Colmar International Festival : British variations: Britten, Elgar  

CONDUCTOR : ALAIN ALTINOGLU ORCHESTRE SYMPHONIQUE DE LA MONNAIE TENOR : ED LYON HORN : JEAN-PIERRE DASSONVILLE The Orchestre Symphonique de la Monnaie's second exceptional evening at the Colmar International Festival! Alain Altinoglu takes us across the Channel to discover British music. Edward Elgar was a seminal figure in his country's musical history. We hear the splendid Enigma Variations, a veritable 'hit' of the repertoire. Britten's Serenade (1943) is one of the treasures of twentieth-century music: inspired by the brilliant horn player Dennis Brain, Britten devised a set of melodies with absolutely magical sonorities, here admirably served by Ed Lyon, a young British tenor, and Jean-Pierre Dassonville. Thomas Adès, their heir, is one of the leading exponents of the young English musical school. His opera The Tempest, based on Shakespeare, rightly caused a stir: we still remember its French premiere at the Opéra national du Rhin in 2004. PROGRAM T. Adès, Overture "The Tempest", op.22B B. Britten, Serenade for tenor, horn and strings, op.31 E. Elgar, Enigma Variations op.36