The Hallé's string section shines in this shimmering programme, directed by Tianyi Lu - Principal Conductor of the St Woolos Sinfonia

Elfrida Andrée was a pioneer: the first Swedish woman to conduct a symphony orchestra and to graduate as an organist, becoming Gothenburg Cathedral’s organist when she was just in her mid-twenties. Andante Quasi Recitativo for Strings opens the programme and is intensely emotive and brimming with melodic richness.

Alban Gerhardt, ‘one of the finest cellists around’ (The Guardian), will then perform Dvořák’s celebrated Cello Concerto. It is a joyous piece, showcasing the rich middle register of the instrument, which the composer had always favoured. Brahms’s triumphant yet troubled Third Symphony, proclaimed by Hans Richter to be the ‘Brahms Eroica’, concludes the programme.