SOUTHAMPTON-based són, the city’s new professional orchestra, has been chosen by the Music in Romsey group to launch the Abbey’s 2017 concert season.

This celebration of classical music will feature an exciting programme of Mozart, Beethoven and Vaughan Williams, showcasing the talents of the professional players alongside a group of masterclass students from the University of Southampton.

The international singing sensation Lucy Knight will open the proceedings.

Knight was recently described by the New York Concert Review as having ‘an exquisite heart-melting voice’.

The són orchestra will be under the baton of its founder and artistic director, Robin Browning. He told the Daily Echo: “We are honoured to have been selected to start the 2017 season at Romsey Abbey. It’s such a beautiful and uplifting building with excellent acoustics.

“I’ve conducted there many times but I’m particularly excited to have this opportunity to share with everyone the wonderful sound this group produces with such passion and expertise.”

Soprano Lucy Knight will sing Mozart’s Exsultate, jubilate, and arias from Don Giovanni, while the second half of the concert includes Beethoven Symphony No 7 and Vaughan Williams Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis.

són at Romsey Abbey takes place at 7.30 pm on Saturday March 18. Tickets, priced from £12 to £22, are available now from ticketsource.co.uk/musicinromsey.

The orchestra will be returning to its home base with concerts at Southampton’s Turner Sims in April and June.

Violinist Thomas Gould will be the soloist for Four Seasons Recomposed by Max Richter, composer of the theme music for the BBC’s critically-acclaimed series Taboo, in a concert on April 28 which also features Barber’s Adagio, Vaughan Williams Five Variants of Dives & Lazarus and Elgar’s Sospiri.

The June 4 programme features David Owen Norris as presenter in Elgar Unwrapped, where the audience will be guided through each of the fascinating Enigma Variations prior to a complete performance of the composer’s 1898-9 masterwork.