OCV — Sir Mark Elder: Tchaikovsky / Strauss

About the Event

Valencia’s Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía offers an unforgettable excuse to dress up for an evening of orchestral drama. OCV — Sir Mark Elder brings the acclaimed British conductor to one of Spain’s most spectacular modern opera houses, where sweeping architecture and superb acoustics intensify every musical gesture.

Sir Mark Elder’s first subscription concert takes audiences on a thrilling journey through late Romantic symphonism. It opens with the prelude to Lohengrin, celestial music rising from silence and building through sublime orchestral combinations towards a deeply moving climax linked to the noble mission of the Knight of the Grail. Tchaikovsky alternates overwhelming grandeur, intimate confession and folkloric colour in his celebrated Piano Concerto No. 1, whose formidable technical demands will be met by pianist Pavel Kolesnikov. The second half presents two youthful symphonic poems by Richard Strauss, whose richly varied orchestral palette will let the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana’s musicians shine. Don Juan’s whirlwind transforms the fiery passion of Seville’s legendary seducer into sound. Mischief, ingenuity and dark humour dominate Till Eulenspiegel, a masterpiece of theatrical imagination anticipating the wonders its composer would later achieve in opera.