This programme brings Opera North debuts from extraordinary young pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason, and Italian conductor Valentina Peleggi.
In Puccini’s Preludio sinfonico, written while he was a Conservatory student, we hear his learnings from Wagner, his imaginative orchestral writing, and above all his gift for sweeping melody infused with emotion, so familiar from his later operas.
With its enchanting variations on ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star’, Variations on a Nursery Tune demands true keyboard virtuosity, as demonstrated by soloist Isata Kanneh-Mason.
Tchaikovsky saw his Fourth Symphony as “an unburdening of the soul in music”, finally recognising that “Joy is a simple but powerful force”.
