For Valentine’s Day we’re gunning for the bad girls and heartbreakers, from Carmen to Lady Macbeth.

Bizet: Carmen Suite no.1

Kurt Weill: Speak Low; Surabaya Johnny; September Song

Tchaikovsky: Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture

Shostakovich: Suite from Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District

Jacqui Dankworth: mezzo and narrator

Geoffrey Paterson: conductor

There’s a luscious swoon of romance in our Valentine’s Day programme, with Tchaikovsky’s electrifying portrayal of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, his most passionate tone poem. But we’re also looking out for the ultimate bad girl, Carmen, in Ernest Guiraud’s arrangement from Bizet’s opera: daring, kittenish and knowing. James Conlon’s virtuosic suite of Shostakovich’s 1934 opera, Lady Macbeth ofMtsensk District, is a staggering achievement. In his creation of Katerina - the titular Lady Macbeth - Shostakovich scathingly laid bare the oppression of Russian women, and hypocrisy of Russian society. With his customary charisma, Geoffrey Paterson conducts a score that is riveting, burlesque and revolutionary.

We’re excited to welcome the singer and actor Jacqui Dankworth, whose stylish vocal palette draws on jazz, soul, classical and blues. Jacqui performs Kurt Weill’s songs of love and loss - including a fabulous arrangement of Speak Low by her father, John Dankworth - and narrates Lady Macbeth.

‘In all her incarnations, Jacqui Dankworth exhibits a subtle control of dynamics and voluptuous tonal richness.’ The Guardian

Sponsored by Peter Clarke

The Listening Club: Join Joanna MacGregor at Brighton Unitarian Church on Thu 11 Feb for a one-hour, illustrated lecture delving deeper into the concert.

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