Folk Inspired Classical Music Concert Opens Derby Folk Festival

Derby-based Sinfonia Viva – the East Midlands’ only professional orchestra – will open this year’s Derby Folk Festival with a classical music programme inspired by folk heritage.

‘Folk Reflections’ will be performed twice at Derby Cathedral on Friday September 30.  The first concert at 5pm will be free to Derby Folk Festival weekend ticket holders and will be repeated again at 6.30pm.   Anyone can attend either performance for a separate charge of £10 available from Derby Live www.derbylive.co.uk

The hour-long programme will start with Dvorak's ‘American’ string quartet.  This was written while he was in the USA in 1893. It combines the composer’s love for his homeland and its Czech folk tradition with his fascination with the American folk heritage. The result is a flow of nostalgic melodies and infectious dance rhythms.  

This will be followed by Tchaikovsky’s ‘Andante Cantabile’ from his first string quartet which has become justly famous in its own right for its haunting and Slavic tunes.

The concert will close with Zoltan Kodaly’s second string quartet.  Kodaly and his lifelong friend Bela Bartok devoted their lives to compiling Hungarian folk music and this piece, unusually cast in two movements, was inspired by folk recitatives and rustic peasant dances. Sinfonia Viva’s String Quartet will be led by Principal Violinist Benedict Holland.   He said: “We are delighted to be opening this year’s Folk Festival and have selected a programme of pieces that weave their way through folk history. “The hour-long programme is the perfect chance for lovers of folk music to experience its wider musical influence on other genres of ground breaking music, whilst orchestral music fans will get to hear some of the most beautiful music in the historic Derby Cathedral. “The concert will therefore be a new take on this timeless musical art form and these folk inspired string selections are guaranteed to live long in the memory.

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