The RTWSO's 2025/26 season opens with a sense of celebration and change in New Artistic Beginnings.

This concert marks the debut of Peter Selwyn as the orchestra's new Music Director, launching a fresh chapter of musical partnership.

Fittingly, the concert begins with Wagner's Overture to Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg - a jubilant, richly textured work that shows Wagner's lighter side. Its noble theme, full of warmth and vigour, sets an uplifting tone and is sure to linger in the memory.

The spotlight then turns to local talent Callum Smart, the acclaimed violinist originally from Tunbridge Wells. Callum returns home to perform Saint-Saëns' Violin Concerto No. 3, a lyrical and expressive work that deserves wider recognition. The concerto shines especially in its exquisite second movement, where the solo violin floats over shimmering woodwind textures in a dreamlike high register.

The evening concludes with a true Romantic epic: Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique. A trailblazing piece of programmatic music, it charts a fevered emotional journey through obsession, dreams, despair and hallucinatory visions. From the elegance of a ball to the horror of a scaffold and a witches' sabbath, Berlioz's orchestration is dazzlingly inventive and dramatic.

This is more than a concert - it's a celebration of renewal, creativity and homegrown artistry. Don't miss this dynamic season opener.

Peter Selwyn, Conductor
Callum Smart, Violin

WAGNER Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg Overture
SAINT-SAËNS Violin Concerto No. 3 in B minor, Op. 61
BERLIOZ Symphonie Fantastique, Op. 14