The Isle of Wight Symphony Orchestra will welcome an exciting young pianist to their March 19th concert. Florian Mitrea’s flourishing career has led to success at concert halls throughout Europe and Asia. Born in Bucharest, Florian moved to London to study at the Royal Academy of Music and has since won the top award at the New York Piano Festival, also taking the Special Prize for Virtuoso Performance.

Florian will perform Grieg’s ever-popular Piano Concerto in A minor, written when the composer was only twenty-five. From the dramatic opening timpani roll, the writing for both soloist and orchestra is remarkably assured. Grieg enjoyed great success with the piece, arguably his most popular work.

The first half also includes the World premiere of Louis Mander’s ‘Jacob’s Ladder’. Mander was described by Stephen Fry (who wrote the libretto for Mander’s opera ‘The Life to Come’) as ‘a young and preposterously talented composer’. Most recently, he has collaborated with the poet Pam Ayres on a new musical based on J.M Barrie’s ‘Peter Pan’.

Also on the programme are Manuel de Falla’s vibrant ballet suite from ‘The Three-Cornered Hat’, George Butterworth’s ‘On the Banks of Green Willow’ and Elgar’s magnificent ‘Enigma Variations’. Brilliantly written for the orchestra, the variations are wonderfully descriptive miniatures portraying Elgar’s friends.

The evening begins at 7.15pm and the orchestra is delighted to be supporting Ability Dogs for Young People at all of its concerts this season. Sponsorship from Wightlink is invaluable in helping the orchestra maintain the high quality of their concerts from year to year.