Music Director of the Ulster Orchestra and of Opéra National de Lyon, Daniele Rustioni returns to the Hallé having been named “Best Conductor of the Year” at the 2022 International Opera Awards.

Wagner’s Prelude to Act One of Die Meistersinger climaxes in a compositional tour-de-force as he effortlessly combines five of the opera’s main themes.

The Hallé’s own Principal Oboe, Stéphane Rancourt, takes the virtuosic solo role in Richard Strauss’s Oboe Concerto. Considered by many to be the finest concerto for oboe written in the 20th century, the work is awash with autumnal colours of the great Romantic composer’s so-called Indian summer years.

Liszt’s symphonic poem Les préludes plumbs the mystery of life and what lies beyond it, and Richard Strauss’s suite from Der Rosenkavalier encapsulates the opera with its sparkling waltzes, sumptuous orchestration and ravishing love music.