Saturday 25 November 2023
Brinsley performed with the University of York Symphony Orchestra in its autumn concert in the Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, conducted by John Stringer. The programme opened with Kaija Saariaho’s Lumière et Pesanteur, written in memory of the composer who had died earlier that year, continued with Sibelius’s En Saga, and closed with Shostakovich’s Fifteenth Symphony, his last, which is full of quotations and solo writing for the orchestra’s principals.1
Kaija Saariaho Lumière et Pesanteur
Jean Sibelius En Saga, Op. 9
Dmitri Shostakovich Symphony No. 15 in A major, Op. 141
Conductor: John Stringer
The concert “was played to a packed auditorium”, and the review gave “great credit to the University Symphony Orchestra and conductor John Stringer, who have deservedly generated such a trusted following”. The climax of En Saga was “very effective”, and the Shostakovich “a terrific performance”.2
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