Wirral Life September 2019 | Page 84

AN EVENING WITH THE ROYAL LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra brought a night at the proms to Birkenhead Park on the Saturday of the Food & Drink Festival. Thousands were enchanted by the Orchestra’s only outdoor performance of the year, which was conducted by Richard Balcombe and featured Liverpool-born mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnston. Before the show began, the audience got to experience a new musical piece in two parts, written especially for the evening from Wirral favourites OMD, inspired by the borough and accompanied by spectacular footage of Wirral from above. The concert covered a popular programme inspired by Wirral’s Borough of Culture themes of discovery, exploration and the great outdoors, from film scores such as E.T and Star Wars to extracts from Holst’s The Planets. The show also included a new arrangement of Ferry ‘cross the Mersey and Beatles classics, with the evening rounding off with a rousing rendition of Hey Jude. The event, which was sponsored by Biffa, was a sparkling highlight of Wirral’s year as Borough of Culture for Liverpool City Region. 84 wirrallife.com