BBC Symphony Orchestra & Chorus 2016-17 season Ilan Volkov conducts Rachmaninov Symphony No. 3

Rachmaninov’s final symphony concludes a concert that includes Franz Schreker’s interlude from his opera Der ferne Klang and a brand new work by Nicola LeFanu.

Nicola LeFanu unveils her new RPS commission, a work for soprano and orchestra, with Ilan Volkov, a passionate champion of the new, on the podium. A child of fin-de-siècle Vienna, opera composer Schreker’s ravishingly beautiful Nachtstück forms the lush opener to an evening that closes with Rachmaninov’s last symphony, which despite having been written far from the composer's homeland, is deeply entrenched in a Russian heritage.

Nicola LeFanu' s The Crimson Bird was made possible by the award of the Royal Philharmonic Society Elgar Bursary.