In 1913, one of the greatest scandals in music history rocked the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris: the premiere of Igor Stravinsky's ballet music, The Rite of Spring, choreographed by Vaslav Nijinsky. Stravinsky painted his musical pictures with archaic-sounding rhythms and unbridled energy, provoking storms of outrage from the opening night audience. Today, the work is a classic and established as one of the seminal compositions of the 20th century, both on the ballet stage and in the concert hall. Similarly energetic to Stravinsky's Rite of Spring is the Concerto in F for Piano and Orchestra. 

The Rite of Spring

Casino Bern

Conductor Stéphane Denève joins the San Francisco Symphony for an extraordinary program featuring two powerhouses of the French symphonic organ tradition, performed by Olivier Latry. Poulenc’s Organ Concerto was inspired by the intricate organ fantasies of Buxtehude, Bach, and other Baroque composers. “This is not the happy-go-lucky Poulenc,” he confessed in a letter, “but a Poulenc en route to the cloister—a 15th-century Poulenc, if you like.” Saint-Saëns’ Organ Symphony has been a hit with audiences since 1886, when the composer led the Royal Philharmonic Society in its world premiere. His writing for the organ—quietly shaded at first, commanding later—is the perfect showcase for Davies Symphony Hall’s magnificent Ruffatti Organ.

EPSG:4326

Denève Conducts Saint-Saëns’ Organ Symphony

Davies Symphony Hall

Experience a powerful evening of drama and beauty with music director candidate Daniel Black.

The Search Daniel Black

Mansfield Theater

Rush Hour Performance: New Horizons in Chamber Music Exploration

The Juilliard School

Alexander Erlich-Herzog, clarinet

Curtis Institute of Music

"When spring arrives, the heart leaps for joy." Fittingly, just before the official start of this season, we're bringing together a vibrant blend of sonic magic and folklore. With guest conductor Krzysztof Urbański and the explosive violinistic power of Nemanja Radulović, we'll also be delivering plenty of energy and musical exuberance – in refreshing interpretations of works that all resonate with the vibrant spirit of spring. Tchaikovsky's popular Violin Concerto, with its catchy themes, is certainly a virtuosic rollercoaster ride, yet it's also one of the more lighthearted pieces by this otherwise often melancholic composer.

Krzysztof Urbański, Nemanja Radulović

Bamberger Symphoniker

We begin the concert with Guilliame Connesson’s “Celephais” from Les Cités de Lovecraft, inspired by the fantasy stories of H.P. Lovecraft. Awadagin Pratt returns to perform Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23. The Syracuse Orchestra also presents Symphony No. 5 by Prokofiev, which is one of his most popular works and was his hymn to a “free and happy man”.

Awadagin Plays Mozart

The Oncenter Civic Center Theaters

An afternoon concert in the Kuben with music composed for flute, cello and piano. Philip Gaubert's Trois aquarelles opens with three contrasting movements, followed by Lili Boulanger's D'un matin de printemps and two works by Guillaume Connesson – the energetic Toccata-Nocturne and a movement from Initial dances . 

Chamber Concert #3

Malmo Live Concert Hall

The lion, the rooster, the elephant, the swan, the long-eared characters, and even the pianist, that "digitigrade concertivorous mammal..." Francis Blanche jokes, are all found pell-mell in The Carnival of the Animals , which Saint-Saëns refused to see performed during his lifetime, no doubt for fear of appearing unserious. Seeing the menagerie incomplete, Guillaume Connesson gave it a sequel and imagined grazing, in the musical zoo of Jurassic Trip , six historical miniatures ranging from the tyrannosaurus to the pterodactyl. Adults allowed.

National Sundays: The Carnival of the Animals / Lambert Wilson

Maison de la Radio et de la Musique

In this programme with a French accent, we will hear how Ariadne’s story continues after she leads Theseus out of the labyrinth, lose ourselves in the streets of Paris, and visit the dreamy city Celephaïs. In all of these compositions, we can find the influence of Maurice Ravel, the composer of the Piano Concerto for the Left Hand. That hand belongs to Marie-Ange Nguci

Czech Philharmonic • Stéphane Denève

Rudolfinum

Color, energy and innovation take center stage in this program conducted and performed by brothers Joseph and Robert Young – including a concerto in homage to legendary jazz saxophonist John Coltrane.

