EALING Symphony Orchestra’s autumn season opens with a programme to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the composer Richard Strauss’s birth.

It will include the composer’s haunting Four Last Songs, featuring soprano Anna Gorbachyova and a rare opportunity to hear the left-handed piano concerto, Parergon; a virtually unknown work based on a theme from the composer’s Symphonia Domestica.

The work will be performed by British pianist Mark Bebbington, who is to repeat the performance in his Carnegie Hall debut the following week in New York with the American Symphony Orchestra.

Bebbington, who has the rare accolade of receiving seven consecutive five-star reviews from BBC Music Magazine and made more than 30 recordings, studied the work with the late, great Strauss scholar Norman Del Mar.

Ealing Symphony conductor John Gibbons said: “The orchestra is hugely excited to be performing this colourful work in what could be a unique event.

"We have been trying to establish if there has ever been a live performance in the UK, in fact.”

Founded in 1921, the orchestra is one of London's foremost in the voluntary sector.

Under its conductor, John Gibbons, it has established a reputation for performing unjustly neglected music alongside established classics, with the accent always on enjoyment for audiences and players alike.

The concert is on Saturday, October 11, 7.30pm at St. Barnabas Church, Pitshanger Lane, W5. Tickets are available online from the website or on the door: www.ealingso.org.uk