Join the MSO and conductor Anja Bihlmaier in exploring the musical introspection of two of classical music’s most profoundly talented and intensely emotional composers.

Lord Byron’s poem Manfred follows a man tortured by guilt, who summons supernatural beings before dying from madness. The story presents devastating parallels to Schumann’s own mental health decline, and this Overture – written to accompany the poem – captures its emotional intensity with great beauty and striking intimacy.

Starting with a literal bang from the timpani and strings, Robert Schumann’s arresting, romantic concerto for piano and orchestra is impulsive – almost manic, even – in its creativity. Pianist Alexander Melnikov brings true star power and originality to this fantastic concerto.

Tchaikovsky considered his Sixth Symphony as ‘the best thing I ever composed or shall compose’. Full of nostalgic warmth, passion, and heart, the Sixth is a musical meditation on the joys of a life remembered, tempered by the inevitability of death. It ends, not in jubilant celebration as was the symphonic tradition at the time, but in a supremely effective fade out to silence.