Belgian National Orchestra, Schønwandt & Kolesnikov

About the Event

Love as a driving force—and as a dangerous force: that is the central theme of this “Friday Symphony.” Following a gentle, dreamlike lament by Paul Dukas, a tribute to Debussy’s genius, the focus shifts to Camille Saint‐Saëns’s Second Piano Concerto. Brilliant, incisive, and playfully free, it lets the piano sparkle between virtuosity and irony. Pavel Kolesnikov, Bozar Artist‐in‐Residence, shines in this work with elegant, nervous energy and refined spontaneity. The evening then plunges into the visionary world of Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique. A confessional and rebellious work, born of the composer’s all‐consuming passion for the actress Harriet Smithson, it traces the descent from romantic dream into obsession, hallucination, and nightmare. The famous “idée fixe” motif runs through every movement, transporting the listener from glittering ballrooms to lonely fields, from the March to the Scaffold to a dizzying witches’ sabbath. Under the masterful baton of Michael Schønwandt, the symphony unfolds its full, true power: radical, uncompromising, and still dangerously alive.