A Midsummer Night’s Dream at City Halls by Mendelssohn, Mozart, Berio, From (2015/2015), Conductor Markus Stenz, City Halls, Glasgow, United Kingdom

When the light fades on a summer’s evening, something magical starts to happen. Shakespeare knew that, and two centuries later, a German teenager summoned up the same enchantment. Mendelssohn’s ravishing score for A Midsummer Night’s Dream is surely music’s most perfect homage to Shakespeare; conducted by Markus Stenz, it’s a joyous climax to our season-long tribute to the Bard. But it all starts with Luigi Boccherini and an uproarious night out in 18th century Madrid – plus the sunlit, hugely popular 21st piano concerto by the one composer guaranteed to give Shakespeare a run for his money.