91Èȱ¬

Enchantment, potions, and deep emotions suddenly transforming into passionate music. And it’s not just the star-cross’d lovers of Prokofiev’s great Shakespearean ballet score. Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake is a story of love blossoming under the shadow of a dark magic. Missy Mazzoli’s new Violin Concerto, ‘Procession’, meanwhile, casts the soloist (in the composer’s words) ‘as a soothsayer, sorcerer, healer and pied piper’, playing music that begins with medieval charms and ends by reaching for the sky. It’s played tonight by its dedicatee Jennifer Koh, with the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Santtu Matias-Rouvali, at the end of his first (critically acclaimed) season as Music Director.

Image: Jennifer Koh © Jürgen Frank