Philharmonia Orchestra: Salonen conducts in London

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Salonen conducts in London

Royal Festival Hall
Thu 26 Sep 2013 7:30pm

Esa-Pekka Salonen

conductor

Christianne Stotijn

soprano

Paul Groves

tenor

Gerald Finley

bass-baritone

Philharmonia Chorus

Berlioz

Romeo And Juliet

Please note: this programme (and start time) changed in February 2013. Publications printed before this will advertise a performance of Berlioz's The Damnation of Faust, and are incorrect.

The new season opens with an event that brings together a stellar cast under Esa-Pekka Salonen's baton to perform Berlioz's electrifying choral symphony, Romeo and Juliet. Widely considered to be his most original and dramatic programmatic work, it is a tour de force for orchestra, chorus and soloists. A personal homage to his own heroes Shakespeare and Beethoven, it has been described by the musicologist Donald Tovey as "one of the most gigantic and convincing masterpieces of music-drama" ever written, pushing the limits of the contemporary orchestra's capabilities in terms of colour, programmatic scope and individual virtuosity. Wagner attended its première in 1839 and was deeply affected by it, later presenting Berlioz with the score of his own Tristan und Isolde inscribed with the words "To the dear and great author of Romeo and Juliet, from the grateful author of Tristan and Isolde."

Sung in French with English surtitles