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University of Sussex Symphony Orchestra

Winter Concert 2025

Programme

Ralph Vaughan Williams - English Folk Song Suite, III. March: "Folk Songs from Somerset"

Percy Aldridge Grainger - Irish Tune from County Derry

Ed Hughes - Wild Azure Sea

Ernest Bloch - Baal Shem Suite (Three Pictures of Chassidic Life)

(interval)

Jean Sibelius - Symphony No.5

This year’s USSO Winter Concert centres on music shaped by folk traditions, national identity, and the landscapes that inspired them. From Grainger’s orchestration of the beloved Irish melody Londonderry Air to Sibelius’ iconic Fifth Symphony, the programme journeys through English, Irish, Jewish, and Finnish musical influences.

The concert opens with works by two great folksong collectors: Percy Grainger and Ralph Vaughan Williams. We then present the world premiere of a new electric guitar concerto, Wild Azure Sea, composed by Ed Hughes (Professor of Composition at the University of Sussex) for Anton Pearson—Sussex Music alumnus and guitarist of the internationally acclaimed indie rock band Squid.

This is followed by Ernest Bloch’s evocative Baal Shem Suite, a portrait of Hasidic spiritual life expressed through repentance, improvisatory song, and ritual celebration.

We conclude the evening with Sibelius’ much-loved Symphony No. 5, a majestic work commissioned by the Finnish government in honour of the composer’s 50th birthday.