THE English Symphony Orchestra will celebrate the new season in the best way it knows how, with a concert in its home city of Worcester.

A spokesman said: “One of Worcester’s most celebrated international cultural exports, is set to grace the Swan Theatre’s stage in collaboration with the Worcester Repertory Company and Academy Theatre Arts, as it celebrates the renewing force of spring.

“On Friday May 4 the ESO continues its work as Worcester Live’s Orchestra-in-Residence with a fantastic collaborative concert at the Swan Theatre. The programme includes Stravinsky’s hugely popular work of musical theatre, The Soldier’s Tale, narrated by leading actor and director Ben Humphrey, including appearances of actors from the Young Worcester Repertory Company.

“The programme continues with a performance of one of the most beloved works of 20th Century music, Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring, presented here, as originally conceived, as a fully staged ballet featuring the young dancers of Academy Theatre Arts, under the direction of Helen Leek.”

Helen added: “Even at the most elite levels of the dance world, it is a special occasion when we get to dance to a live orchestra. For our dancers to perform such a seminal work sharing the stage with one of the country’s leading orchestras is really an incredibly exciting prospect.”

Kenneth Woods, whose teacher was Copland’s friend and assistant in the 1950s, conducts the programme, and leading violinist Thomas Gould appears as guest leader and soloist in the virtuosic solo part in Stravinksy’s Soldier’s Tale.

The spokesman added: “Igor Stravinsky’s 1918 L’Histoire du Soldat (The Soldier’s Tale) tells a humorous version of the Faust myth, in which a young soldier returning from the war is persuaded to sell his beloved fiddle to the devil in exchange for love and wealth.”

As you do.

The date for the diary is Friday May 4 at 7.30pm, at The Swan Theatre.

Tickets are available from the Box Office on 01905 611427.