Sunday 6th December 2026, 2.45pm
Brighton Dome
Antarctica : Vaughan Williams and Arvo Pärt
Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra 2026/27 Season
Conductor : Joanna MacGregor
Soprano : Elizabeth Watts
Tanpura : Bishi
Visuals : Kathy Hinde
Women of the Brighton Festival Chorus
Programme:
Arvo Pärt La Sindone
Sibelius The Swan of Tuonela
Jonny Greenwood Water
Vaughan Williams Symphony No 7 ’Sinfonia Antarctica’
Vaughan Williams wrote a magnificent score for the 1948 film Scott of the Antarctic, then transformed it into his 7th symphony, Sinfonia antartica five years later: a brooding work of genius. Man against implacable Nature had fascinated Vaughan Williams since the Sea Symphony of 1909 and his one-act opera of Synge’s Riders to the Sea in 1927. The expressive humanity in Scott’s doomed journey found its weight forty years later: music that’s uncanny and terrifying, as well as beautiful and rich. Brighton Festival Chorus’ ethereal female voices will join the exquisite lyric soprano Elizabeth Watts and Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra.