A new month brings with it a new series of events and staying faithful to its cultural calendar is the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra. In its next concert, the orchestra welcomes on stage the exceptional Cypriot pianist Manolis Neophytou and the acclaimed maestro Leonardo Catalanotto to perform works by two composers of Russian musical romanticism: Sergei Rachmaninov and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

The concert series will begin its tour from Larnaca on April 13 at the Municipal Theatre as part of the Larnaca Municipality Festival of Classical Music. Then Neophytou and Catalanotto will travel to Paphos on the following day for a concert at Markideio Theatre before concluding the Premiere 6 concert series at Nicosia’s Pallas Theatre on April 15.

Featured in the concert repertoire is Rachmaninov’s Piano concerto no. 2, which premiered in 1901 with the composer on the piano. This is considered to be one of the most technically challenging concertos ever written. The work abounds in affective ideas and tender charm, with the piano assertively taking the role of a second orchestra.

Also to be performed is Tchaikovsky’s crowning Symphony no. 6, which had its premiere in 1893 under the composer’s baton. It falls nothing short of passionate emotional extremes, from sombre moods to light and graceful moments, hence its title “passionate”.

Premiere 6

Cyprus Symphony Orchestra concert with Cypriot pianist Manolis Neophytou and maestro Leonardo Catalanotto. April 13. Larnaca Municipal Theatre, Larnaca. April 14. Markideio Theatre, Paphos. April 15. Pallas Theatre, Nicosia. 8.30pm. €6-18. www.cyso.org.cy