HEREFORDSHIRE's internationally renowned professional orchestra in residence, the English String Orchestra, conclude their second season of hugely popular Shirehall Sunday concerts on Sunday, May 28 at 3.30pm with a concert celebrating the ESO’s roots as one of the most admired string orchestras in the world. Artistic director Kenneth Woods will conduct and the soloist is ESO artist-in-association, cellist Matthew Sharp.

The concert includes two of the gems of the string orchestra literature - Tchaikovsky’s beloved Serenade for Strings and Grieg’s Holberg Suite, works the orchestra has recorded to sweeping international critical acclaim. “The ESO were founded in 1980 as the English String Orchestra at a time when professional string orchestras were a real rarity,” says Kenneth Woods. “Although our repertoire now spans everything from Baroque to modern works and we work in combinations of instruments from string trio to Mahler-sized symphony orchestra, the Romantic string repertoire is very much this orchestra’s home territory, and we’re really looking forward to showcasing that side of the ESO’s heritage in the lovely acoustic of the Shirehall.”

Between the Grieg and Tchaikovsky mainstays, the orchestra is joined by cellist Matthew Sharp for a rare performance of Hans Gál’s Concertino for Cello and Strings. “Gál is a composer who has come to mean a great deal to me,” said Woods. “In many ways, he was the last great Romantic composer- someone with the most incredibly lyrical gift. Nobody ever wrote more beautiful melodies than Gál, but he was also an inventive musical craftsman who was always thinking about what he could say through music that hadn’t been said before. The Concertino is one of his loveliest works, but it was premiered at a time when beautiful music was out of fashion and this is only the second performance we know of in the last 45 years.”

For tickets, visit romanticstrings.eventbrite.co.uk or book by phone through Worcester Live on 01905 611427