A LITTLE piece of dark autumnal romance is coming to town.

Next month Bolton Symphony Orchestra will dazzle audiences with a dynamic celebration of the music of French romantic composer Hector Berlioz150 years anniversary after his death.

During the first half of the show the orchestra will feature the exuberant Roman Carnival Overture alongside the Overture to Les Francs-juges, before a piece for solo violin ­— Reverie and Caprice.

The second half with then feature Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique.

Composed in 1830 the novel and unconventional piece caused quite a stir when it was first performed.

This was in part due to the colossal size of the orchestra and the unorthodox instruments used, including two ophicleides ­— whose parts are now usually performed by tubas ­— as well as an E flat clarinet and two harps in the second movement.

Comprised of five movements the symphony tells the story of an artist’s unrequited love­— thought to be based on Berlioz himself ­— and a charming motif expressing the young man’s love is interwoven throughout the entire symphony.

After beginning with a beguiling and gentle first three movements the drama of symphony really starts to unfold.

Believing his love to be unreciprocated the young man poisons himself with opium and falls into a deep sleep. Lost in the fog of drug befuddled dreams he imagines he murders his beloved and that he has been sentenced to death. Therein he is led to the scaffold and witnesses his own execution.

In an electrifying and grotesque conclusion the fifth movement, entitled Dream of a Witches’ Sabbath, witnesses a gathering a the lover’s funeral.

The concert will be performed at Victoria Hall in Knowsley Street from 7.30pm on September 21.

Tickets priced £12, or free for under 19s, are available from Booths Music Shop, the Victoria Hall box office, and on the door.

The show is the latest large scale work given the Bolton Symphony Orchestra treatment. And in recent months the orchestra has enjoyed guest appearances from performers including international guitar soloist Craig Ogden and pianist Peter Donohoe.

A Bolton Symphony Orchestra spokesman said: “Bolton Symphony Orchestra is made up of members of the local community and beyond from many professions and trades. They are united by a passion for music.

“The orchestra has existed for just over thirty years, providing residents of Bolton and surrounding areas the opportunity to hear quality live music close to home.”