ROYAL Northern Sinfonia reaches the half way point in the 2014/15 season Beethoven Symphony Cycle with his very first.

For the occasion they are joined by internationally-renowned pianist Olli Mustonen, who takes on both the conducting and piano solo at Sage Gateshead, at 7.30pm on Thursday February 26.

Mustonen has worked closely with leading voices in the orchestral music industry, including composer Rodion Shchedrin and conductor Valery Gergiev, who personally invited him to perform at the finale concert of his Easter Festival in Moscow.

He was also invited to be soloist at the Gala Concert and Closing Ceremony of the Winter International Arts Festival in Sochi.

Beethoven’s first may not be the most ground-breaking of his symphonies, but it is clearly the voice of a young composer, with meandering tonality and cheeky twists to the symphonic format.

There’s a nod in the work to his old master Josef Haydn, and the famous young composer of the time, Mozart, giving the work a clearly Classical grounding, on the cusp of Romanticism.

Shostakovich’s Concerto for Piano and Trumpet sees Mustonen take to the ivories, with RNS member Richard Martin stepping into the spotlight.

Richard said: “Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto has been a favourite of mine since I first performed it with Royal Northern Sinfonia some 24 years ago.

The programme also features Sibelius’’his much-loved tone poem, Pélleas and Mélisande.

The work is probably best known for its opening movement featured regularly as the theme music for the Astronomy programme The Sky at Night on BBC TV.

Tickets £10 to £33 on sagegateshead.com or contact 0191 443 4661.