English Symphony Orchestra: Elgar, Vaughan Williams & Sawyers
Sunday 1 February 2026
Cheltenham Town Hall presents a richly expressive evening of English music, blending pastoral beauty, modern symphonic depth and heartfelt Romanticism.
The programme opens with Ralph Vaughan Williams’s Overture to The Wasps, a lively and spirited curtain-raiser. This is followed by Philip Sawyers’s Symphony No.6, A Pastoral, a moving work inspired by Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony, written after the composer’s bold decision to leave his violin career to dedicate himself fully to composition. The concert concludes with Edward Elgar’s Violin Concerto in B minor, Op.61, a deeply personal and confessional masterpiece, renowned for its emotional intensity and formidable demands on the soloist.
The performance will be conducted by Kenneth Woods, with acclaimed violinist Zoe Byers as soloist for Elgar’s monumental concerto.
This concert offers audiences a chance to experience music of striking vitality, profound reflection and intimate beauty, brought to life by leading interpreters at Cheltenham Town Hall.
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