Summer Nights

This evening's ISO concert celebrates the summer, even though autumn has come. The programme includes Berlioz' lyrical Les nuits d'été, considered by many to be one of his best works, and Mendelssohn's vivacious overture to Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream, written when the composer was a mere 17 years of age. Véronique Gens, one of the foremost sopranos in France today, appears regularly at opera houses such as Covent Garden, Glyndebourne, and the Paris Opera. Her appearance with the Berlin Philharmonic earlier this year met with rave reviews. Her most recent sound recording was among the illustrious Gramophone magazine's CDs of the month, and The Guardian's music critic was equally impressed by this “stunning soprano.”

The latter half of the programme is devoted to the colourful music of Richard Strauss, beginning with the Serenade for Winds, followed by the sweeping Tod und Verklärung (Death and Transfiguration), a musical depiction of an artist's thoughts as death overtakes him. Strauss' vivid tonal web is showcased to the fullest, both in majestic climaxes and in the finely woven textures of the orchestra. At the podium is the Iceland Symphony Orchestra's Chief Conductor, Yan Pascal Tortelier.