VIVALDI The Four Seasons, Op. 8 Nos. 1-4
BERLIOZ Roman Carnival Overture, Op. 9
RESPIGHI Pines of Rome

Conductor Brett Mitchell presents a concert celebrating 200 years of music from the Italian Peninsula. Joining him is young American violinist Angelo Xiang Yu, who takes the lead in Vivaldi’s most famous set of concerti, The Four Seasons.

Roman Carnival Overture is a stand-alone concert piece with close ties to Berlioz’s opera Benvenuto Cellini, based on the autobiography of the famous Italian Renaissance sculptor. It is one of his most popular and virtuosic overtures. The second work in Respighi’s trilogy of tone poems about the eternal city uses enormous orchestral forces and is all the more recognisable for its inclusion in Disney’s Fantasia 2000.