Prom 46: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

Live at BBC Proms: CBSO and Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla perform music by Weinberg, Howell and Knussen, and are joined by cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason in Elgar's cello concerto.

Live from the Royal Albert Hall, London
Presented by Andrew McGregor

Dorothy Howell:
Lamia
(Henry Wood Novelties: world premiere, 1919)

Elgar:
Cello Concerto in E minor

c.8.15pm:
Interval: An exploration of the life and work of Mieczysław Weinberg with musicologists Erik Levi and Daniel Elphick, presented by Hannah Conway.

c.8.35pm:
Knussen:
The Way to Castle Yonder

Weinberg:
Symphony No. 3
(London premiere)

Sheku Kanneh-Mason, cello
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, conductor

The CBSO and Music Director Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla celebrate the centenary of Mieczysław Weinberg the man Shostakovich hailed as ‘one of the most outstanding composers’ of his day – with a rare performance of his Symphony No. 3, a work that combines folk melodies and dances with confessional urgency.

That intensity is shared by Elgar’s passionate Cello Concerto, performed here by 2016 BBC Young Musician winner Sheku Kanneh-Mason.

The concert opens with Dorothy Howell’s radiant tone-poem Lamia (first performed, like Elgar’s concerto, 100 years ago) and also includes The Way to Castle Yonder, a suite from the much-missed Oliver Knussen’s opera Higglety Pigglety Pop!