Christian Karlsen conducts Stravinsky & Shostakovich

Song, dance and a tale as old as time: the BBC Symphony Orchestra summons the spirit of Orpheus, in music by Gluck, Stravinsky and Missy Mazzoli. It’s a story as old as humanity. Where there’s song, there’s dance, and when Orpheus sang (or so the ancients said) animals, plants and even rocks all danced to his music. Inspired by BBC Radio 3’s groundbreaking series Key Changes, the BBC Symphony Orchestra celebrates the composers who’ve retold his myth, in a concert of ballet music spanning four centuries – from Gluck to Missy Mazzoli.It’s a fantastic journey, embracing Stravinsky at his most theatrical, whilst Mazzoli’s gender-swapped reimagining of the myth is already one of the freshest ballets of our own century. And pianist Simon Trpčeski joins the dance in Shostakovich’s brightest and most beloved piano concerto. Shostakovich wrote it for his teenage son, and it’s inspired several ballets in its own right – proof that in music, some ideas are eternal. Programme Christoph Willibald Gluck Orfeo ed Euridice (excerpts) Igor Stravinsky Orpheus Interval Missy Mazzoli Orpheus Undone Dmitri Shostakovich Piano Concerto No. 2 Performers Christian Karlsen conductor Simon Trpčeski piano BBC Symphony Orchestra