Top soloists announced for Ripon orchestra's concert this weekend packed with musical tour-de-forces

Taking place in the lovely setting of Holy Trinity Church this Saturday, November 11, the programme for the concert will give this excellent orchestra’s string section a real opportunity to shine.

Audiences can look forward to: Grieg’s ever-popular Holberg Suite, Benjamin Britten’s atmospheric song cycle exploring the calm and sinister aspects of night: Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings and Tchaikovsky’s virtuosic tour-de-force for strings: Souvenir de Florence.

The Holberg Suite – or, officially, From Holberg’s Time – is a supremely crafted work, harking back to the music of the 1700s but with a distinctly Romantic twist.

Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings was composed for his partner, Peter Pears, and horn player Dennis Brain, who premiered the work together in 1943.

The six sung movements draw on poetry from the 1400s through to Blake, Keats and Tennyson.

Tchaikovsky’s magnificent Souvenir de Florence was originally composed for string sextet but is often played by full string orchestra.

The soloists for the evening are Yorkshire Tenor, Nicholas Watts, known to local audiences for his work with Opera North, and French horn player, Catherine Hewitt, who enjoys a busy freelance career across the north of England.

Tickets (under 18s go free) are available online at: www.ticketsource.co.uk/st-cecilia

Or in person from Harrogate Theatre and the Little Ripon Bookshop, or on the door from 7pm on concert day.