Serving as the grand finale of the National Symphony Orchestra’s 2026 season, the performance is led by esteemed conductor Rimma Sushanskaya and features acclaimed violinist Mathilde Milwidsky as the evening’s soloist.

It seems fitting that on this Remembrance Sunday, 2026, the National Symphony Orchestra’s concert concludes with a great English work intimately connected with this annual act of memorial, when those who laid down their lives in service for this country are remembered: Elgar’s Enigma Variations.

Nimrod, the ninth of the 14 variations which comprise the work, became a feature of the National Service of Remembrance at the Cenotaph in Whitehall in 1920, the year of its inauguration, and one could scarcely imagine any other piece of music which complements the solemnity and dignity of the occasion so perfectly.

The programme opens with the pastoral beauty of Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on Greensleeves, an evocative arrangement that captures the essence of the English countryside.