Journeys of Discovery: Psychedelia

Music to transport you into a fantastical world of dreams and nightmares.

Higdon’s blue cathedral is a deeply moving aural experience, both an enthralling concerto for orchestra and a memorial to her recently deceased brother.  The listener is beckoned in by ethereal bells before being swept into a cathedral-like space that invites the ‘ecstatic expansion of the soul.’

If you like Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet, then you will love his Violin Concerto No.2 that was written in the same period. It shares the same deeply romantic melodies and youthful energy of the ballet, but with surprises around each corner.

Berlioz’s zany Symphonie Fantastique is equally unpredictable, hallucinatory, even unhinged at times. The work’s protagonist has been spurned by the woman he adores and so chases her in a series of dreams that get ever more desperate. Berlioz captures everything along the way, from gentle yearning to feverish, overwhelming passion.

‘Balanced lyricism and fire […]. Among her assets are a finely polished technique and a beautifully varied palette of timbres.’
New York Times on Arabella Steinbacher

Large print versions of the programme for this concert are available on request. Please email your request to Doran Crowhurst crowhurstd@rpo.co.uk at least one full week before the performance.