Debussy & Prokofiev

Omaha Performing Arts

The unique and startling architectural art has been called wow architecture, and the word is a good way to describe the music of the Frenchman Guillaume Connesson. Connesson's Flute Concerto No. 2 is subtitled Danses concertantes, "Concert Dances", which ecstatically push through the boundaries of style and genre. Tapiola Sinfonietta is one of the commissioners of this exciting new work, and the soloist will be Emily Beynon, principal flutist of the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra.

Emily in France

Espoo Cultural Centre

Immerse yourself in the eccentric, captivating sounds of Russian folk music. Music Director Stéphane Denève leads the SLSO in Stravinsky’s complete score to The Firebird, a 1910 ballet that revolutionized orchestral music while reimagining an age-old fairy tale. Adding charge to this electric program is Jean-Yves Thibaudet, who returns to the SLSO to perform Khachaturian’s Piano Concerto, a shimmering showpiece inspired by Armenian and Russian folk tunes. Guillaume Connesson’s Maslenitsa brims with the energy of a Slavic holiday festival to complete this colorful musical set.

Stravinsky’s Firebird

Powell Hall

Celebrated violinist Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider joins your New World Symphony for Tchaikovsky’s beloved concerto. Stéphane Denève conducts Florence Price’s Third Symphony, a rediscovered modernist masterpiece commissioned by the WPA during the Great Depression. 

Denève: Price and Tchaikovsky

New World Center

Orchestre de Paris / Klaus Mäkelä

Philharmonie de Paris

Taking place outdoors at the Domo, the first part of this program celebrates dance – from Joseph Lanner, who took a simple peasant dance and transformed it to what is referred to as the Viennese waltz, to exuberant American rhythms of music by Andy Akiho and Guillaume Connesson. The program concludes with Aaron Copland's epic depiction of American open spaces and folk music, Appalachian Spring, which had its premiere in 1944.

Brandon Patrick George, flute; Yoonah Kim, clarinet; Monica Ellis, bassoon; Benjamin Beilman, Isabelle Ai Durrenberger, Lun Li, Melissa White, violins; Jordan Bak, Emma Wernig, violas; Jay Campbell, Bryan Cheng, cellos; Lizzie Burns, bass; Pedja Mužijević

The Domo

Take a trip to a lavishly equipped musical zoo when two pianists together with solo instruments from all the orchestra's groups embark not only on Saint-Saëns' immortal Carnival of the Animals - with giant hits such as 'The Swan' and 'Aquarium' - but also with the forward-thinking French composer Guillaume Connesson's prehistoric version for the same chamber ensemble. There's bang for the buck when the musical Tyrannosaurus Rex stomps through the Pro Musica hall, flanked by flying lizards, water dinosaurs and worse. This concert, where we play with the concert form, is an obvious place to start if you are curious about chamber music but don't quite know where to embark - here are both notes and melodies that everyone knows, as well as fresh new ones sound with a rhythmic edge and broad appeal. A concert for music lovers of all ages.

Carnival Of The Animals

Odense Concert Hall

The Concertgebouw Orchestra, conductor Klaus Mäkelä and two of the orchestra’s soloists transport you to distant worlds. Fairy tales by Ravel and Bartók and two works by the contemporary sound wizard Guillaume Connesson: four pieces of music to take in visually.

Klaus Mäkelä conducts Ravel, Bartók and Connesson

The Concertgebouw

6th Symphony Concert

Staatstheater Darmstadt

We’re full of surprises. Every Masterworks concert has a surprise inside – a short mystery piece that connects to the program in an unexpected way. Each one is Michael Francis’ little secret.

TFO: Prokofiev's Romeo & Juliet

Ruth Eckerd Hall

Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet

Duke Energy Center for the Arts

Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition depicts paintings by Viktor Hartmann, with each movement musically describing each painting in piquant detail.

Pictures at an Exhibition

Christchurch Town Hall

Michael Fowler Centre

Music Director Stéphane Denève takes us on a cinematic journey. In this program, we climb the Himalayas in music by John Williams. Soloist Akiko Suwanai leads us through the shimmering mist of Guillaume Connesson’s Violin Concerto. Then we venture to the 1950s, gripped by the action and adventure of America’s bustling ports in music by Adolphus Hailstork and Leonard Bernstein’s On the Waterfront.  

