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Only a week to go to KSO’s winter concert. We start our concert with Shostakovich’s rousing Festive Overture. Premiered in 1954 this is a very lively piece that starts with a brass fanfare. We follow this with the famous Rachmaninov 2nd piano concerto played by our guest soloist Jill Morton. Jill is a fantastic pianist and has played with KSO on several occasions previously. This beautiful concerto is not to be missed. In the second half of the concert we will be playing Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique. This symphony tells the story of an artist in the depths of despair due to unrequited love who tries to poison himself with opium. In his delirium he thinks he has killed his loved one and is led to execution and finally dreams he is at the witches’ Sabbath. Each of the 5 movements in the symphony is evocative describing the dreams of the artist: Daydreams - Passions; A Ball; Scene in the Fields; March to the Scaffold; Dream of the Night of the Sabbath.