Legendary
women

This evening celebrates two legendary female figures, Salome and Scheherazade. 

Both the Old Testament seductress and the heroine of the One Thousand and One Nights inspired Mel Bonis and Rimsky-Korsakov to compose two symphonic masterpieces imbued with the orientalist flavour so in vogue at the beginning of the 20^th century. 

Unfairly overlooked, the French composer was one of the first women to enter the Paris Conservatoire's composition class, where she composed Salomé for piano and subsequently for orchestra as part of her seminal cycle ‘Femmes de légende’ (Women of Legend). Sheherazade, a work as famous as it is unclassifiable, is both a symphonic poem and a suite for orchestra with solo violin. 

The evening's highlight will be Karol Szymanowski's voluptuous and enchanting Violin Concerto No. 2, featuring the virtuoso bowing of Leila Josefowicz and the fiery temperament of Marta Gardolińska.