Bernstein and Williams

University of Missouri-St. Louis

Erica Spear performs a recital of works by Bartók, Connesson, Nagasawa and Tomasi.

Student Degree Recital: Erica Spear D.M.A flute recital

The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center

Two phenomenal French stars return for a spirited evening of Russian masterworks. Stéphane Denève opens the program conducting Connesson’s Maslenitsa, written in celebration of the sunny Slavic folk festival. Then, powerhouse pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet performs Khachaturian’s pyrotechnic Piano Concerto. To close, Ravel’s majestic orchestration of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition carries us through a gallery of soul-stirring emotion.

Stéphane Denève conducts Pictures at an Exhibition | Jean-Yves Thibaudet plays Khachaturian

Kennedy Center

Severance Music Center is Cleveland’s home for symphonic music and other presentations, including Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel Concert Hall and Reinberger Chamber Hall. We are strongly committed to making everyone feel welcome. The doors to Severance open three hours prior to most performances.

An American in Paris

Severance Music Center

Subscription Friday 08 - Tim McAllister - Stéphane Dèneve

Opera Palace of A Coruña

**Symphonie Fantastique by The Philadelphia Orchestra**

Join us for an unforgettable performance of Berlioz's most famous work, "Symphonie fantastique," a mesmerizing tale of love and madness that continues to captivate audiences worldwide. This enchanting program features the exceptional talents of French conductor Stéphane Denève and renowned cellist Gautier Capuçon, bringing to life a vivid connection with composers uniquely identified with their country.

**Performance Details:**
- **Dates and Times:**
  - Friday, November 22, 2024, at 2:00 PM
  - Saturday, November 23, 2024, at 8:00 PM
- **Location:** Verizon Hall, newly rededicated as Marian Anderson Hall, home of The Philadelphia Orchestra.
- **Conductor:** Stéphane Denève
- **Soloist:** Gautier Capuçon, Cello
- **Program:**
  - Augusta Holmès: La Nuit et l’amour Interlude, from Ludus pro patria
  - Guillaume Connesson: Cello Concerto (U.S. premiere)
  - Hector Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique

**About the Performance:**
Experience the U.S. premiere of Connesson's virtuosic Cello Concerto, a work celebrated for its exuberant colors and technical brilliance, perfectly showcasing Capuçon's impeccable taste and Romantic ardor. Under the baton of Stéphane Denève, known for his fabulous ear and mastery of scores, this program promises an evening of emotional depth and musical excellence.

**Tickets and Subscription Packages:**
This performance is available as part of the 2024-25 Subscription Package, offering magnificent programming and exclusive subscriber benefits. Choose from packages including Friday Matinee A, Saturday Evening B, or Create Your Own for a personalized concert experience.

**Additional Information:**
- Programs, artists, dates, prices, and availability are subject to change.
- For ticket sales and subscriber services, please contact:
  - Ticket Sales: 215.893.1999
  - Subscriber Services: 215.893.1955
  - Group Sales: 215.893.1968
  - Donor Services: 215.893.3151

Don't miss this opportunity to witness a masterful blend of storytelling and symphonic music at the Kimmel Center's Verizon Hall. Reserve your seats now for a musical journey with The Philadelphia Orchestra that promises to be both fantastique and unforgettable.

Symphonie fantastique

Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts

Sonic Spectrum I

Samuel B. & David Rose Building

This recital is given in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Music. Anika Veda is a student of Marianne Gedigian. 

Anika Veda, Flute

Alice Pratt Brown Hall

Sign up for our unique concert endeavor, ICA Steinway Soirées. These events
are limited to 20 people and provide an incredible opportunity to hear world-class musicians in a casual, intimate environment. Enjoy heavy appetizers, an exquisite dessert, and wine.

ICA Steinway Soirée 

The Godon Residence

This sumptuous program celebrates the French musical voice, with its distinctively dazzling variety of tonal effects. First up, a sextet for winds, strings, and piano by Guillaume Connesson—one of today’s most widely performed French composers—whose music has been called “a celebration of life, filled with joyous melodies, rhythmic vitality, and a sense of wonder" (American Record Guide). An elegiac oboe sonata by Poulenc, dedicated to the memory of his close friend (and bridge partner) Prokofiev, is followed by an original arrangement of Debussy's dreamy sunset in song. Finally, the gorgeous opulence and exuberance of Fauré’s first Piano Quartet. C’est magnifique!

