A THRILLING concert programme featuring two exciting musical talents.

That’s what is on offer next week when the BBC Philharmonic returns to Huddersfield for the latest in the Kirklees concert season.

The Philharmonic’s concert at Huddersfield Town Hall on Wednesday, February 17, will be conducted by the talented Spaniard Juanjo Mena and will feature the multi-award winning German violinist, Erik Schumann, who is only 28.

Dougie Scarfe, concerts director for Opera North who manage the concert season in Kirklees, said: "The last four concerts of the season are crackers. We are certainly playing big exciting pieces."

"We are delighted to get the BBC Philharmonic for the third year in a row. They are a tremendous orchestra. They play with great swagger and they love coming here to Huddersfield.

"They love coming to a hall like this and playing big pieces from composers like Tchaikovsky and Schumann."

The concert, just days after Valentine’s Day, opens with The Fantasy Overture from Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet – inspired by Shakespeare’s tragic love story.

Then comes a violin concerto by a man many see as one of the fathers of film music. Erich Korngold wrote opera and concert music before heading for Hollywood and writing music for a film era which depended much on the likes of Errol Flynn.

"If you needed swashbuckling music for swashbuckling actors then you needed Korngold," said Dougie.

Before writing the Violin Concerto, Korngold had vowed to give up composing, other than film music, until Hitler had been defeated.

With the end of World War II, he retired from films to concentrate on music for the concert hall. The Violin Concerto was the first work that Korngold penned after this.

The concert finale will be the 1841 version of Schumann’s Symphony No.4 in D Minor which will be performed as opposed to the revised version in 1851 which, allegedly, the composer’s wife, Clara, preferred.

There will be the regular pre-concert discussion in the main hall at 6.40pm.

The concert starts at 7.30pm and tickets are £7-£21.50 from Kirklees Booking Office on 01484 223200.

BBC PHILHARMONC  BRINGS ROMANCE TO HUDDERSFIELD

with Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet

Wednesday February 17, 7.30pm

at Huddersfield Town Hall

Tickets: £7-£21.50 (plus concessions) from Kirklees Booking Offices

Ticket hotline: 01484 223200

The concert will take place at Huddersfield Town Hall on Wednesday February 17 at 7.30pm.

Juanjo Mena is increasingly recognised throughout Europe as a major force on the conducting scene. Renowned for his natural authority and innate musical understanding, Mena consistently delivers performances of the highest quality and style. His UK debut with the BBC Philharmonic in July 2008 resulted in an immediate re-invitation. He is currently Principal Guest Conductor of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra.

Since the beginning of Erik Schumann’s musical career he has won several awards including, the Jacques Thibaud International Violin Competition in 2002. He was honoured with the Bernstein Award at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival in 2004 and with first prize at the 7th International Wieniawski-Lipinski Violin Competition in Lublin, Poland in the same year. Still aged just 28, Schumann has already performed in numerous important concert halls, including the Prince Regent’s Theatre, Munich, Victoria Hall, Geneva, Suntory Hall, Tokyo, Seoul Arts Centre, Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, and the Salle Pleyel Paris as well as the Louvre.