Makoto Ozone Plays Rachmaninoff: and Gemma New conducts Pictures at an Exhibition

Remixes aren’t just for pop music! In our season opener, discover three works in which composers reimagine the creations of other musicians and artists. Imagine an inspiring stroll through a museum gallery as you experience Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, a vivid musical depiction of 10 paintings.

After the sudden death of the young artist Viktor Hartmann, his close friend Modeste Mussorgsky translated 10 of his paintings into a piano suite of wide-ranging emotion: Pictures at an Exhibition. Experience this gallery-hopping work in an arrangement for full orchestra by Maurice Ravel—whose vivid, colourful orchestrations illuminate Hartmann’s scenes of medieval castles, bustling open-air markets, and the moonlit flight of the Slavic witch Baba Yaga.

Sergei Rachmaninoff’s ravishing Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini pays homage to Niccolò Paganini—the 19th-century Italian violinist who was so talented, audiences believed he had sold his soul to the devil. Brace yourself for demonic dances and romantic serenades in this wild roller coaster ride for solo piano and orchestra when the “thrilling, virtuosic” (The New York Times) pianist Makoto Ozone makes his Southam Hall debut.

And opening the program is Alissa Firsova’s Die Windsbraut (The Bride of the Wind), a stormy orchestral poem that conjures the passionate love affair between artist Oskar Kokoschka and composer Alma Mahler.