Hallé Summer Concerts - Schumann’s Spring Symphony (7.00pm)

Farrenc Overture No.1 in E minor 7′
Mendelssohn Violin Concerto 26′
Schumann Symphony No.1, ‘Spring’ 32′

Tomás Hanus conductor
Eldbjørg Hemsing violin 

Tomá Hanus, Welsh National Opera’s Music Director, begins the concert with the dynamic and lyrical Overture No.1 in E minor by the unjustly neglected French composer Louise Farrenc. A close contemporary of Fanny and Felix Mendelssohn, and admired by Schumann, during her lifetime Farrenc held an international reputation as a composer, concert pianist and teacher; indeed she was the only female professor at the Paris Conservatoire during the whole of the 19th century.

A household name in Norway, her homeland, Eldbjørg Hemsing made her concerto debut aged only 11. For her first visit to the Hallé, she plays Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto, its popularity assured through its memorable impassioned opening, which, according to the composer, constantly ran through his head and gave him no peace until he’d completed it. It was Mendelssohn who conducted the premiere of Schumann’s First Symphony, ‘Spring’, its sunny disposition expressing his joy at the season’s arrival.