Dancing chickens, luminous skulls, a witch’s hut… sounds spectacular? It’s amazing what you can achieve with a head full of stories, an ear for musical colour, and a few shots of vodka!

In the opening concert of our new season, guest conductor Long Yu – China’s pre-eminent living conductor – opens up a veritable musical picture book, and whether it’s a radiant vision of a Russian dawn or Mussorgsky’s fantastic musical art gallery, you’re guaranteed terrific tunes in fabulous colours.

As for the Serenade: perhaps only Leonard Bernstein could have taken an Ancient Greek meditation on love and transformed it into a big-hearted (and delightfully quirky) violin concerto. The amazing Esther Yoo is our soloist – critics have praised her ‘freedom, invention and glorious sound’. You’re about to hear why.