Like a dream within a dream

This evening belongs to women. As part of the PhilHERmonic series, we invite you to a concert featuring a repertoire full of emotion, virtuosity, and contrast led by women.

The program opens with Dreams by Sergei Prokofiev – an early orchestral tone poem rich in symbolist imagery. It is music filled with unease and subtle tension, like a dream you’re not ready to wake up from. It was composed when Prokofiev was fascinated by symbolism, and his early works were often inspired by delicate, sensual literature and paintings featuring female figures.

Next is Ernest Chausson’s Poème, inspired by Ivan Turgenev’s novella The Song of Triumphant Love – a tale of two men in love with the same woman. In Chausson’s piece, the violin is often interpreted as the woman's voice: gentle yet resolute.

Poème by Ernest Chausson, performed by Emmanuel Tjeknavorian (violin) and the hr-Sinfonieorchester conducted by Alain Altinoglu:

Maurice Ravel’s Tzigane was written for the Hungarian violinist Jelly d’Arányi – a charismatic, bold, and rebellious figure. It was she who inspired Ravel to create this wild and virtuosic composition.

The evening will close with Igor Stravinsky’s Petrushka – a ballet in which the orchestra transforms into a fairground stage full of light, shadow, and contrast. The music tells the story of a wooden puppet – Petrushka – who is brought to life and begins to feel, love, and be jealous. Petrushka falls in love with the Ballerina, but she chooses the brutish Moor. Rejected and heartbroken, Petrushka is killed – not by accident, but because of his weakness and otherness. But even as he lies lifeless, his spirit… returns. Stravinsky illustrates this tale through sound and an entire formal language: grotesque, ironic, rhythmically dance-like, and full of emotional collisions.

Petrushka by Igor Stravinsky performed by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra conducted by Andris Nelsons:

On the conductor’s podium will be  Bar Avni, an Israeli conductor and winner of the La Maestra competition in Paris in 2024, which launched her into close collaboration with French orchestras. She previously led the Bayer Symphoniker. She will be joined by  Meruert Karmenowa, a Kazakh violinist based in Brussels, winner of many international competitions, including the Wieniawski Competition in Poznań (2022), as well as contests in Astana, Moscow, Riga, Vienna, and St. Pölten.