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Romeo and Juliet
The music
- Gabriela Lena Frank Contested Eden (UK premiere) (13’)
The performers
- Elim Chan conductor
- Nicolas Altstaedt cello
Three composers, three visions of paradise.
Sergei Prokofiev was the bad boy of Russian music; Romeo and Juliet is the greatest love story ever told. Not an obvious match – but somehow, they clicked, and Prokofiev’s ballet Romeo and Juliet drives straight to the raw, tender heart of Shakespeare’s drama. Tonight, it’s one of three very different visions of paradise from guest conductor Elim Chan. Cellist Nicolas Altstaedt plays the sun-kissed concerto that William Walton composed on a Mediterranean island. Meanwhile, with the UK premiere of Contested Eden, composer Gabriela Lena Frank joins our Harmony with Nature debate with a very personal response to California’s wildfires.
Watch the Orchestra in action
[Elim Chan is] a rare example of a young conductor at once brilliant and not in the least showing off.
The Sunday Times
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