Sibelius's Death of Mélisande was played as a tribute to the late Kurt Sanderling
Sibelius’s epic ‘choral symphony’ Kullervo was written some eight years before his conventional First Symphony, when the composer was just 27 years old. Its five movements depict the exploits of the hero of the great Finnish mythic poem, the Kalevala, and chronicle different parts of his complex, tragic personality and of his life, including his childhood in slavery, his seduction of his own sister and his atonement on the battlefield for her subsequent suicide. Scored for male chorus, soloists and orchestra, this is an extraordinary piece of choral writing of dramatic power, rarely heard in the concert hall due to its sheer size and scale.
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This concert will be dedicated to the memory of Kurt Sanderling the Orchestra’s much-loved Conductor Emeritus, who passed away on 17 September. Click here to read the Orchestra's tribute.
This concert is supported by The Meyer Foundation
Click here to view an interactive online version of the 2011/12 season brochure.
More concerts with Esa-Pekka Salonen:
Salonen conducts in Basingstoke
Jun 22 2012, 19:45 - The Anvil
The Philharmonia performs at The Anvil, Basingstoke's 18th Birthday Celebrations with Mahler's Resurrection symphony and the world première of Joseph Phibbs's Rivers to the Sea.
Infernal Dance: Concerto for Orchestra in Paris
Jun 25 2012, 20:00 - Théâtre des Champs-Elysées
Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts this all-Bartók programme of The Wooden Prince Suite, Piano Concerto No. 3 with Nikolai Lugansky and the Concerto for Orchestra








