The National Symphony Orchestra (NSO), in association with Music for Galway, will give a concert in Leisureland next Thursday, February 27.

The concert, which will start at 7.30pm, and forms part of the orchestra’s 2024-2025 season, will be repeated in the National Concert Hall the following night.

With Britian’s Alexander Shelley conducting, the NSO will perform two major works by Brahms and Schumann: Brahms’ only Violin Concerto and Schumann’s Rhenish Symphony.

Brahms’s Violin Concerto, brimming with passion and romantic spirit, is one of the crowning works of the violin repertoire with a glorious melody at its heart. It will be performed by Dutch violinist Simone Lamsma, whose playing has been described as ‘absolutely stunning’ by the Chicago Tribune.

Schumann’s Rhenish Symphony is a tribute to the landscape and legends of the River Rhine and culminates in the solemnity of a Mass celebrated in Cologne’s medieval cathedral.

Alexander Shelley has been praised by the Daily Telegraph as ‘a natural communicator, both on and off the podium’. The principal associate conductor of London’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, he works worldwide with leading orchestras and soloists.

Tickets for next Thursday’s Leisureland concert are €30/€27. Social Inclusion tickets at €15, are available to full time students, asylum seekers, people in receipt of job seeker allowance and disability allowance. Tickets for MfG Friends are €26.

See musicforgalway.ie for booking and further information.

Pictured: Dutch violinist Simone Lamsma. Photo: Otto Van Der Toorn.