Suffolk Philharmonic Orchestra – 10th Anniversary Celebration

Suffolk Philharmonic comes to Ipswich at the start of its tenth anniversary year with a stunning programme of classics performed to a standard that rivals any London orchestra. The concert begins with Mendelssohn’s overture The Fair Melusine, which is based on the legend of a beautiful water sprite who marries a gallant knight, only to disappear back into the water when he discovers her true self. The orchestra is then joined by the prize-winning young pianist Ryan Drucker, who strikes deep into the enthralling and well-loved chords of Beethoven’s last complete piano concerto, No. 5 (Emperor). Known and loved from the 2010 film The King’s Speech, this was composed in the aftermath of Napoleon’s bombardment of Vienna, when Beethoven was already extremely deaf. Finally, sink into one of Beethoven’s richest and most ebullient works, his Symphony No. 7. The composer called this his “most excellent symphony,” a description endorsed by a music critic of the time who wrote that “this symphony is the richest melodically and the most pleasing and comprehensible of all Beethoven symphonies.”