N. Freire / Orquestra simfónica de Barcelona

A few months after performances by Orchestre National de Lyon and Leonard Slatkin in Barcelona, capital of Catalonia, we welcome in return the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, conducted by a promising young Polish conductor, Michał Nesterowicz, director of the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra. In keeping with our season’s Shakespeare theme the programme will begin with the overture to Oberon. Certainly, Weber has only a remote connection to the character of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, but the sparkling charm and magical atmosphere of his music could easily find its place in Mendelssohn’s incidental music for Shakespeare’s play. The second half will feature excerpts from two of De Falla’s works: the picturesque Three Cornered Hat and El amor brujo (Love, the Magician), a hauntingly sensuous and bewitching piece. The concert will end with the famous “Ritual Fire Dance”.

The highlight of these concerts, however, is the eagerly awaited Nelson Freire. For this immense Brazilian pianist Chopin has become a secret garden: his dazzling technique submitting to the laws of expression, he carves out the sound as no other can, suspending time, savouring each detail. A Chopin miraculously tender and precise.