Brecon Cathedral is excited to host the BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales as part of the BBC seasons & stories.

Conductor Paweł Kapuła brings a work from his native Poland to the stage as he makes his debut with BBC NOW this May - Marta Ptaszyńska takes the sounds of Vivaldi and transforms them into a new, almost surreal sound picture in A Winter’s Tale, written in 1984. BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist Sterling Elliott also debuts with the Orchestra in Schumann’s intensely lyrical and meditative Cello Concerto, and we explore Mendelssohn in cinematic fairytale form in his overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Although less frequently performed than some of his other symphonies, Beethoven’s Second Symphony is a snapshot of Beethoven at his most humorous. Unpredictability and playfulness tally with a bold explosion of joy in this vividly contrasting symphony.