PHILOMUSICA present Holst’s The Planets, Grieg’s Piano Concerto and Chabrier’s brilliant Espana at Aberystwyth Arts Centre on Saturday, 12 March at 8pm.

Philomusica, Aberystwyth’s award-winning symphony orchestra is joined by soloist Richard Simm, for the magical piano concerto by Grieg.

Richard is no stranger to Aberystwyth, having won many admirers during his years as resident pianist at the University.

Nowadays, he is based in Iceland, where he teaches at the Academy of Arts in Reykjavik is a much in demand as soloist and chamber musician.

Holst’ The Planets is one of the most popular pieces of twentieth-century orchestral music. Colourfully written for a huge orchestra, it created a sound world like nothing that had gone before – a sound-world that was to colour the language of so much later film and concert music that looked to evoke the distant world of outer space, either calmly or in the action-packed scenarios of Star Wars.

For all its familiarity, The Planets never fails to make a huge impact, as it progresses from the stark violence of Mars, through the jubilation of Jupiter to the timeless, mystic serenity of Neptune.

This is music that must be heard live — and Philomusica promises the kind of vivid, three-dimensional performance the orchestra’s fans know it can deliver. There will even be an additional visual dimension in the form of a planet-inspired visual presentation on a big screen behind the orchestra, assisted by staff from Aberystwyth University’s Institute of Mathematics, Physics and Computer Science.

Conductor David Russell Hulme has a particular personal connection with the work, through his teacher, the great Sir Adrian Boult, who conducted the first performance of The Planets in 1918.

“Sir Adrian told me how Holst was so overwhelmed after hearing the music played that he could not speak. He just sat there, comatose, his mouth open and his eyes glazed,” recalled David.

“This is thrilling music to perform. It needs an accomplished orchestra, of course, and we have one. Chabrier’s Espana, our concert opener, is another orchestral showpiece. Vivid, wonderfully tuneful and exhilarating— the ultimate musical postcard of Spain.

“Quite a programme.”