‘I have always ired St Francis…he spoke to the birds, and I’m an ornithologist.’ For the dazzling, colourful score to his gargantuan opera based on the life of the saint, bird-lover Olivier Messiaen interweaves orchestral twitterings and chirpings into a tapestry of sound as glorious as the dawn chorus. Here’s a very rare chance to experience part of this extraordinary work with the BBC SSO’s Chief Conductor, Ryan Wigglesworth, at the helm.
And is that a cuckoo we hear? Beethoven wasn’t above introducing the sounds of nature into his music, most famously in his popular Sixth Symphony. This ode to the natural world has a bracing, invigorating energy that’s bound to fill you with the joys of spring.
Please note the change to the originally d concert order.
This concerts ends at approximately 5:00pm.