CBSO Elgar's Falstaff

Larger than life, both philosopher and philanderer, Falstaff is one of Shakespeare’s most lovable rogues, and Elgar’s affectionate portrait also tells us a great deal about the composer’s own private world in music of great character and good-humour. Britten’s 1939 Canadian Carnival is an equally swaggering celebration of a more out-of-doors kind, and provides an ideal welcome for the return to Birmingham of the Canadian-born virtuoso Leila Josefowicz. She gives the world premiere of a new concerto written specially for her by the leading British composer Colin Matthews.