The Aurora Orchestra have had a long-standing relationship with Bury St Edmunds and now they are teaming up with virtuoso violinist Nicola Benedetti at The Apex.
The concert will celebrate the life and career of Ludwig van Beethoven by performing a new work by composer Richard Ayres.
‘Dreaming, hearing loss and saying goodbye’ is the evocative subtitle for Richard Ayres’ new work, No.52 (Three Pieces about Ludwig van Beethoven), which was premièred by the Aurora Orchestra behind closed doors at last year’s BBC Proms.
Now, Aurora return to The Apex, Bury St Edmunds, to give live audiences their first opportunity to experience this radiant, intensely personal work. Nicholas Collon conducts the concert, which will feature Aurora’s famed memorised performance approach – with players performing without sheet music or music stands – applied to a concerto for the first time.
Nicholas Collon said: “Digital opportunities are interesting, but I believe wholeheartedly that live performance is the reason we all fell in love with music and is ultimately irreplaceable."
Described by The Times as ‘unbearably poignant, yet also indefatigably stoic’, No. 52 (Three Pieces about Ludwig van Beethoven) is inspired by Ayres’ own personal experience of deafness. Having suffered from hearing loss for the last 20 years, Ayres’ work is an attempt to convey how the soundscapes he imagines in music have been gradually lost to him, as clarity gradually gives way to confusion, “in a vivid evocation of an aural journey into a world of blurred images and incoherence”.
Beethoven’s own voice is heard in his monumental Violin Concerto in D, one of the most famous and loved masterpieces of the violin repertoire, performed with soloist Nicola Benedetti.
Famed Scottish violinist, Nicola Benedetti won the BBC Young Musician of the Year award at the tender age of 16 and has since won a GRAMMY Award for Best Classical Instrumental Solo in 2020, and Best Female Artist at the 2012 and 2013 Classical BRIT Awards. Nicola was appointed a CBE in the 2019 New Year Honours list.
Aurora Orchestra with Nicola Benedetti will play on Saturday July 3 at 7.30pm. Tickets are available through The Apex box office on 01284 758000 or online.
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