The MSO reveals the power of spring with Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du printemps and Perséphone: one wild, rebellious and revolutionary, the other a lyrical, little-known masterpiece. In his final year at the helm, parting Chief Conductor Sir Andrew Davis conducts this extraordinary Stravinsky double bill, in which Perséphone is performed for the first time in Australia since more than 50 years. Tenor Paul Groves, as Priest Eumophalus, is accompanied on stage by another 180 voices: the MSO Choir, the Australian Girls Choir and the National Boys Choir. The mezzo-soprano Lotte Betts-Dean is a convincing narrator.
RCO: Mahler No. 8
After the two famous Mahler festivals in 1920 and 1995, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam is now presenting a special twoseason Mahler series, which includes ten large-scale symphonies plus ‘Das Lied von der Erde’, performed in chronological order by the world’s greatest orchestra under the direction of great conductors – all brought to life in the wonderful acoustics of the Main Hall of the Concertgebouw.