Two concert series are planned by the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra next month, bringing music to Nicosia, Limassol, Larnaca and Paphos. Its first concert for October is the Starlight 1 – Great Performers evenings which will enchant Limassol and Nicosia audiences on October 5 and 6 respectively.

In the first programme of its prestigious Starlight series, the CySO will welcome on stage the sensational and award-winning violinist Roman Simović, a concertmaster of the London Symphony Orchestra and professor at the Royal Academy of Music, London. Conductor Zoe Tsokanou will lead a programme featuring two iconic Russian masterpieces. Dmitri Shostakovich’s legendary First Violin concerto and Igor Stravinsky’s ballet suite The Firebird.

A couple of weeks later, the orchestra will present the Premier 1 concerts in three cities. First will be Larnaca on October 18, then Paphos and Nicosia on the following evenings. Maestro Yiannis Hadjiloizou will conduct the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra in an exciting and diverse musical journey with sound colours, rhythms and visions of Cyprus, Greece, the Middle East and Western Europe.

The concert’s featured soloist is CySO’s principal double bass Nicos Ioannou who will perform the world premiere of the orchestrations of two famous themes: the rembetiko melody ‘Misirlou’, orchestrated and dedicated to the soloist by Alkis Baltas and ‘Zorba’s Dance’ by Mikis Theodorakis, orchestrated by Costas Papadoukas.

The concert will open with the world premiere of the Overture to Yiannis Hadjiloizou’s opera ‘Karagiozis’ and will close with a monumental romantic work, Franz Schubert’s ‘Great Symphony’ in C major, inspired by Beethoven’s Ninth.

Starlight 1 – Great Performers

Concert by the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra. October 5. Pattihio Municipal Theatre, Limassol. October 6. Strovolos Municipal Theatre, Nicosia. 8.30pm. €17-25. Tel: 22-463144. www.cyso.org.cy

Premiere 1.

Concert by the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra. October 18. Municipal Theatre G. Lycourgos, Larnaca. October 19. Markideio Municipal Theatre, Paphos. October 19. Pallas Theatre, Nicosia. 8.30pm. €13-18. Tel: 22-463144. www.cyso.org.cy