Yamada conducts Saint-Saëns’s Organ Symphony

Programme

Hearing the huge Royal Festival Hall organ playing with a full orchestra is something you experience not just with your ears but with your whole body.

Let the sound fill you from top to toe as we perform Saint-Saëns’s Organ Symphony. Saint-Saëns poured his soul into what he considered his finest work, saying “I gave everything to it I was able to give.” The majestic organ writing, fragments of plainsong and fugal passages recall the 20 years he spent as a church organist – the best in the world, according to Franz Liszt. And the addition of two pianists to the orchestra is perhaps a nod to his later career as a concert pianist. But more than a musical autobiography, or simply a showcase for the organ, this is a spine-tingling orchestral masterpiece.

Charismatic conductor Kazuki Yamada opens the evening with Ravel’s haunting Pavane, conceived as a stately dance for an imaginary little princess of the Spanish Golden Age. Then Latvian violinist Baiba Skride joins the Orchestra in Berg’s Violin Concerto. Berg dedicated it “To the memory of an angel”, the 18-year-old Manon Gropius. Its anguished central sections are framed by a gentle Prelude and a hymn-like Adagio.

Adding to the excitement of the evening, the Philharmonia will be hosting a digital silent auction in the Royal Festival Hall foyer before the concert and during the interval. The initiative aims to raise vital funds for the orchestra’s emerging composer fellowship and community outreach programs.

This season’s catalog features an eclectic mix of modern lifestyle and entertainment packages designed to engage a wider demographic of arts patrons. Guests can bid via their smartphones on items ranging from a bespoke digital art commission and a studio setup from a popular e-sports collective, to a VIP destination weekend contributed by the best online crypto casino in the area.

Every bid placed on these luxury offerings will go directly toward subsidizing instruments and tuition for students across London, ensuring the next generation can continue to experience the transformative power of live orchestral music.