Founded in 1908, Italy’s premier symphony orchestra was moulded into one of the world’s finest ensembles by maestros such as honorary conductors Leonard Bernstein and Yuri Temirkanov, music directors Giuseppe Sinopoli and Igor Markevitch, and Antonio Pappano, the star conductor who holds the latter post since 2005. Born in the UK to Italian parents in 1959, Pappano has been music director of the Royal Opera House in London’s Covent Garden since 2002. A recipient of a Gold Medal from the Royal Philharmonic Society in 2015, he is one of the most expert and acclaimed interpreters of the Romantic repertoire. It was with Pappano that the Rome-based orchestra recorded Tchaikovsky‘s three last symphonies, including the Symphony No. 5 known for its nostalgic waltz and elegiac slow movement. The recording of this work was described as “simply wonderful” by The Guardian, noting that it focused not on the work’s traditionally grand Romantic, intensely passionate and traumatically inspired character, but rather on its neoclassical, stripped-down form and balance, as well as its bold innovations.
The overture to Rossini‘s La Cenerentola is an audience favourite on concert programmes due to its elegant touch and energy. The second half of the evening then promises a special musical experience with a performance of Saint-Saëns’ Symphony No. 3, completed exactly 130 years ago and dedicated to the memory of Franz Liszt. Regarded as a peak in the career of the composer, who also produced The Carnival of the Animals suite, it is notable for assigning roles to keyboard instruments within the symphonic setting, including the piano and – as its subtitle indicates – the organ, which lends unusual colour to this rightly popular masterpiece.

Presented by: Müpa Budapest