Scheherazade

The evening

Songs of legend, loss, and triumph

Belgian maestro Karel Deseure presents a feast of French talent as Mel Bonis – a favourite of Saint-Saëns – lends her lyrical musical voice to three female figures of historical, mythical and biblical legend. 20th-century pioneer Lili Boulanger also revels in the richness of religious texts, drawing on the pain and yearning in Psalm 130 to create her choral masterpiece. Songs of mourning give way to hymns of praise in a radiant performance of ‘Du fond de l'abîme’ by the Orchestra and Choir. And finally, that famous Persian queen returns in Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade.

Mel Bonis

Trois femmes de légende: Salomé, Ophélie et le Songe de Cléopâtre

Lili Boulanger

Psalm 130 ‘Du fond de l'abîme’

Rimsky-Korsakov

Scheherazade