The Aurora Orchestra staged a Proms first last year when it performed Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 from memory. Now the dynamic young ensemble returns to continue this season’s sequence of family-friendly matinees, giving Beethoven’s ‘Pastoral’ Symphony the same direct, communicative treatment.

It is paired with Australian composer Brett Dean’s own homage to nature – a work, he explains, inspired by ‘glorious birdsong, the threat that it faces, the loss, and the soulless noise that we’re left with when they’re all gone’.

Former BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist Francesco Piemontesi joins the orchestra for Mozart’s late ‘Coronation’ Concerto, and the afternoon also features the premiere of a new commission from British composer Anna Meredith – also performed from memory.

Brett Dean
Pastoral Symphony 15’

Mozart
Piano Concerto No. 26 in D major, K537 ‘Coronation’ 32’

interval

Anna Meredith
Smatter Hauler c5’
BBC commission: world premiere

Beethoven Symphony No. 6 in F major, ‘Pastoral’ 40’

Francesco Piemontesi piano

Aurora Orchestra
Nicholas Collon conductor