Mendelssohn and Wagner

The composers of the Romantic era liked their landscapes untamed, their stories sensational and their emotions larger-than-life – so that’s exactly what conductor Jac van Steen delivers tonight. Mendelssohn conceived his ‘Scottish’ Symphony at twilight in Edinburgh, as he wandered the ruins of Holyrood Abbey: what follows is a sweeping musical drama of mist-covered moors and warring clans. Wagner’s Overture to Rienzi is even more over the top: a rip-roaring musical swashbuckler inspired by a tale of bloody rebellion amid the ruins of Rome. You simply have to hear it! And in between… well, we can’t say yet, because it’ll be performed by the newly crowned winner of the 2024 Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition. But if previous Competitions are anything to go by, you’re about to hear a star in the making.