Thelma Handy was appointed joint leader of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra in 2007 and has appeared as a soloist with them on many occasions. She is one of Crosby Symphony Orchestra’s favourite artists, and this will be her fifth violin concerto with the orchestra.
The concert starts with Shostakovich’s famous Festival Overture. Astonishingly written in just three days, it is a veritable tour de force of frenetic optimism. By contrast, Prokofiev’s second Violin Concerto presents almost the entire scope of human emotion, from expansive sensual tunes to wildly unsettling passages of raw terror. There is no let-up in Rachmaninov’s second symphony either. Richly orchestrated with some of the most unforgettable tunes in the orchestral repertoire, it is surely one of the most popular classical pieces of all time