Vaughan Williams, Respighi and Mendelssohn by Vaughan Williams, Respighi, Mendelssohn, Nuo (2021/2021), Dirigentas Vasily Petrenko, Royal Albert Hall, London, United Kingdom

Conductor Vasily Petrenko appears for the first time at the Proms in his new role as Music Director of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. They are joined by Japanese violinist Sayaka Shoji for Respighi’s Concerto gregoriano – a spiritual serenade in which the soloist becomes a wordless cantor, whose plainsong-inspired melodies soar over the orchestra. Two more tributes to the musical past complete the programme: Vaughan Williams’s haunting Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis takes inspiration from Tudor polyphony, while Mendelssohn’s youthful ‘Reformation’ Symphony climaxes in Martin Luther’s stirring chorale ‘A mighty fortress is our God’.