St Albans Symphony Orchestra 2025 summer concert

SASO will complete its 2024-25 season on Saturday 5th July, at St Saviour's Church, Sandpit Lane, St Albans AL1 4DF.
Doors will open at 6:50 p.m. for a 7:30 p.m. start. Refreshments will be available in the interval, between the concerto and the symphony.
With Artistic Director Bill Carslake conducting, we will play -
• William Walton’s Portsmouth Point Overture,
• Edvard Grieg’s Piano Concerto No.1, with soloist Gabrielė Bekerytė,
• Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No.10.
Ticket prices are: £18 (nave), £13 (aisle), £5 students, £2 accompanied child. Tickets are on sale at ticketsource.co.uk/booking/select/wvmggdaanxxm, or may be bought on the door, and may be reserved by emailing tickets@saso.org.uk or calling 07753 742543.
Composed in 1925 the Portsmouth Point Overture was inspired by Thomas Rowlandson's print depicting Portsmouth Point. Walton recalled that the main music had come into his mind whilst riding on a route 22 bus in London.
The Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 16, composed in 1868, was the only concerto Grieg completed. It is one of his most popular works, and is among the most popular of the genre. Grieg was only 24 years old at the time of composition, and had taken inspiration from Robert Schumann's piano concerto, also in A minor.
Shostakovich’s epic Symphony No.10 was premiered in December 1953. The symphony is often seen as the composer’s commentary on the recent Stalinist era. But as so often in Shostakovich’s art, the exposition of external events is counterposed to the private world of his innermost feelings.