Ely Sinfonia - War and Retribution

In honour of the 50th anniversary of the death of Dmitri Shostakovich, Ely Sinfonia will be performing his remarkable 7th Symphony, the “Leningrad”, alongside Tchaikovsky’s 1st piano concerto with popular soloist Martin Roscoe.

Russian composers Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky both endured persecution within their native country. Shostakovich spent almost his entire life under a totalitarian regime, with the constant threat of banishment to the gulags, while Tchaikovsky was ostracised by the Czar, among others, for his homosexuality.

In Ely Sinfonia’s exciting spring concert we celebrate their music. In the first half the orchestra is joined by internationally renowned pianist Martin Roscoe for Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto no.1, one of the most popular piano concertos of all time.

After the interval we’ll hear Shostakovich’s astounding 7th Symphony, commonly known as the “Leningrad”, described by the composer as being, “about the Leningrad that Stalin destroyed and Hitler merely finished off”. The whole work brims…