Program II: Musique Fantastique

University of Southern Maine

This phenomenal instrument is a conduit for drama. And when all the stops are out, it’s electrifying – especially when in the presence of the Sydney Opera House Grand Organ, the world’s largest mechanical tracker-action pipe organ, consisting of an extraordinary 10,244 pipes.

Saint-Saëns’ Organ Symphony

Sydney Opera House

The ancient elements of earth, water and fire provide inspiration for this blockbuster concert headlined by violin superstar Joshua Bell. He has commissioned works by renowned composers Kevin Puts, Edgar Meyer and Jake Heggie, incorporating these elements thematically. You’ll hear a magical blend of old and new in these ingenious pieces. Also on the program is Henri Vieuxtemps’ virtuosic Fifth Violin Concerto. Vieuxtemps’ beautiful music and Joshua Bell’s phenomenal artistry are a heavenly match — romantic music indeed.

Joshua Bell and Ravel

Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts

Conductor Stéphane Denève leads Spotlight Artist James Ehnes in Bernstein’s Serenade, inspired by the philosopher Plato’s views on love, blending the composer’s signature classical, romantic, and modernist elements with hints of jazz and Broadway. Connesson's composition paints a musical vision of an enchanting, mythical city, and Gershwin’s love letter to Paris, with its classical-jazz fusion, stirs emotions with its seductive rhythms and harmonies.

James Ehnes + An American in Paris

David Pecaut Square

Reserve your seats today and enjoy unbeatable savings by subscribing to New World Symphony’s Saturday Two and Sunday Two subscription series. Starting at just $20 a concert, both series feature unforgettable performances with Stéphane Denève, Michael Tilson Thomas, pianist Emanuel Ax, jazz pianist Aaron Diehl and 87 of the world’s best young musicians.

Season Finale: Denève and Ehnes

A jazz inflected foxtrot for orchestra, a saxophone concerto inspired by the legendary John Coltrane and one of Brahms’ most masterly symphonies make for an energetic and eclectic program. Saxophone master Timothy McAllister joins us for French composer Guillaume Connesson’s A Kind of Trane. Rei Hotoda brings her signature interpretive energy to Brahms’ Symphony No. 3, whose gorgeous Third Movement has been featured in multiple films and was recorded by the Ramsay Lewis Trio as You’ll Love Me Yet.

A Symphony Supreme

Paul Shaghoian Memorial Concert Hall

Our March concert bids a fond farewell to the dark days and starry night skies of winter – and, by the way, don’t forget to turn your clocks forward one hour after this concert for Daylight Savings on Sunday, March 10th – with a program that celebrates the nature of the universe, and the place music holds within it. French composer Guillaume Connesson’s fascinating Cosmic Trilogy explores the entire span of existence as we know it, posing question after musical question and offering gorgeous responses. Ralph Vaughn Williams’ Serenade to Music offers a ravishing paean to the music of the spheres, which reportedly brought audience member Igor Stravinsky to tears at its premiere performance. To conclude a mystical evening, prepare to enjoy Johannes Brahms’ magnificent masterpiece for soloists, chorus, and orchestra, his incandescent Deutsches Requiem. Join your Long Beach Symphony for an early celebration of Spring and new beginnings!

Brahms Requiem

Terrace Theater, Long Beach Performing Arts Center

The Austrian conductor Katharina Wincor makes her debut with the BBC Symphony Orchestra with three works which showcase the sound of the orchestra – two by Austrian composers.

Katharina Wincor conducts Strauss, Berg and Connesson

BBC Maida Vale Studios

French Riviera

First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley

Graduation recitals display the skill and passion of Curtis Institute of Music students on the cusp of professional musicianship. Members of the current class will share the breadth of their talent through a culminating graduation recital. Admission requires advance registration and is complimentary.

Subin Lee, harp

Ravel’s exuberant Piano Concerto in G major is performed by Víkingur Ólafsson, a star among a new generation of pianists. Stéphane Denève returns to conduct several French works based on fictional and mythological characters, including Guillaume Connesson’s Celephaïs, Roussel’s Bacchus et Ariane Suite No. 2, and Ravel’s shimmering Daphnis et Chloé Suite No. 2.

