Acclaimed Aussie soprano Helena Dix performs with Worthing Symphony Orchestra
Spokeswoman Jennie Osborne said: “The Melbourne-born opera singer has a voice that ranges from the delicate to the overwhelming and invites rave reviews from audiences and critics alike, wherever she performs.
“The concert opens with Verdi’s hugely-popular overture The Force of Destiny – first performed in Russia in 1862 – and known to millions as the Stella Artois advert!
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Hide Ad“Two of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies inspired Verdi and Tchaikovsky to compose two of their most astonishing works, both of which feature in this concert. Helena Dix sings
Desdemona’s intensely-moving closing scene from the end of Verdi’s Otello, while the Orchestra perform The Fantas -Overture from Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet. Helena also sings the beautiful setting of poet John Keats’ Ode to a Nightingale by the Northern Irish composer Hamilton Harty, one-time conductor of the Hallé Orchestra.
“WSO’s November concert always features remembrance in some way, and this one pays tribute to the fallen through the poignant rhapsody A Shropshire Lad inspired by A E Houseman’s poetry and composed by George Butterworth.
“One of the most promising composers of his generation and a close friend of Ralph Vaughan Williams, Butterworth enlisted as a Lieutenant with the Durham Light Infantry in World War One and was tragically killed by a sniper’s bullet in the Battle of the Somme, aged just 31.”
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Hide AdHis company commander wrote of him “A brilliant musician in times of peace and an equally brilliant soldier in times of stress.”
Buried by his men at the side of a trench, Butterworth’s body was never recovered, and his name is listed on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing.
Tickets are available from Worthing Theatres box office on 01903 206206 or online at www.worthingtheatres.co.uk.
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