The Hallé plays Belshazzar’s Feast

A ghostly hand appears and scripts ‘the writing on the wall’ that foretells the fate of Belshazzar, King of Babylon. In Walton’s choral masterpiece, a huge orchestra, choir, organ and extra brass, revel in music that’s every bit as excessive as the Babylonians themselves. Decadent and sacrilegious, gripping and intense, the drama builds to the spine-tingling moment when Belshazzar reads: “Thou art weighed in the balance and found wanting”. Before that, Alena Baeva – “a magnetic presence” in the words of the New York Classical Review – is the soloist in Sibelius’s Violin Concerto, beloved of violinists and audiences alike for its sweeping Nordic landscapes, brooding intensity and high-spirited finale. The vivid 1948 ballet music of Japanese composer Akira Ifukube begins the concert. Founded in 1858 and now at the height of its powers, The Hallé is one of the UK’s top symphonic ensembles with a high reputation for artistic excellence. It’s ten years since they were last at Symphony Hall and, with Singaporean Kahchun Wong as Principal Conductor & Artistic Advisor since 2024, they return with a sensational concert to close the Birmingham Classical season. See the full B:Classical Season here