Introduced by Nigel Kennedy Since its birth in 1983, the Lyons Opera Orchestra has quickly made its mark on the European musical scene. Now, under the baton of its founder and Music Director, John Eliot Gardiner, the orchestra makes its first visit to the Proms. Continuing the literary strand of this year's concerts, the centrepiece of tonight's programme is Berlioz's Harold in Italy, a richly romantic work inspired by Byron's poem Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. The soloist is Zoltan Toth, the orchestra's principal viola and a former professor at the National Conservatory in Budapest. The concert begins with Faure's orchestral masterpiece, his suite Pelleas et Melisande.