Programme

• Vaughan Williams - Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
• Harris - Symphony No. 6 'Last Letter'
• Schumann - Symphony No. 1 ‘Spring’

A Ross Harris première is an event, and his Sixth Symphony, with mezzo-soprano Fiona Campbell, promises to be a highlight of the season. 

The symphony sets poetry by Harris’s long-time collaborator Vincent O’Sullivan. Awaiting an unjust execution, a woman writes a farewell letter to her mother: Harris’s music tells the terrible story. 

In the first piece on the programme, the APO strings will shine. Vaughan Williams’ massive, quietly ecstatic masterpiece is a cathedral in sound. Schumann’s perfectly named ‘Spring’ Symphony was sketched in just four days, in the early months of Schumann’s marriage, and it fairly bursts with uncomplicated joy.