Orchestra of St John with Benjamin Frith - St John MusicFest 2018

Orchestra of St John is thrilled to be presenting the final concert in the 2018 Bromsgrove Festival. Always a terrific event, we are delighted to be joined by international competition winner and multi-recorded pianist, Benjamin Frith. Conducted by Richard Jenkinson.

Fidelio - a modern heroine? Leonore disguises herself as a man - Fidelio - and rescues her husband from his unjust imprisonment. The overture from Beethoven's only opera reflects the passion and ground-breaking sentiments of his own era of political revolutions. Let your mind paint the pictures in Beethoven's stormy work.

We are pleased to welcome back international pianist, Benjamin Frith, for Beethoven's First piano concerto: so strong is the influence of Mozart in Beethoven's first two concertos that we hear not just a delightful and magnetising attention to melody, but also a kind of spring-like radiance. The music itself seems to express youth, and the instrument purrs rather than pounds, in contrast with the more powerful fourth and fifth concertos.

Brahms's first symphony was fourteen years in the making, and after its premiere in 1876 was labelled Beethoven's 10th, but is that justified? Brahms certainly felt the weight of history on his shoulders, and yet managed to tackle the symphony on his own terms. Judge for yourself the impact of his achievement in this, the first of Orchestra of St John's forays into Brahms territory.