Rheingau Musik Festival: Berlioz

A diabolical witches’ sabbath, a riotous ball, a march to the scaffold and an unrequited passion make up the hallucinatory narrative of Berlioz’s Symphonie fantasique. Inspired by the composer’s own romantic infatuation with a young actress, the score is a vivid fantasy full of tragedy and passion, a work teeming with orchestral drama – by turns gorgeous and grotesque. We perform this imaginative work from memory at the Rheingau Musick Festival and join one of the UK’s leading violinists Nicola Benedetti in Bruch’s lyrically soulful Violin Concerto.