This is the Lord Mayor of Leicester’s concert and at the end of the evening there will be a collection in aid of the Lord Mayor’s Forget-Me-Not appeal
Esa-Pekka Salonen, the Philharmonia’s Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor, opens the season with the music of his compatriot Jean Sibelius and his tone poem Finlandia with its nationalist evocations of Finnish history. Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet Suite is also deeply expressive; he first composed music for the full ballet, later making several symphonic suites from the score. Prokofiev originally rewrote Shakespeare’s original story to have a happy ending (“living people can dance, dying ones can’t”) but after pressure from the political authorities reinstated the original tragic ending with some of his most heartrending music.
Please note the piano concerto inbetween these two pieces has now changed from Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 1 to Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5, Emperor.
Esa-Pekka Salonen Interview
Esa-Pekka Salonen discusses his future with the Philharmonia.
Symphonie Fantastique
Buy on CD or download Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen.
London 2010/11 season
Find out more about the Philharmonia's 2010/11 season at Royal Festival Hall.