Víkingur Ólafsson Plays Ravel

Lincoln Center

Immerse yourself in the enchanting world of chamber music with the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks at their upcoming Chamber Concerts. Set against the backdrop of the exquisite Munich Residence in the Max Joseph Saal, the first concert will take place on Saturday, 2nd July 2022, at 8:00 pm. The musical journey continues at the Evangelische Akademie in Tutzing on Sunday, 3rd July 2022, at 6:00 pm.

The program promises a mesmerizing evening featuring works that highlight the harp's unique charm in French music. The repertoire includes Camille Saint-Saëns's "Fantasy for Harp and Violin, op. 124," Guillaume Connesson's "String Quartet," Claude Debussy's "Danse sacrée et danse profane," Jacques Ibert's "Deux Interludes for Flute, Violin and Harp," and Jean Cras's "Quintet for Flute, Harp and Strings."

Esteemed performers Magdalena Hoffmann (harp), Ivanna Ternay (flute), Korbinian Altenberger (violin), Jehye Lee (violin), Christiane Hörr-Kalmer (viola), and Hanno Simons (violoncello) will bring these compositions to life, showcasing the delicate interplay between the harp, flute, and strings that characterizes French chamber music.

This concert series is a must-attend for lovers of classical music and those looking to experience the sublime beauty of chamber music performed by world-class musicians. Don't miss this opportunity to be part of a memorable musical experience.

Chamber Concert

Munich Residence

Evangelische Akademie

Mahler's Titan

Vibrant, swirling, hypnotic. The SLSO explores its devilish charm in a weekend of music that is quirky, eccentric, and all at once wonderful. Saint-Saëns’ infamous Danse macabre envisions rattling bones and the devil’s harmonies, and Connesson’s Cello Concerto toys with innovative textures and soundscapes inspired by the earth and the cosmos. A mosaic of Prokofiev’s dance music offers glimpses into Cinderella’s castle, Tolstoy’s War and Peace, and the evil spirits of Slavic mythology.

Prokofiev and Connesson

Commemorating the 200th Anniversary of Beethoven’s death, beloved pianist Alexander Korsantia returns to the NBSO to perform Beethoven’s Fourth—perhaps the most perfect piano concerto in the repertoire. Beethoven was a fervent advocate for the ideals of the French Revolution, and in that spirit, the second half of this concert is all French. And while Beethoven’s piece is the epitome of 19th-century Viennese music, Ravel’s La valse represents its unravelling, a magnificent farewell letter to the Viennese Waltz and to a world that would never be the same after the First World War. Connesson’s brilliant depiction of Beethoven the man will make the orchestra sound like you’ve never heard it before.

Requiem for a Dream

Zeiterion Performing Arts Center

“Experience an afternoon of sensual color, lyrical beauty, and a world premiere as we welcome back acclaimed soprano Nicole Cabell following her celebrated appearance last season in Maurice Delage’s mesmerizing Quatre poèmes hindous. The program journeys from the intimate reflection of a new Chamber Music Rochester commission for solo violin by Clarice Assad and the sparkling elegance of Maurice Ravel’s Introduction and Allegro to the profound warmth and autumnal richness of Johannes Brahms’s beloved Clarinet Quintet.”

The ABCs: Assad, Brahms, and Cabell

Glazer Music Performance Center

History comes full circle when Stéphane conducts the suite from Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess just blocks from the opera’s rumored Miami Beach birthplace. Honegger’s Pacific 231 “picks up steam” when played alongside Jean Mitry’s Palme d’Or-winning short film of the same name.

Guillaume Connesson

Events

Upcoming events

6 - 7 Feb, 2027

Prokofiev and Connesson · St. Louis Symphony Orchestra

Mar 20, 2027

Requiem for a Dream · New Bedford Symphony Orchestra

Apr 25, 2027

The ABCs: Assad, Brahms, and Cabell · Society for Chamber Music in Rochester

May 1, 2027

Gershwin, Adams & Connesson · New World Symphony

Past events

Jun 26, 2026

The Rite of Spring · Bühnen Bern

25 - 27 Jun, 2026

Denève Conducts Saint-Saëns’ Organ Symphony · San Francisco Symphony

About

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