The Ulster Orchestra is ready to play and its exciting new Season of concerts is on sale now!

 

A diverse range of concerts take place in the Ulster Hall, Belfast Waterfront and regional venues, from September 2017 to May 2018. Tickets for all concerts are available online at www.ulsterorchestra.org.uk, Belfast concerts are on sale from the Ulster Hall (028 9033 4455) and you can purchase tickets for shows elsewhere by contacting the relevant venue.

This season sees the core subscription series increase to 16 concerts, a series of Pops concerts in Belfast Waterfront and the introduction of a brand new Festive mini-series, along with the return of the 9-concert JTI Lunchtime Series.

Music Director Rafael Payare opens the Season on Friday 22 September in a Gala concert for Culture Night Belfast that welcomes Artist Laureate Sir James Galway back as guest soloist; the first of many internationally-renowned stars to visit this Season. Also taking to the stage will be cellists Alisa Weilerstein and Johannes Moser, pianists Jean-Efflam Bavouzet and Simon Trpčeski and violinists Sergey Khachatryan and Tasmin Little, to name a few.

Maestro Payare delves into some of music’s powerhouse symphonies, conducting work by Beethoven, Mahler and Brahms and closing the season with Shostakovich’s heroic Fifth Symphony. He takes to the stage with two regular collaborators, pianists Vikingur Ólafsson and Jonathan Biss, to explore piano concertos by Mozart and also introduces his friend and fellow countryman, trumpet player Pacho Flores, to the Ulster Hall stage.

The main theme of the subscription series is ‘The Great Concertos’ and Principal Guest Conductor Jac van Steen will take the podium for some of the greatest of them all, commencing with Sibelius’s bewitching Violin Concerto on Friday 1 December. He will also bring music by composers who are national heroes in their respective homelands, including the rich Czech Romanticism of Dvořák and the two pillars of English composition, Elgar and Vaughan Williams.

Every Ulster Orchestra season extends invitations to highly regarded guest conductors, this year welcoming (amongst others) Gergely Madaras to conduct Stravinsky’s dazzling suite The Firebird and Jonathan Darlington for a performance of Brahms’s gentle and intimate German Requiem at Easter.

Belfast Waterfront becomes the new home for the Ulster Orchestra’s pops series of concerts and these glittering nights that celebrate the music of John Williams, musicals and disco legends ABBA are hotly anticipated – be sure to make space in the diary to travel to a galaxy far, far away or dust off the flares and platforms!

I love Christmas!, the new Festive series of concerts, includes perennial favourites such as Handel’s Messiah (featuring regular concert partners Belfast Philharmonic Choir) The Snowman family concert and Celebrate New Year in Vienna, along with a brand new seasonal spectacular, The Magic of Christmas.

With all this, alongside the annual Burns Night extravaganza (in association with the Ulster-Scots Agency), the On Your Doorstep series of concerts outside Belfast and the JTI Lunchtime Series for a monthly bite-sized Tuesday treat, there is guaranteed to be something for every taste. If you book 4 concerts or more as a subscription package you can even save money, with discounts reaching 25% depending on the number of tickets you book. What’s not to love?! So head to www.ulsterorchestra.org.uk to book your concerts and join Rafael Payare, Jac van Steen and the musicians of the Ulster Orchestra for a glorious season!