EVENT CANCELLED: we very much regret that owing to the delay in government restrictions easing, this event can no longer go ahead. Bookers will be contacted by the Apex Box Office – many thanks for your understanding.
‘Dreaming, hearing loss and saying goodbye’. So reads the evocative subtitle for Richard Ayres’ Three Pieces about Ludwig van Beethoven, premiered by Aurora Orchestra behind closed doors at last year’s BBC Proms. Aurora’s first post-pandemic appearance at Southbank Centre offers the first opportunity for a live audience to experience this radiant, intensely personal work, described The Times as “Stupendous… Unbearably poignant, yet also indefatigably stoic.”
Beethoven’s own voice is heard in his monumental Violin Concerto, performed here with soloist Nicola Benedetti. Nicholas Collon conducts a performance that sees Aurora’s memorised performance approach – with players performing without sheet music or music stands – applied to a concerto for the first time.
‘Marvellous… Playing from memory, Aurora created an organic sense of community, dynamism and inspiration.’ The New York Times