Grand Finale Orchestral Concert

GRAND FINALE ORCHESTRAL CONCERT

SATURDAY 13th JUNE 2026

St Mary's Church, East Castle St., Bridgnorth 7.30pm

​EVENING CONCERT
​
THE ENGLISH HAYDN ORCHESTRA on period instruments

Conductor: STEVEN DEVINE

Soloists:

Pavel Serbin - violoncello

Emily Worthington - clarinet

Haydn: Symphony No. 87 in A Hob: 1/87​ (1786)​

Luigi Boccherini: Symphony No. 2 in D Opus 37 - 2 (1787)

Interval 30 minutes​

Krommer: Clarinet Concerto in Eb major Opus 36 (1803)

Haydn: Symphony No. 103 in Eb major Hob: 1:103 (1795)

BOCCERINI (1743-1805) ​was born into a musical family in Lucca, Italy. He was the third child of Leopoldo Boccherini, a cellist and double-bass player, and the brother of Giovanni Gastone Boccherini, a poet and dancer who wrote libretti for Antonio Salieri and Joseph Haydn. Luigi received his first music lessons at the age of five by his father, who taught him cello, and then continued his studies at the age of nine with Abbé Vanucci, music director of a local cathedral, at San Martino. When his son reached thirteen, Leopoldo Boccherini sent him to study in Rome with Giovanni Battista Costanzi. In 1757 Luigi and his father both went to Vienna, where the court employed them as musicians in the Burgtheater.

In 1768 Boccherini went to Madrid, entering in 1770 the employment of Infante Luis Antonio of Spain, the younger brother of King Charles III of Spain. There, Boccherini flourished under royal patronage, Later patrons included the French ambassador to Spain, Lucien Bonaparte, as well as King Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia, himself an amateur cellist, flutist, and avid supporter of the arts.

Much of Boccherini's chamber music follows models established by Joseph Haydn; however, Boccherini is often credited with improving Haydn's model of the string quartet by bringing the cello to prominence, whereas Haydn had frequently relegated it to an accompaniment role.

Pavel Serbin is recognised for his orchestral and solo performances, and passion for research into lost compositions of both Russian and European eighteenth century composers. His achievements include discovering 'lost' works by Russian baroque composers and Festival performances of discovered concertos by Woschitka, J. C. Bach, and Hoeke. His discovery of the Italian composer Luigi Boccherini’s symphony No.2 was first performed in 2007.

FRANZ KROMMER'S output was prolific, with at least three hundred published compositions in at least one hundred and ten opus numbers including nine symphonies, seventy string quartets and many others for winds and strings, about fifteen string quintets and much sonorous, idiomatic and at times powerful music for wind ensemble, for which he is best known today.

Emily Worthington regularly performs as a guest principal clarinettist with leading ensembles around the world. She joined York University in 2022 as Lecturer in Music specialising in “Historical Performance”. Emily trained at The Royal College of Music and through the Formation Superieure de l’Abbaye aux Dames des Saintes, where she specialised in orchestral and chamber music performance of Classical and period instrument repertoire. Emily is acknowledged to be one of the outstanding period instrument performers and scholars of her generation.​