Claude Debussy: Ibéria (Images, No.2)
Jean Sibelius: Violin Concerto
Interval
Jean Sibelius: Symphony No.4

At his heights of frustration, Jean Sibelius created his most enduring and moving music.

The composer's dream of becoming a virtuoso violinist was dashed when he failed an audition for the Vienna Philharmonic, but that only added to the thrust and inspiration behind his resplendent Violin Concerto, a testament in music to the virtuoso Sibelius never was.

At his deepest depths of despair, diagnosed with cancer and fighting off debts, Sibelius created his Fourth Symphony, perhaps his most stark, evocative, chilling and moving. Its sinister, craggy outcrops and shadows are separated from the sultry heat of Debussy's Ibéria by a geographical and musical gulf.

Free pre-concert event, 6pm until 6.45pm, Royal Festival Hall
Musicians from the London Philharmonic Orchestra join students from London Music Masters' innovative music education programme, the Bridge Project, for a musical celebration. See londonmusicmasters.org for more details of this partnership.

Performers

London Philharmonic Orchestra
Jukka-Pekka Saraste conductor
Henning Kraggerud violin

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