Barber Violin Concerto

The BBC National Orchestra of Wales are joined by conductor Nil Venditti for a programme celebrating her Italian heritage with the music of Rossini and Respighi, as well as a UK Premiere of a work by María Huld Markan Sigfúsdóttir, and Barber's much-loved Violin Concerto.

The concert opens with Sigfúsdóttir's Oceans, an effervescent work by the Icelandic composer that is rooted in the natural world. Then, before the interval, Stella Chen will join the orchestra to dazzle in Barber's Violin Concerto, a lyrical piece which demands great virtuosity from the soloist. To finish, two works which are intimately linked: Ottorino Respighi's Rossiniana, in which he takes four piano pieces of Rossini and transforms them into a wonderful orchestral work, and then the name sake of that piece's most famous work, Rossini's Overture to William Tell.

María Huld Markan Sigfúsdóttir: Oceans
Barber: Violin Concerto, Op 14
Respighi: Rossiniana P 148
Rossini: William Tell (Overture)

Stella Chen (violin)
BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Nil Venditti (conductor)

To listen on most smart speakers just say "ask BBC Sounds to play Radio 3 in Concert".