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Rites: Santtu conducts Stravinsky

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Booking for Friends of the Philharmonia opens at 10am on Thursday, 1 July. General booking opens Thursday, 8 July.

Pekka Kuusisto holding a violin

Artists

Santtu-Matias Rouvali – conductor
Pekka Kuusisto – violin

Programme

Revueltas La Noche de los Mayas Part IV: Noche de encantamiento

Bryce Dessner Violin Concerto (UK premiere)

— Interval —

Stravinsky The Rite of Spring

Witness The Rite of Spring – a rite of passage for the Philharmonia Orchestra’s new Principal Conductor, and a visceral experience for performers and listeners alike.

Stravinsky’s ballet changed the course of music history, with its stamping rhythms, violent dissonances, and menacing, primeval soundworld. Its story of pagan rituals heralding the spring, culminating in a sacrificial dance, leaves us in no doubt as to how closely human lives are tied to the life and rhythms of the Earth.

Silvestre Revueltas’s score for the 1939 Mexican film La Noche de los Mayas also evokes a time before modern ‘civilisation’ separated us from nature.  The part we hear tonight echoes The Rite of Spring in its driving rhythms and eerie woodwind opening, but its extended percussion section is unmistakably Latin American.

Charismatic violinist Pekka Kuusisto, the Philharmonia’s Featured Artist this season, joins the Orchestra for Bryce Dessner’s Violin Concerto, commissioned for the Human / Nature series. Bryce Dessner is one of the most versatile musicians working today. His music is performed widely by the worlds leading orchestras and he is featured regularly at major festivals. Besides his classical work he is a founding member of The National and works with peers in other genres such as Sufjan Stevens, Paul Simon and Taylor Swift.

Need to know

Prices & Discounts

£13 – £65

Multi-buy offer available; under-18s and concessions discounts available; discounted tickets for students via Student Pulse one month before the concert (limited availability)

Running time:

1h 30 minutes, including a 20 minute interval

Recommended age

From 7+

Programme notes

Free printed programmes will be available at the venue. Read the digital programme notes here.

Box office

Philharmonia Box Office: 0800 652 6717

Before the concert

Venue

Royal Festival Hall

Royal Festival Hall

Southbank Centre
Belvedere Road
London
SE1 8XX

View on Google Maps

Part of Human/Nature Series

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