BBC Philharmonic Orchestra 2025-26 Season Love in the Face of Ruin

Richard Strauss’s Metamorphosen is a lament for strings, mourning the destruction of Europe in the World War II and the collapse of the musical civilisation that shaped and inspired him.

We then journey into the world of Beethoven’s Leonore with a descending scale as we plunge into dungeons where the political prisoner Florestan is held. His wife, Leonore, disguised as a male guard, leads us through themes of tyranny, conflict, and, ultimately, triumphant liberation as she rescues her beloved.

Based on a poem by Keats, Lamia tells of a serpent-woman transformed into a full human who hides her true nature while falling desperately in love with a Corinthian man, Lycius. Their love is shattered during their wedding feast.

Programme order TBC