Sheffield Music Makers Concert

An eclectic mix of musical morsels which combine together to make a wonderfully appetising whole!

Sheffield Chamber Orchestra open their concert with Rossini's Overture to the Barber of Seville, which is stuffed full of his trademark catchy tunes some of which are instantly recognisable.

By contrast, few will have heard their second piece Mina, who was Elgar's cairn terrier and this is his hymn of thanks to her.

Caplet composed his Suite Persane in response to the Exposition Universelle held in Paris in 1889 evoking the foreign, exotic lands which he encountered there.

Next is Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir de Florence which seems to have been inspired by Italy's sunny climes -- their string section plays the 2nd Movement with its richly romantic main theme, before they close the first half with Rachmaninov’s Scherzo in D minor.

After the interval, another well known piece, Handel’s Suite #2 in D from the Water Music which was composed at the request of King George I who wanted a concert on the River Thames, and Handel obliged him with this masterpiece.

Next comes Svendsen’s Romance where their soloist on the night will be their leader Ralph Dawson and finally, they’ve chosen Mozart’s 31st Symphony — “Paris” for their grand finale — notable for having an unusually large instrumentation for its time and the first symphony where in which Mozart used clarinets.