Melbourne Symphony Orchestra: A Snapshot in Time: Elgar’s Cello Concerto

Lili Boulanger was a child prodigy, daughter of a Russian princess, and the first woman to win the prestigious Prix de Rome composition prize. Her evocative and richly textured works D’un matin de printemps (Of a Spring Morning) and D’un soir triste (Of a Sad Evening) were written in 1918, just before her death at only 24 and speak to genuinely thrilling musical genius cut tragically short.

Get your tissues at the ready and join internationally-acclaimed Australian cellist Li-Wei Qin for one of the most divine, lyrical, and emotionally-stirring works of the 20th century – Elgar’s beloved Cello Concerto.

Based on a commedia dell’arte play, this suite from Prokofiev’s vibrant comic opera Love for Three Oranges is absurd escapism at its most playful, inspired by Prokofiev’s courtship with wartime America.

French impressionist Ravel’s La Valse musically plots the birth, rise, and decline of the Viennese waltz. Journeying from joyful buoyancy to chaotic and crazed destruction, La Valse has often been interpreted as an allegory of Europe before, during, and in the direct aftermath of WWI.