These performances have been suspended due to the outbreak of COVID-19. If you are a current ticket holder,
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Arvo Pärt sought peace through stillness in a way that is almost sublime in Fratres, a minimal but deeply spiritual work from an Eastern Europe still feeling the repercussions of war. That same continent, on the brink of a great conflagration but still trusting in life and optimism, permeates Bartók’s Divertimento, written in 1939 and a signature piece for the ACO. A folk melody and a rhythmic waltz serve as a calm prelude to the mark of fear and darkness in the Molto Adagio, the need to escape clear. The answer is movement, hope emerging through rushing dance that brims with life.
In Shostakovich’s Chamber Symphony hope is harder to find but emerges from the acceptance of peace. The internal struggles, like the European battles expressed in Heinrich Biber’s Battalia, reflect a wisdom hard earned, and now expressed in grandeur and the flowering of human spirit.
Tickets for these concerts will become available from the venues in 2020. Links to tickets will be available from this