Inspiration can come from almost anywhere.

In one of our most ambitious concerts this season, we present the world premiere of a new composition by Laurence Osborn, alongside Mozart’s Divertimento in D and Mozart’s Symphony No. 35 ‘Haffner’. ‘Haffner’ will be performed from memory with our players telling stories through movement and dance alongside Company Chameleon, a world-renowned dance company based in Manchester, whose work has been described as “a brilliant and moving piece of social commentary in the medium of dance”.

The French horn has long been associated with heroism, and, by extension, its connection to various forms of violence. This is the inspiration behind RPS award-winning composer Laurence Osborn’s newest Horn Concerto.

Laurence’s piece has been written especially for horn player Ben Goldscheider, international soloist and BBC Young Musician 2016 Finalist.

Here is what Laurence has to say about the work:

“I’ve been wanting to write [this piece] for the last five years, since first meeting Ben Goldscheider back in 2020, and I’ve always known how the first movement was going to start – as a kind of musical knot, made of different military marches at different speeds, which gradually unravels and falls apart.

The second movement is a retelling of the woodland scene in Siegfried, in which the eponymous hero is devoured by a flock of birds before his horn calls can wake the dragon.

The third movement imagines another mononymous hero — Elvis [Presley] — recording the soundtrack Blue Hawaii in the early sixties, while high-altitude nuclear tests are detonated over the Pacific Ocean”..

Our ongoing collaboration with Company Chameleon explores how physicality and musical interpretation can merge into one. In this performance, Mozart’s Haffner Symphony becomes a living, breathing story—performed not just as music, but as motion and collective expression, giving new life to a work premiered in 1783.

Ambitious, bold and risk-taking – get inspired with this unmissable concert.

Programme

• Mozart Divertimento in D
• Laurence Osborn Horn Concerto (World Premiere)
• Mozart Symphony No. 35 ‘Haffner’

Performed by

• Karel Deseure Conductor
• Ben Goldscheider Horn
• Manchester Camerata
• Company Chameleon

Book now >