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Melbourne Symphony Orchestra: Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique
July 15, 2023 @ 7:30 pm - 9:40 pm
Dreams and nightmares collide in this truly epic concert of escapist fantasy. Under the baton of Jaime Martín, the MSO is joined by the monumental forces of the MSO Chorus and 2023 Ensemble in Residence Gondwana Voices.
Daughter of a Russian princess, Lili Boulanger grew up in a claustrophobic world of expectation with music serving as her great escape. Psalm 129 begins with the text ‘they have oppressed me since my youth’ – a statement with great autobiographical resonances for this extraordinary composer.
Australian Brett Dean’s ‘social cantata’ Vexations and Devotions has been described as reflecting the ‘de-humanisation of contemporary life as exemplified by reality television, automated answering services and meaningless corporate jargon’ (The Australian). With text by Michael Leunig and Dorothy Porter, this performance of Dean’s playful and philosophical work features youth choir Gondwana Voices, MSO 2023 Ensemble in Residence.
French composer Berlioz’s epic Symphonie Fantastique is a prime example of programmatic music – that is, music with a clear story that the music seeks to evoke. It follows the protagonist’s melodious, energetically-heaving, and sometimes horrifying fever dream of love, death, and the supernatural.