Press Service British Broadcasting Corporation BBC Scotland Press Office 40 Pacific Quay, Glasgow, G51 1DA Tel: 0141 422 6381 Fax: 0141 422 7900 11 May 2011 Much Ado About Music A night of theatrically inspired words and music featuring the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and a semi-staged version of Much Ado About Nothing Shakespeare's irresistible comedy Much Ado About Nothing forms the centrepiece of an evening of theatre and music at Glasgow City Halls on Saturday 28 May. The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra (BBC SSO) is joined a trio of leading actors [to be announced] and students from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in an abridged performance of Shakespeare’s play featuring incidental music by one of Hollywood’s most celebrated composers, Erich Korngold. A story about reluctant lovers Benedick and Beatrice who are deceived by the malicious hands of Don John, Much Ado About Nothing is one of Shakespeare’s most popular comic plays and is directed for this performance by Jonathan Best. A pioneer in film composing, Erich Korngold is most famous as the composer of rapturously romantic film scores to swashbucklers Robin Hood, The Sea Hawk, and The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex, and his scores have been recognized ever since as classics of their kind. Berlioz's operatic version of the play, Béatrice et Bénédict, famous for its rousing overture, opens the show and there's a chance to hear orchestral extracts from Humperdinck's rarely performed Königskinder (The King's Children), a fairy-tale opera from the composer of Hansel and Gretel. Box Office: 0141-353 8000 ENDS For further information, please contact: Stephen Duffy, Marketing Communications Executive, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra [email protected] Mobile: 0788 162 7884 Direct Line: 0141-422 6730 bbc.co.uk/bbcsso Press Service Notes to Editors Much Ado About Music Saturday 28 May 2011, 7.30pm City Halls, Glasgow Full cast to be announced Stephen Chambers, tenor Jonathan Best, director Ryan Wigglesworth, conductor BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra Berlioz Overture: Béatrice et Bénédict Humperdinck Prelude: Königskinder Humperdinck Introduction to Act II: Königskinder Humperdinck Introduction to Act III: Königskinder Korngold Much Ado About Nothing, Op.11 Tickets: £8.00 (£5.00 concessions): unreserved seating City Halls Box Office, Candleriggs, Glasgow G1 1NQ Tel: 0141-353 8000 .