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Shostakovich By Heart – London

Ukrainian virtuoso Valeriy Sokolov joins us as soloist for Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto, before we bring our signature memorised performance style to Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 9.

Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto
Introduction to Shostakovich 9 by Nicholas Collon and Tom Service
Shostakovich Symphony No.9 in E flat (performed from memory)

Valeriy Sokolov violin
Tom Service presenter
Nicholas Collon conductor/presenter

Shostakovich By Heart – London

Fri 24 Jun 2022, 7.30pm
Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall
£10-£50 (plus booking fee)

For the latest in its thrilling series of memorised performances at London’s Southbank Centre, Aurora Orchestra performs Shostakovich’s ninth symphony by heart, harnessing the power of an orchestra playing from memory to explore a 20th-century masterpiece from the inside out. Principal Conductor Nicholas Collon teams up with BBC Radio 3’s Tom Service to offer audiences a uniquely vivid musical introduction with live excerpts. They unpack the musical architecture of the symphony’s fleet-footed melodies and dance-filled rhythms, before Aurora’s musicians put it back together with a complete performance of the work.

To open the concert, Aurora welcomes Kharkiv-born violinist Valeriy Sokolov as soloist for Tchaikovsky’s monumental Violin Concerto.

‘Marvellous… Playing from memory, Aurora created an organic sense of community, dynamism and inspiration.’ New York Times

CHANGE OF SOLOIST:
This concert originally announced Patricia Kopatchinskaja as the soloist for Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto. We are sorry that Patricia is unfortunately no longer able to join us for this concert. We are thrilled that Aurora will now be joined by the Ukrainian soloist Valeriy Sokolov. Born in Kharkiv in 1986, Sokolov is one of the leading violinists to come out of Ukraine in the past twenty years. A former winner of the George Enescu International Violin Competition, he has appeared with leading orchestras across the globe, including collaborations with Vladimir Ashkenazy, Susanna Malkki, Andris Nelsons, Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Kirill Karabits.