La Saint-Valentin avec Roméo et Juliette

This concert, shaped as a musical tour of Europe, begins in Italy with Puccini’s Preludio sinfonico, composed during his studies at the Milan Conservatory. This visionary and spirited work already hints at the future masterpieces to come. Pablo Sainz-Villegas, one of today’s greatest guitarists, continues the journey in Spain with Rodrigo’s famous Concierto de Aranjuez. Inspired by the royal gardens of a country just emerging from civil war in 1939, this iconic concerto is followed by another enchanting piece set against a pastoral backdrop: Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Shakespeare’s play provided the composer with the perfect canvas to create a magical world, where the celebrated Wedding March honors the triumph of love.

The musical journey concludes in Russia, with another score inspired by the English playwright: Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet. This fantasy-overture is, in fact, a symphonic poem that elevates the themes of Shakespeare’s tragedy, moving audiences with the emotional intensity of one of the most iconic works of Romanticism.