Alison CrooseKing's Lynn Corn ExchangeAlison Croose

King's Lynn Corn Exchange

New music director Alexand-er Walker broke the tradition-al concert mould in order to introduce the amazing voice of soprano Alwyn Mellor.

The audience's rousing reception signalled their delight at witnessing an artist who earns rave reviews for her operatic performances all over the world.

Instead of the usual concerto sandwiched between an overture and a symphony, Walker changed the concert's framework to accommodate the soprano.

The resulting programme was made up of masterpieces focused on the composers' thoughts on love and death, a favourite Russian theme which made Tchaikovsky's Fantasy Overture to Romeo and Juliet one of his most popular works.

Continuing the theme of text and literary inspiration, Mellor gave stirring perform-ances of five songs based on the poetry of Friedrich Ruck-ert, and then Wagner's Pre-lude and Liebestod: Tristan and Isolde, the passionate story of an illicit love.

The concert concluded with a unified work which does not fit easily into the conventional programme. Strauss composed Death and Transfiguration in the form of a dramatic and emotional tone poem representing the dying hours of an artist.

The orchestra enhanced their reputation as they rose to the new challenges.