A RUSSIAN themed concert can be enjoyed at the United Church, Dorchester, with Dorset Sinfonia.

The Dorset Sinfonia Seasonal Concert on Saturday, November 30 at 7.30pm will feature music by Tchaikovsky and Mussorgsky.

Headed by the husband and wife team of David Ansell (conductor) and Rachel Greenwood (leader), the 37-piece orchestra will be playing Pictures at an Exhibition and Night on a Bald Mountain by Mussorgsky and excerpts from the Nutcracker by Tchaikovsky.

Following a visit to the Imperial Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg in the spring of 1874, Mussorgsky was inspired to compose Pictures at an Exhibition, quickly completing the score in three weeks.

The music depicts his tour of the exhibition, with each of the ten numbers of the suite serving as a musical illustration of an individual work by the renowned artist, architect and designer, Viktor Hartmann.

Pictures at an Exhibition is Mussorgsky's most famous piano composition, and has become a showpiece for virtuoso pianists.

It will be Tushmalov’s version performed at this concert, here comprising of an opening Promenade and seven of the Pictures.

Night on Bald Mountain (also known as Night on the Bare Mountain) was inspired by Russian literary works and legend and is one of the first tone poems by a Russian composer.

However, Night on Bald Mountain was never performed in any form during Mussorgsky's lifetime. In 1886, five years after Mussorgsky's death, Rimsky-Korsakov published an arrangement of the work, described as a "fantasy for orchestra." It is through this version that Night on Bald Mountain achieved lasting fame. Premiering in Saint Petersburg in 1886, the work became a concert favourite.

Half a century later, the work obtained perhaps its greatest exposure through the Walt Disney animated film Fantasia (1940), featuring an arrangement by Leopold Stokowski, based on Rimsky-Korsakov's version.

Tchaikovsky's score of The Nutcracker has become one of his most famous compositions. The Suite consists of 8 numbers, grouped in 3 movements from which the Dorset Sinfonia will be performing 5 pieces.

*Dorset Sinfonia Seasonal Concert, United Church, Dorchester, Saturday, November 30, 7.30pm.

Tickets are £10.00 for adults and free for under 16s and are available from Dorchester Tourist Information Office (Dorchester Library) and will be available on the door.