Symphonie Fantastique by Farrenc, L., Ravel, Berlioz, Du (2025/2025), Chef d'orchestre Alexandre Bloch, The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, Royaume-Uni

Alexandre Bloch, Music Director of the National Orchestra of Lille, takes to the podium in this programme celebrating French music from the 19th and 20th centuries. Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique has long been a favourite since its premiere in 1830. It was first performed at the Paris Conservatoire, where Louise Farrenc was enrolled in the previously all-male composition class, at the age of just 15. Her powerful and vivacious Overture in E flat, written a few years after the Berlioz, opens this programme. Ravel intended his G major Piano Concerto, which ended up being his penultimate creation, to be ‘a brilliant work, clearly highlighting the soloist’s virtuosity’. With internationally-acclaimed pianist Cédric Tiberghien at the keyboard, it seems certain his wishes will be fulfilled.