London Philharmonic's Russian Bells Concert Cancelled

Submitted by edg on Tue, 14 Aug '12 8.53pm

The Edinburgh International Festival has cancelled tonight's all-Russian concert by the London Philharmonic Orchestra after a power cut at the Usher Hall. The 1 hour 55 minute concert was due to start at 8pm, but around 20 minutes after 8pm waiting crowds who had been looking forward to the Russian bell themed concert learned that the concert was not to be.

"We are very sorry to announce that due to a power cut at the Usher Hall this evening our London Philharmonic Orchestra concert has been cancelled," the EIF said on its Facebook page (there was no notice on the event page on the EIF site at time of writing).

The EIF Facebook notice added: "Ticket holders will be given a full refund from Hub Tickets Box Office and card refunds can be given over the phone. If you wait a couple of days the box office should be quieter if you require to get your refund in person.

This service will run for a week after which we will issue refund cheques. If you require a refund on your program you should contact the Usher Hall and they can arrange that for you.

We're sorry again and we hope you can appreciate we're as disappointed as you not be hearing Vladimir Jurowski and the London Philharmonic Orchestra."

The Russian bell concert programme included Rodion Shchedrin's "Concerto for Orchestra No 2 ‘The Chimes’", Myaskovsky's "Silentium", Denisov's "Bells in the Fog", and Rachmaninov's "The Bells".

As well as soprano Tatiana Monogarova, tenor Sergei Skorokhodov, and baritone Vladimir Chernov, the concert was due to feature the Edinburgh Festival Chorus, led by the appropriately named chorus master Christopher Bell.