The Redditch orchestra presents its 75th anniversary concert as a contribution to events marking the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings.

Under the orchestra’s conductor, Graham Longfils, who was educated and later taught in Redditch, the concert includes iconic items from the WW2 period.

Pianist Tanya Avchinnikova joins the orchestra to play Richard Addinsell’s Warsaw concerto. Tanya was born in the Belarusian city of Minsk. A graduate of the Belarusian State Academy of Music Tanya leads an active concert life in her native country and abroad. She has given concerts in Russia, France, Switzerland, China and the UK. Tanya combines concerts with teaching. She has lived in the UK since 2018.

Redditch soprano Katie Leaver will sing well known songs from both world wars. Katie studied music at Manchester University, where she specialised in 19th century opera as well as studying voice, clarinet and piano. She regularly performs as a soloist with choral societies, choirs and orchestras, singing arias from opera and operetta as well as choral works. Katie is much in demand for recitals and concerts, and has frequently sung for both the Sir Arthur Sullivan Society and the Gilbert and Sullivan Society.

Works featuring in the concert include:

Beethoven - Overture to Fidelio

Richard Addinsell - Warsaw piano concerto - soloist Tanya Avchinnikova

Vaughan-Williams - Fantasia on Greensleeves

Haydn - London Symphony

Eric Coates - Dam Busters March

Songs from the Trenches include:

          * Keep the Home Fires Burning

          * Waltz of My Heart

          * I’ll Walk Beside You

          * We’ll Gather Lilacs in the Spring