Enjoy a classical spectacular

The traditional end-of-summer celebration concert at Darley Park in Derby takes place this Sunday (September 6), from 6pm.
Darley Park concert

Photo by Gareth ChellDarley Park concert

Photo by Gareth Chell
Darley Park concert Photo by Gareth Chell

Derby LIVE, in association with Sinfonia Viva and Classic FM, presents the hugely popular outdoor concert.

Derby LIVE is delighted to announce that Classic FM, the UK’s most popular classical music radio station, is once again the media partner for the event.

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Classic FM’s Saturday lunchtime presenter Nicholas Owen will be introducing an audience of more than 30,000 people to the concert which features the world’s greatest classical music from concert hall, stage and screen.

Derby-based professional orchestra Sinfonia Viva will perform a programme based on the theme of couples.

The theme has remained dominant in musical history right up to the present day – from famous collaborating composer-and-lyricist teams, sensational performing duos, to the many thousands of songs and melodies which explore the highs and lows of relationships between people in or out of love.

The concert will open with Glinka’s bustling Russlan and Ludmilla Overture followed by pieces inspired by Shakespeare’s star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet, including Prokofiev’s Montagues & Capulets – well-known as the theme tune to the television series The Apprentice - and Bernstein’s Tonight from West Side Story.

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Listeners will be taken on a journey with a cinematic twist that embraces John Williams’ timeless film theme Superman before enjoying Freddie Mercury and Mike Moran’s 1987 modern classic Barcelona that came to prominence as the ‘theme’ song for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

Other works include a selection from Gershwin’s opera Porgy and Bess, Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance, Puccini’s La Bohème, Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro and Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, as well as Rodgers and Hammerstein’s March of the Siamese Children from The King And I, Mendelssohn’s Wedding March from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Elgar’s Nimrod, Mercury and Moran’s Barcelona and Offenbach’s Infernal Galop(Can Can).

Nicholas is the voice of Saturday lunchtimes on Classic FM, the UK’s most popular classical music radio brand - after joining the Global station in January 2011.

He is also a presenter with BBC News, having rejoined the Corporation in 2007 and appears on BBC1’s Six O’Clock News, Ten O’Clock News, BBC Breakfast, and the 24-hour BBC News Channel.

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For well over a decade before that, he hosted all ITN’s major news bulletins, including Channel Four News and News at Ten.

From 1994 to 2000, he was Royal Correspondent for ITV News. In that capacity, he played a major role in reporting on the death and funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales. Nicholas compiled a book on her life entitled Diana – A People’s Princess, updated and republished in 2007.

Cllr Martin Rawson, deputy leader and cabinet member for Communities and City Centre Regeneration, said: “I’m delighted that once again Darley Park will be packed with people enjoying a fantastic evening of music. The Darley Park Concert is a highlight of the cultural calendar and I would like to welcome everyone to come along to revel in the music and fireworks.”

More information on the concert can be found on the Derby LIVE website www.derbylive.co.uk or by calling the Derby LIVE box office on 01332 255800.

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