The Mid-Somerset Orchestra is delighted to welcome the brilliant young cellist Gerard Flotats* as soloist in Dvoák's supreme cello concerto. This was the composer's last concerto, premiered in London in 1896, and remains one of his most popular works.

The concert also includes a rare performance of the wind serenade by Richard Strauss featuring the 13 musicians of MSO's woodwind and horn sections. Written in 1881 when the composer was only 17 this work shows how he was influenced by Mozart and Mendelssohn in his early career.

The concert ends with Brahms's fourth and final symphony, first performed in 1885. Considered by many to be one of the greatest symphonic works since Beethoven, Brahms's fourth is notable for its rich, romantic orchestration, and its unusual passacaglia form with a repeated chord sequence in the final movement.

*Kindly supported by Making Music's Philip & Dorothy Green Young Artists scheme