John Warner conducts Mendelssohn and Schumann

We welcome back John Warner to conduct us in a programme of Mendelssohn’s Overture and Scherzo from a Midsummer Night’s Dream, Ravel’s Pavane, Chausson’s Poème for violin (soloist Roma Tic) and orchestra, Mendelssohn’s Hebrides Overture and Schumann’s Symphony No 4.

Two aspects of Romanticism will be contrasted in this programme: the music of two early Romantic German composers, Mendelssohn and Schumann, and works from the end of the 19th century by two French composers, Chausson and Ravel. Mendelssohn’s glorious incidental music for Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and his evocative Hebrides Overture are justly famous. Ravel’s haunting Pavane for a Dead Infanta is instantly accessible, while Chausson’s Poème is his most celebrated work, encored three times at an early performance! Schumann’s 4th Symphony will be presented in its original 1841 version, often preferred for its more transparent scoring and fresher sound.

John Warner is Founder and Artistic Director of Orchestra for the Earth and Music Director of Oxford Opera. He has conducted orchestras including the London Symphony Orchestra and BBC Philharmonic and regularly assists conductors such as Sir Simon Rattle and Daniel Harding.