International Concert Series 2026-27

The Royal Holloway Symphony Orchestra presents a programme that moves from the vastness of the cosmos to the drama of the concert stage. Camille Pépin's Laniakea opens the concert with a musical portrait of the immense galactic supercluster that contains our own Milky Way, its orchestral textures inspired by ideas of immensity, movement, speed and light. We then move to Tchaikovsky’s stunning Violin Concerto, which famously flopped at its premiere (one critic remarked that it ‘stank to the ear’) yet today it is an absolute favourite with both performers and audiences. 

The second half brings Stravinsky's Firebird Suite, drawn from his groundbreaking ballet about the magical Firebird and the transformation of Prince Ivan's fortunes. In the 1919 suite, Stravinsky distils the ballet's vivid orchestral colours and dramatic contrasts into a concert work that has become one of his most celebrated scores.

Led by internationally acclaimed conductor Rebecca Miller, the Royal Holloway Symphony Orchestra brings together students from across the University to create a lively, challenging and collaborative orchestral environment. 

This event is presented as part of the International Concert Series 2026-27 - The Sounding World - at Royal Holloway.

Event programme

Camille Pépin (b. 1990): Laniakea
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893): Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35
Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971): The Firebird, 1919 Suite

About the performers 

Led by internationally-acclaimed conductor Rebecca Miller, the Royal Holloway Symphony Orchestra meets weekly, giving three concerts per year in the Windsor Auditorium. The orchestra endeavours to create a lively, challenging, and social basis for orchestral life at Royal Holloway and comprises students from across the university. They also participate in side-by-side programmes with professional musicians, and through our unique partnership with the Chiltern Music Academy. For 2020-21, orchestras at Royal Holloway launched a new social action project called Re-Orchestrating Society, where members of orchestras at Royal Holloway work together in small teams to develop a project based around orchestras that aims to benefit society.

California-born conductor Rebecca Miller has earned an international reputation for her compelling, insightful, and energetic presence on the podium and for her ability to communicate with audiences of all ages. Most recently she has guest-conducted the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, London Mozart Players, London Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra (at the BBC Proms), BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, New Haven Symphony Orchestra, City of London Sinfonia, National Youth Orchestra of Scotland, Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional de Mexico, Gävle Symphony Orchestra, Västerås Sinfonietta and Dalarnsinfoniettan in Sweden, and Kuopio Symphony Orchestra in Finland.