For this concert, the Hallé Orchestra is joined by Lidiya Yankoskaya, a conductor with an unshakeable sense that classical music is a living, responsive art form. She opens the concert with Missy Mazzoli's looping, twisting Sinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres). It is music that churns and rolls, inches closer to the listener then leaps away at breakneck speed, flinging itself recklessly into space. Henning Kraggerud, the outstanding Norwegian violinist, showcases his skills in Bruch's ever-popular Violin Concerto, with its romantic second movement and glorious finale. Born out of crisis, Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony was written during one of the darkest periods of his life - a disastrous marriage, a nervous breakdown and near-suicidal despair. Reflecting the composer's inner turmoil, the music delivers drama and drive as it journeys from emotional struggle to blazing affirmation.

Description supplied by the event organiser.