The Royal Holloway Symphony Orchestra and conductor Rebecca Miller bring together music of extraordinary scale and colour.

The Royal Holloway Symphony Orchestra presents a programme that moves from the vastness of the cosmos to the drama of the concert stage. Camille Pépin's Laniakea opens the concert with a musical portrait of the immense galactic supercluster that contains our own Milky Way, its orchestral textures inspired by ideas of immensity, movement, speed and light. Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto then places the individual soloist at the centre of the orchestra, balancing lyrical melodies with some of the most demanding and exhilarating writing in the violin repertoire.

The second half brings Stravinsky's Firebird Suite, drawn from his groundbreaking ballet about the magical Firebird and the transformation of Prince Ivan's fortunes. In the 1919 suite, Stravinsky distils the ballet's vivid orchestral colours and dramatic contrasts into a concert work that has become one of his most celebrated scores.

Led by internationally acclaimed conductor Rebecca Miller, the Royal Holloway Symphony Orchestra brings together students from across the University to create a lively, challenging and collaborative orchestral environment.

This event is presented as part of the International Concert Series 2026-27 - The Sounding World (https://www.royalholloway.ac.uk/research-and-education/subjects/music/studying-here/music-performance-at-royal-holloway/the-sounding-world-international-concert-series-2026-27/) - at Royal Holloway.

Event programme

Camille Pépin (b. 1990): Laniakea

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893): Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35

Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971): The Firebird, 1919 Suite

About the performers

Led by internationally-acclaimed conductor Rebecca Miller, the Royal Holloway Symphony Orchestra meets weekly, giving three concerts per year in the Windsor Auditorium. The orchestra endeavours to create a lively, challenging, and social basis for orchestral life at Royal Holloway and comprises students from across the university. They also participate in side-by-side programmes with professional musicians, and through our unique partnership with the Chiltern Music Academy. For 2020-21, orchestras at Royal Holloway launched a new social action project called Re-Orchestrating Society, where members of orchestras at Royal Holloway work together in small teams to develop a project based around orchestras that aims to benefit society.

California-born conductor Rebecca Miller has earned an international reputation for her compelling, insightful, and energetic presence on the podium and for her ability to communicate with audiences of all ages. Most recently she has guest-conducted the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, London Mozart Players, London Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra (at the BBC Proms), BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, New Haven Symphony Orchestra, City of London Sinfonia, National Youth Orchestra of Scotland, Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional de Mexico, Gävle Symphony Orchestra, Västerås Sinfonietta and Dalarnsinfoniettan in Sweden, and Kuopio Symphony Orchestra in Finland. Read more (https://www.rebeccamiller.net/biography).

Car parking

When you arrive for a College event at our Egham campus, please park in car parks 12 or 4.

Car park 12 can be accessed by turning right as you enter the main College gates and is located next to the tennis courts. If this car park is full, please drive further onto our campus to car park 4, which can be accessed by turning left at the mini-roundabout behind the Students’ Union. We would advise that you bring the College map to campus with you and give yourself plenty of time to park.

Blue Badge holders can find designated parking spaces in Car park 1W, as well as between Gardeners Lodge and the Williams Annexe. You can find these locations by looking at our campus map opposite. If you require any assistance on arrival, please contact our premises team in advance of your visit by emailing: premisesadmin@royalholloway.ac.uk and they will be happy to help.

Please note that we operate an Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) system on certain parts of our campus, however if you are here for an organised event, parking is unrestricted for event guests in car parks 12, 4 or 14 (or display your blue badge permit if parking in a disabled bay). If you have any questions about parking, please email: premisesadmin@royalholloway.ac.uk

Description supplied by the event organiser.