United Strings of Europe is a chamber orchestra with a difference: fifteen world-class young string players devoted to the idea that music crosses cultures and builds bridges – “finding threads between different works and epochs, blending the familiar with the new”. Every concert is a voyage of discovery: tonight’s spans the 21st-century sunlight of Caroline Shaw, the dark heart of the English baroque and the raw passion of Mendelssohn’s most powerful (and personal) string quartet. Along the way, soprano Ruby Hughes sings Osvaldo Golijov’s extraordinary songs – music that cuts straight to the heart, from a singer who never stops exploring.

Programme

Caroline Shaw – Entr’acte 
Osvaldo Golijov – Three Songs for Soprano i. Night of the Flying Horses ii. Lúa Descolorida iii. How Slow the Wind 
Purcell (arr. Stokowski) – Dido’s Lament
Mendelssohn (arr. Azkoul) – String Quartet in F Minor Op. 80 

Performers

United Strings of Europe
Ruby Hughes soprano
Julian Azkoul director