| Saturday 25 April 2026 | 19:30 |
| Wolfe, Julia (b. 1958) | Big Beautiful Dark and Scary | |
| Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich (1840-1893) | Violin Concerto in D major, Op.35 | |
| Berlioz, Hector (1803-1869) | Symphonie fantastique, Op.14 |
| BBC Philharmonic Orchestra | |
| Anja Bihlmaier | Conductor |
| Bomsori Kim | Violin |
Out of near-death experiences -- life
‘This is how life feels right now.’ – Julia Wolfe
Wolfe was two blocks from the Twin Towers when the planes hit on September 11, 2001. Big Beautiful Dark and Scary is the sound of that aftermath: an ominous, awesome wall of sound. When he wrote his Violin Concerto, Tchaikovsky was also recuperating from personal turmoil: after a collapsed marriage and a failed suicide attempt, he escaped to the shores of Lake Geneva. In the company of a violinist muse – Josef Kotek – Tchaikovsky created a concerto of romance, peace and jollity, and a celebrated classic of the repertoire.
Personal suffering is distant in Tchaikovsky’s concerto, but front-and-centre of Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique. Originally titled ‘Episodes in the Life of an Artist’, this “fantastic symphony in five parts” follows the tribulations of a gifted artist who, out of an unrequited love for a woman, falls into a deep malaise, and travels through opium-addled hallucinations. High drama.
