Petr Popelka / Hélène Grimaud

The young Czech conductor Petr Popelka, for his debut at Santa Cecilia, conducts the orchestra of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, as part of the latter's Symphonic Music Season, at the Auditorium Parco della Musica, transporting us through distant styles and continents.

We begin with Bohuslav Martinů's (1890–1959) homage to a fighter plane, the P-47 Thunderbolt, a composition that conveys pure rhythmic energy. The piece was in fact dedicated to the great fighter planes that contributed to victory in World War II in 1945. We continue with George Gershwin's (1898-1937) Concert in F of 1925, a revolutionary blend of symphonic elegance and jazz rhythm, entrusted to the refined touch of the great pianist Hélène Grimaud.

The evening continues with the infernal drama Francesca da Rimini by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893), a symphonic fantasia in E minor composed in 1876 and inspired by the Canto V of Dante Alighieri's Inferno. The piece describes the infernal storm, Francesca's gripping tale, and her eternal damnation, alternating dramatic moments with intense lyrical passages. The evening closes with the magical music for the 1919 suite from the ballet The Firebird (1910) by Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971), a vividly colored Russian fairy tale, which was a completely innovative and revolutionary production at the time, with a subject, setting, and music of Russian and Slavic origin.

National Academy of Santa Cecilia - Symphonic Music Season - Auditorium Parco della Musica – Rome.

The National Academy of Santa Cecilia Orchestra

Conductor: Petr Popelka

Piano: Hélène Grimaud

Martinů Thunderbolt P-47

Gershwin Concerto in F

Tchaikovsky, Francesca da Rimini Op.32

Stravinsky, The Firebird Suite, 1919

Photo: the Auditorium Parco della Musica official site