Musical finale to University's Golden Jubilee celebrations

A GALA concert by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra on Wednesday 21 June will be the finale of the University of Exeter's Golden Jubilee celebrations. The one-off concert is open to the public. It has been arranged and sponsored by Exeter's business community led by Ray Dillon, the Chairman of Renwicks Garages Group.

Said Mr Dillon: Many people don't realise just how much the current and future prosperity of Exeter depends on the University in its midst. It is, however, a point that is fully grasped by the business community and we wanted to provide this concert to show our appreciation. Businesses share in the £200 million the University spends each year in the local community as well as the graduates it produces. They also benefit from its research and from the practical ways it helps companies to develop new ideas.'

The Jubilee concert takes place at 7.30pm on Wednesday 21 June in the University's Great Hall. All proceeds will go to the University's Student Life Fund, which aims to improve academic and other facilities for students in the South West. The programme includes Brahms' Academic Festival Overture, Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini and Tchaikovsky's fourth symphony. The conductor is Nicolae Moldoveanu and the soloist (piano) Polina Leschenko.

Tickets range in price from £10 to £28. Tickets can be booked via the Northcott Theatre box office on 01392 493493. Website: http://esro.artifax.net/exetertickets/hall.asp

The University's roots stretch back 150 years to the creation of a School of Art in Exeter in 1855. It took another century of higher education development before a fully- fledged university could be created in 1955.

Exeter was one of the first of a new wave of universities created by Her Majesty the Queen in the early years of her reign. In 50 years it has grown from having under 1,000 students to more than 13,500. The University now employs 2,600 people and another 2,300 jobs in the local economy depend upon it.

Companies and other organisations supporting the Jubilee concert include Renwicks, Baker Holdings, Bank of England, Thistle Hotel, Francis Clark, KPMG, South Devon College, Exeter City Council, Ashfords, EDF Energy,Michelmores, Devon County Council, Handle with Care, Exeter College, Leander Developments, Gerrards Investment Management, Marsh UK, Graphic plc, Somerset Care, Clydesdale Bank, Lacey Hickey Caley, Reuters and Royal Bank of Scotland.

Polina Leschenko

Polina Leschenko was born in 1981 in St Petersburg, into a family of musicians and began playing the piano under her father's guidance at the age of six. She made her solo debut at the age of eight with the Leningrad Symphony Orchestra. She has appeared at many of Europe's major concert halls including the Barbican Hall in London, Salle Gaveau, Paris and the Sala Verdi in Milan. She has just made an immensely successful début with the Hallé Orchestra and Cristian Mandeal playing Liszt's Piano Concert No1. In November 2006 she undertakes a major tour of Australia with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, playing Mendelssohn's double concerto with Richard Tognetti. Polina Leschenko has recorded a debut CD for EMI in the series 'Martha Argerich presents …', with works by Liszt, Chopin, Kreisler/Rachmaninov, Brahms and Bach/Feinberg. She has also recently recorded a disc of Prokofiev chamber music with Martha Argerich, Christia Poltéra and Roby Lakatos, for Pure Music.

Nicolae Moldoveanu

Nicolae Moldoveanu was born in Romania and began violin and piano studies as a child. He went on to study conducting in Germany, the UK and Switzerland where he now lives in Zurich as a Swiss citizen. He has worked with many Swiss orchestras including the Zurich Chamber Orchestra and has also worked with the BBC Philharmonic, Netherlands Radio Symphony, Stockholm Chamber Orchestra, Stavanger Symphony Orchestra and National Symphony Orchestra Johannesburg. In 1994 Nicolae Moldoveanu was appointed Arts Council Young Conductor to the Bournemouth Orchestras. Following a year's extension of this appointment, he was offered the post of Resident Conductor, which he took up in 1996. In 1998 Nicolae Moldoveanu was appointed Principal Conductor of the English Sinfonia. In September 2002 Nicolae Moldoveanu took up the position of Associate Guest Conductor with the London Mozart Players. His recent engagements include conducting the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House with Angela Gheorghiu, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Hallé Orchestra, the Orchestra del Teatro Comunale Genoa, the Melbourne Symphony, the Norwegian Radio Orchestra, the Danish Radio Sinfonietta and the Bucharest Philharmonic.