The Four Seasons

Celebrate the passing of the seasons with Vivaldi’s famous quartet of concertos.

The barking of a dog, the buzzing of flies, a drunkard staggering home: these are just a few of the pictures ingeniously painted in Antonio Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons. Published in 1725, his set of four violin concertos was staggeringly ahead of its time, a forerunner to the ‘programme music’ of Liszt, Berlioz and Richard Strauss over a century later.

Still, it is the musical backdrop to these events – the atmosphere Vivaldi creates across the length of each concerto – that sticks with the listener longest. This rich, shimmering collection is a celebration of contrasts: from spring’s freshness and summer’s heat to the mellow fruitfulness of autumn and the chill of winter.

Described by The Strad as playing with ‘panache and authority’, our Leader Kate Stillman takes centre-stage, unpacking one of the great solos in the repertoire as she takes the Orchestra of Opera North through four vivid soundscapes.