Faith from the shadows

Dispatches from a dark century: Shostakovich’s powerful First Cello Concerto speaks both in whispers and warnings, in a USSR in which Stalin’s death was still all too recent. Rachmaninoff, exiled from Russia, celebrates all the colours of a virtuoso orchestra – but still sounds a note of sadness and loss. The link is faith. The ancient chants that echo through Rachmaninoff’s music form the emotional core of the music of Pēteris Vasks: a priest’s son from Latvia, born under Soviet oppression, whose Dona nobis pacem speaks with a quiet but fierce sincerity. Andrés Orozco-Estrada and soloist István Várdai will bring it all into focus.

*In co-operation with the Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation.

The Lay Vicars of Westminster Abbey appear by kind permission of the Dean and Chapter of Westminster.

This performance is being recorded for broadcast on BBC Radio 3. 

Are you a student or aged between 18 and 26?

If you are a full-time student in higher education you can benefit from £5 tickets and if you are aged between 18 and 26 you can benefit from £10 tickets to selected London Philharmonic Orchestra concerts throughout the year (ID required).

Call the box office  on 0207 840 4242 for details and to book tickets (Mon-Fri 10am-5pm).

Find out more about the scheme and sign up.