Performance on 3 - BBC SSO/Volkov

Presented by Martin Handley. Ilan Volkov returns to the BBC Scottish Symhony Orchestra in his new role as pincipal guest conductor. The concert opens with Strauss' tone poem on the amorous adventures of the anti-hero Don Juan. Leading Austrian pianist Stefan Vladar plays Beethoven's Piano Concerto No 4, arguably the most genial of the five piano concertos. There is a celebration of the 75th birthday year of Peter Maxwell Davies, as the orchestra perform his newly commissioned work - the St Francis of Assisi overture. Maxwell Davies had ideas to write an opera on the subject of St Francis of Assisi in the mid 1980s, and was recently inspired to take up the theme again in this concert overture following visits to Italy and rereading St Francis' own writings. The programme concludes with Sibelius' final, single-movement Symphony No 7. Stefan Vladar (piano) BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra Ilan Volkov (conductor) Strauss: Don Juan Beethoven: Piano Concerto No 4 Maxwell Davies: Overture - St Francis of Assisi (BBC Commission - world premiere) Sibelius: Symphony No 7 Followed by highlights from the final of The Voice of Black Opera, a new vocal competition for professional black and Asian singers, held at the Great Hall of the University of Birmingham. Philip Herbert: To seasons of promise Royal Ballet Sinfonia James Lowe, conductor Nadine Mortimer-Smith - winner of the Brixtonian Award for Most Promising Voice Cilea: Io son l'umile ancella from Adriana Lecouvreur Spiritual: Why? Elizabeth Llewellyn: Winner of the Voice of Black Opera 2009 Mozart: Porgi amor from Marriage of Figaro Handel: Morrai, si from Rodelinda Both singers were accompanied by the Royal Ballet Sinfonia conducted by James Lowe, and by Nigel Foster at the piano. Followed by music from orchestras of the former East Germany, as we lead up to Monday's special concert, live from Berlin on Performance on 3 to commemorate the fall of the Berlin Wall. Beethoven: Coriolan Leipzig Gewandhaus conductor Kurt Masur PHILIPS 426 630 2 Strauss: Ruhe, meine Seele, Op.27 no.1 Soile Isokoski (soprano) Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Berlin conductor Marek Janowski ONDINE ODE 982 2