LSO Berlioz Special

In this ground-breaking take on William Shakespeare’s bittersweet tragedy, Hector Berlioz combines the playwright’s influence with all the musical drama of Ludwig van Beethoven’s symphonies. The Bard proved to be one of the enduring influences on Berlioz throughout his life. The composer described his first encounter with Shakespeare’s work as a ‘thunderbolt’ that changed his life – and musical imagination – forever.

Berlioz let his imagination run wild in his music, finding inspiration in all manner of sources, including his own turbulent personal life. His experience of powerful, unrequited love finds its expression in the emotionally charged Symphonie Fantastique, the story of an artist’s ‘hopeless love’, complete with waltzes, witches and a hallucinogenic nightmare. There are few orchestras with the music of Berlioz more thoroughly in their blood than the LSO, and here Valery Gergiev brings to bear his opulent interpretation of this landmark piece.Featuring the acclaimed mezzo-soprano Karen Cargill, this triple header also includes Hector Berlioz' Waverley Overture and Les nuits d'été.

Sir Simon Rattle and the London Symphony Orchestra mark 150 years since the death of Hector Berlioz with his tempestuous oratorio, La damnation de Faust. La damnation de Faust is a work born of the composer’s obsession with Goethe’s legendary tale. Once a righteous scholar, Faust allows himself to be corrupted by the devil, and drags the innocent around him into desperation and death. It’s a fable that defies definition – both a tragedy and dark comedy, with a central character both wise and despicable, and a play and epic poem in one.