Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra are delighted to be performing this spectacular programme at Salisbury Festival, under the baton of Chief Conductor Mark Wigglesworth and joined by the wonderful violinist Jennifer Pike as soloist.

Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture flaunts his melodic prowess in a work of emotional intensity and heart-breaking beauty.

Vaughan Williams’ best loved and most enduring Romance opens almost imperceptibly, out of which the ‘lark’ takes wing, rising, undulating, falling. The Lark Ascending is a picture of a perfect world; an intensely beautiful and idyllic tableau of English life that may have been lost forever.

The main musical manifestation of Beethoven’s love of nature is his Symphony No.6 ‘Pastoral’. The leisurely opening is followed by a Scene by the Brook which unfolds with aptly flowing grace, accompanied by the birdsong of a nightingale, quail and cuckoo. The Merry Assembly of Country Folk have their dancing interrupted by a violent thunderstorm, but soon the opening mood of serenity is restored by the uplifting final.