Exciting news! I'm thrilled to announce the repertoire for the next Project // Symphonic. Taking inspiration from the countryside, experience the programmatic music of Beethoven's 6th Symphony, affectionately named the Pastoral Symphony. This beautiful five movement work depicts Beethoven's love of the countryside, the people, and the community of country folk. Next up is the British composer George Butterworth and his Idyll "The Banks of the Green Willow". Based on two folk song melodies, it is a musical illustration of the tale of a farmer's daughter falling in love with a young sea captain which ultimately ends up in tragedy. Butterworth wrote this piece in 1913 at the age of 29, and it was premiered in 1914 shortly before the outbreak of the Great War. There aren't many surviving works by Butterworth as he was hyper critical of his work and often destroyed what he wrote. Tragically, at the outbreak of war, Butterworth joined the Durham Light Infantry as an officer, where in 1916 he was sent to the front lines during the Battle of the Somme, and was killed in action. His body never to be recovered. Finally, we head to Scotland for Felix Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture. Written in 1830, it was inspired by the composer's trip to the British Isles, specifically the Scottish Island of Straffa where he encountered a basalt sea cave called Fingal's Cave which inspired him to write this overture.