Clemens Schuldt conducts Strauss and Phibbs

A troubled prince, a tragic heroine and the Vienna of your dreams. Tchaikovsky and Mel Bonis embraced the world of Hamlet with all the fervour of true romantics. Richard Strauss, meanwhile, let his flair for storytelling have free rein in his opera Der Rosenkavalier: a delirious whirl of waltzes, wit, and love in all its colours, all on show in this suite.

The play’s the thing then, and whether it’s the sublime imagery of Shakespeare or the endless imaginative possibilities of the operatic stage, it’s music that creates the drama tonight. Clemens Schuldt conducts and joins the superb British cellist Guy Johnston to make a little bit of musical history: the world premiere of a striking new cello concerto, created specially for Johnston and the BBC Symphony Orchestra by composer Joseph Phibbs.