THE Westmorland Orchestra’s 71st concert season opens with a nod to one of the classical repertoire's greatest composers.

On the 150th anniversary of the production of Richard Wagner’s landmark opera Tristan and Isolde, the 'wonderful' Westmorland opens its new season on Saturday, December 5 (7.30pm) at Kendal Leisure Centre's Westmorland Hall, with the Prelude and Liebestod.

Having waited six years from completion of the opera in 1859 to its production in 1865, Wagner missed no opportunity in the intervening years to present excerpts, the most famous being Prelude and Liebestod.

After the passion-laden emotion of Wagner’s doomed lovers, the popular ensemble puts on a spectacular display of orchestral colour and brilliance, taking a stroll among Respighi’s Pines of Rome, a masterpiece of scoring and musical imagery. Premiered in Rome in 1924, the Italian composer's piece was an immediate success, portraying the contrasting scenes of children playing, shadows at the catacombs, a nightingale singing in the moonlight and finally a misty dawn leads to the full blaze of sunrise, heralding the return of Rome’s victorious legions.

Westmorland conductor Richard Howarth said: “This music is descriptive, emotive, utterly engaging and ultimately triumphant (loud).”

It is just over two years since Richard picked up the baton for the Westmorland.

With a distinguished career as a violinist, which began professionally in 1972 with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Peak District-based musician is best-known for his high profile seat on the front desk of the Manchester Camerata, leading the illustrious orchestra for 20 years.

Richard’s musical pedigree is at the top end of the scale with a curriculum vitae that reads like a shopping list of the nation’s top ensembles.

He has led and directed orchestras for more than three decades and in recent years has been in demand as a conductor, hence his arrival on the WO podium for the 2010/2011 season, taking over from the eminent Barry Sharkey, who retired in 2009 after being the orchestra’s conductor for 35 years. He also works regularly at the Royal Northern College of Music and Chetham’s School of Music and as well as the WO, is principal conductor of Sale Chamber Orchestra and conductor/music director of Blackburn Symphony Orchestra.

The Westmorland concert concludes with Brahms’s heartfelt First Symphony, a labour of love that took him more than two decades to compose: "I shall never write a symphony," said the German composer as he worked to fulfil a widely-felt expectation that he would match Beethoven’s immense reputation. The result was well worth waiting for and the piece is regarded as one of the greatest first symphonies ever written.

The orchestra will be led by Pamela Redman.

Tickets are available from orchestra members, the Brewery Arts Centre box office (01539-725133) or at the door.