Sheku Kanneh-Mason plays Bloch | Philharmonia Orchestra

Cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason, our Featured Artist this season, returns as the soloist in Ernest Bloch’s Schelomo.

The cello represents the biblical King Solomon – his greatness and glory, but also his despair at the worldliness and vanity that surround him. Exploring his own Jewish identity through music, Bloch explained that rather than using traditional Jewish melodies, “I have listened to an inner voice, deep, secret, insistent.”

Hector Berlioz composed his Roméo et Juliette after watching a British production of Shakespeare’s play in Paris. In his Memoirs he singled out the Adagio, his interpretation of the balcony love scene, as his favourite passage of his own music. He also admitted: “The work is enormously difficult to perform. To be done well, it needs first-rate performers.” Our fantastic musicians are more than equal to the task.

Jukka-Pekka Saraste completes this afternoon’s programme with the First Symphony by his fellow Finn Jean Sibelius. From its haunting opening clarinet solo to the intense energy of the finale, this piece is a favourite with many Sibelius fans. And it’s a perfect introduction to his distinctive voice for anyone new to his music.