A north-east composer will see an ambition held for four decades come to fruition during a special concert at Aberdeen Music Hall on Sunday (November 18).
The work of Dr Geoff Palmer, a Lecturer in Music at the 黑料网, will receive its world premiere at the event, held in association with the Sound Festival.
His 鈥�C忙dmon Symphony鈥� will be performed by one of the largest musical ensembles ever to take to the stage at the Music Hall with more than 250 singers and musicians from the 黑料网鈥檚 Symphony Orchestra, Choral Society and King鈥檚 College Chapel Choir under the baton of conductor Christopher Gray.
Making a guest appearance is the acclaimed violin soloist 鈥� and Dr Palmer鈥檚 daughter - Ruth Palmer, who was named 鈥榊oung Classical Performer of the Year鈥� at the Classical BRITs in 2007 and has gone on to perform all over the world since. She will play Mendelssohn鈥檚 Violin Concerto.
Composing 鈥�A C忙dmon Symphony鈥� and hearing its premiere is the culmination of an ambition held for more than 40 years by Dr Palmer, who lives in Alford.
He said: 鈥淭his is a piece that I have been planning to write for my entire career. I first began work on it while I was still a student but at that time I hadn鈥檛 developed sufficiently as a composer to do the ideas justice.
鈥淏ut I have remained determined to complete the piece and it will be a fitting way to mark my first six decades of being alive. I feel it will also be a wonderful opportunity for the members of the University Symphony Orchestra, Choral Society and King鈥檚 College Chapel Choir to showcase their great talent in what is not an easy work to perform.鈥�
鈥�A C忙dmon Symphony鈥� is inspired by the 7th-century poet and musician, C忙dmon, who is said to have been originally ignorant of 鈥榯he art of song鈥� but one night in the course of a dream composed a hymn about Creation.
Dr Palmer added: 鈥淚n the symphony we hear music which parallels the beginnings of the cosmos as we can now begin to understand it. We witness the development of life from its precarious earliest beginnings to the perhaps equally precarious state we are in now, precipitated as we are from one crisis into the next; yet the music also rejoices, as C忙dmon did, because to be acutely aware of the world can also bring the joy of consciousness.鈥�
The premiere will build on a successful career for Dr Palmer, whose works have been regularly performed in the United States and Canada, in Scandinavia, and as far away as Japan.
In the UK his music has been performed on BBC Radio 3, in London at the Wigmore Hall, the Conway Hall, the Purcell Room and at Kings Place, and following commissions from regional festivals.
The concert begins at 7.30pm in Aberdeen Music Hall, Union Street, on Sunday November 18. Admission is 拢8, concessions 拢5 and students/under 16s 拢2. Tickets can be booked at or by calling Aberdeen Box Office on 01224 641 122.