SYMPHONY VI A NIGHT ON SWAN LAKE

Ravel’s intention was not to be profound, but to entertain.  Influenced by jazz, Negro spirituals, and Basque folk music of Spain, the Concerto in G Major played by LSO guest artist Roswell Reyes, winner of the 2024 Young Artist Competition, will captivate you with its “curiously hypnotic character”.  You can listen to the first movement’s lively romp, hear the second movement’s iridescent harmonies, and enjoy the carnival atmosphere of the last movement, where you just might hear some donkey brays and fanfare flourishes.   Ravel famously said “the music of a concerto should be light-hearted and brilliant” and he certainly follows his own advice.  Roswell Reyes and Glenn Klassen will bring this concerto to life before your very eyes.

Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake Suite comes to you from a ballet originally written for the Bolshoi Ballet in 1877.  While the source of the libretto (the storyline) is unknown, Tchaikovsky excitedly wrote the music for only 800 rubles ($13 Canadian today) in just one year, telling the story of Odette, a princess turned into a swan by an evil sorcerer’s curse.  If you’ve seen the film Black Swan with Natalie Portman, you have seen some sequences from the ballet Swan Lake.  Come hear the LSO presenting Tchaikovsky’s beloved ballet music.