National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and Sir Mark Elder

The world’s greatest orchestra of teenagers launches its 70th year celebrations with an enchanting and mystical programme that showcases perfectly the orchestra’s infectious energy and passionate creativity.

Sir Mark Elder takes the helm to guide the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain on an adventure that explores the mysteries of the deep in Liadov’s Enchanted Lake, tells a spellbinding cautionary tale in Dukas’s The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, and ends spectacularly with Bartók’s suspenseful one-act opera, Bluebeard’s Castle. An impulsive young bride has turned her back on her family, only to uncover the gruesome truth about her new husband lurking behind every locked door of his imposing citadel. With sinister strings, strident winds and majestic brass, it’s both a compelling psychological drama and a masterpiece of orchestral scene painting, made more powerful still in this performance by the atmospheric drawings of illustrator Chris Riddell which will be projected above the stage.

If you were lucky enough to have witnessed the amazing performance by the NYO last January then you will have this concert on your must-see list already. If you haven’t yet experienced this remarkable orchestra before, then this is the ideal place to start.

Free pre-concert talk, 6.30pm in the auditorium: Sarah Alexander, Chief Executive and Artistic Director of the National Youth Orchestra, in conversation.