Advent at the Symphony

The ISO's 2018 Advent concert features works by three 18^th-century masters. Jean-Philippe Rameau was one of the greatest operatic composers of his day, and the “opera-ballet” Les Indes galantes, a musical portrait of the Indies, is among his most popular works. The Brandenburg Concertos are among JS Bach's best-known orchestral works, as well as being a comprehensive study of the concerto form. The works are extremely demanding for performers, not least Concerto no. 2, written for trumpet, flute, oboe, and violin. The young and talented Baldvin Oddsson is trumpet soloist for this performance, with generous assistance from several outstanding colleagues.

Mozart composed his Prague Symphony at the height of his career, around the time he wrote The Marriage of Figaro. It was the success of the latter work in Prague that resulted in his writing a new symphony for the benefit of the city-dwellers, whom he praised effusively as his most enthusiastic fans in the world. Dutch conductor Dirk Vermeulen, a professor at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels, is respected worldwide for his inspired interpretation of 17^th- and 18^th-century music. He conducted the ISO's 2014 Advent concert, with outstanding results.