Name: Cheltenham Residency 2025-6: English Symphony Orchestra Residency: Elgar, Vaughan Williams & Sawyers
Start: 2026-02-01T15:00:00+00:00
End: 2026-02-01T17:00:00+00:00
Location: Cheltenham Town Hall

Cheltenham Residency 2025-6: English Symphony Orchestra Residency: Elgar, Vaughan Williams & Sawyers

English Symphony Orchestra
Zoë Beyers, violin
Kenneth Woods, conductor
Vaughan Williams: Overture to The Wasps – 9′
Philip Sawyers: Symphony No. 6, A Pastoral – 25′
Elgar: Violin Concerto, Op.61 – 48′
Many consider Elgar’s Violin Concerto to be his most personal & confessional piece. Despite its titanic virtuosic demands, it is not a showpiece, but an expression of the inner world of a great man at one of life’s turning points. Philip Sawyers also found himself at a turning point when he gave up his career as a violinist to pursue composition full time. His courage has been validated many times over as he has been repeatedly hailed as one of Britain’s greatest modern symphonists. His Sixth Symphony is a touching homage to another great Sixth Symphony, Beethoven’s Pastoral.