even the braying of poor Bottom in his magically-transfigured state!

Il Tramonto is considered one of Respighi’s greatest masterpieces, written for mezzo soprano and string quartet/string orchestra in 1914. It is a setting of the poem The Sunset by Percy Bysshe Shelley, a story of young love cut short by tragedy - he dies in the night and she lives on in grief, looking after her aged father. Respighi creates a mini-opera in which the soloist leads us through all the emotions of the poem – your guide on this occasion will be Sarah Richmond, hailing from Carrickfergus and one of Northern Ireland Opera’s Associate Artists.

When Haydn’s employer, the Hungarian Prince Paul von Esterházy, was inspired by his love of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons to suggest that the composer wrote a series of pieces inspired by the times of the day, Haydn took the hint. The ensuing Symphony No. 6, subtitled Le matin, is both a delightfully fresh response to the Prince’s command and an ingenious showcase for every player in his orchestra. What a way to meet the sunrise!

This concert will last approximately one hour and will be available for streaming for 30 days after the event.