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Spring concert 2025

The Spring concert will feature two works by Granville Bantock, famous composer and great grandfather of our resident conductor, Bjorn Bantock. This is thought to be the first time that the CPSO’s resident conductor has conducted a work by one of their ancestors.


Granville was born in 1868 in London where his father was an eminent Scottish surgeon. Granville first studied at Trinity College of Music and in 1888 he entered the Royal Academy of Music where he studied harmony and composition winning, the Macfarren Prize in the first year it was awarded. In 1897 he became conductor of the New Brighton Tower concerts followed by conducting the Liverpool Orchestral Society with which he premiered Brigg Fair by Delius in 1908. 


He became the principal of the Birmingham & Midland Institute School of Music in 1900. He was influential in the founding of the City of Birmingham orchestra (later to become the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra). Their first performance in September 1920 was of Granville’s overture, Saul. After he died in 1946, a Bantock Society was established. Its first president was Jean Sibelius whose music Bantock championed during the early1900s. Sibelius dedicated his Third Symphony to Bantock. The orchestra are playing two of Granville’s compositions - The Sea Reivers and The Witch of Atlas.  


The soloist for the Rodrigo guitar concerto: Concierto de Aranjuez is Dimitris Soukaras who is a distinguished Greek classical guitarist based in London. He has risen to prominence as one of the most awarded and promising musicians of his generation. He is the first student of the Ionian University to complete his Bachelor’s Degree in three years instead of five, showcasing his exceptional dedication and talent.


Dimitris pursued his advanced studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London, achieving both a Master of Arts and an Advanced Diploma. His outstanding performance earned him the DipRAM, the highest accolade conferred by the academy. He won over 20 international awards and is recognised as a D'Addario Artist, a Yeoman of the Worshipful Company of Musicians, and a beneficiary of the Stradivari Trust.


The final work in the concert is Symphony No 4 by Johannes Brahms: Symphony No. 4. which he composed in the summers of 1884 and 1885. Brahms worked secretly in a quiet Austrian town in the Alps as was his usual practice. Despite the beautiful surroundings and his widespread success the work that emerged would be one of the darkest symphonies in the repertoire.

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