Saturday 15 November 2008, 7.30pm

St Mary’s Church, Banbury

Nielsen: Helios Overture

Bottesini: Double Bass Concerto

Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 (Pathétique)

Thomas Martin is one of the world's leading double bass players. Tom lives near Banbury and will perform with the town's Symphony Orchestra for the first time. Tom is Professor of double bass at London's Guildhall School of music and has an international reputation as a musician and luthier. Click here to learn more on Tom's website.

Tom has held positions with the London Symphony Orchestra, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the English Chamber Orchestra and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, and will be playing the double bass concerto by Italian composer Bottesini. Demanding virtuoso playing, the concerto explores the wide range of this wonderful instrument.

Nielsen: Helios Overture

Inspired by the rising and setting of the sun over the Aegean Sea on a journey to Greece, Nielsen memorably captures this stunning spectacle. From the evocative opening bars, the theme develops to a serene climax with trumpet fanfares before subsiding into the early calm as darkness returns.

Bottesini: Double Bass Concerto

The Banbury Symphony Orchestra is delighted to be joined by world renowned double bass player Tom Martin. Tom will give us a rare opportunity to hear one of Bottesini’s wonderful double bass concertos. Giovanni Bottesini pursued a globe-trotting career in the mid 19th century as "The Paganini of the Double Bass". His solo works are rarely performed today; not because of a lack of musicality, but due to their virtuosic difficulty.For more information and to order Tom's CD recordings click here.

Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 (Pathétique)

Tchaikovsky's final symphony, it was premiered nine days before his death in 1893. He himself said of it that it was "the best, certainly the most sincere work I have ever written." The symphony is a work of extremes; the dynamic range extends from ffff to ppppp. Surely nothing in Tchaikovsky's music matches the huge scale of the sixth symphony.