Hitchin Chamber Orchestra - Hitchin Festival

Hitchin Chamber Orchestra returns to St Mary's on the evening of July 9th, making its Hitchin Festival debut with a concert of rich musical contrast. French composer Francis Poulenc's powerfully dramatic Concerto for Organ, Strings and Timpani will showcase the church's fine three manual organ and the acclaimed talent of one of the UK's rising stars of the organ loft, Jemima Stephenson. Jemima, an ex organ scholar of Queens' College, Cambridge, and Peterborough Cathedral, is arriving fresh from having received the highest honours for her post graduate finals at the Royal Academy of Music.

After a relaxing interval - during which drinks will be served in Church House - the audience will hear the music of much-loved German-British composer Felix Mendelssohn, best known for his large scale oratorios and programmatic overtures. HCO will perform one of his lesser known String Sinfonias, the seventh, written in his early teens but already clearly demonstrating the mature style of his later accomplishments.

The programme will be rounded off with Béla Bartók's colourful and idiomatic Romanian Dances which, starting in calm and plaintive mood, builds to a wildly energetic climax.

For more information visit https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/hitchin-chamber-orchestra-summer-concert-2016-tickets-23003431884