The Rite of Spring

The Rite of Spring made history with its scandalous premiere. In the spring of 1913, a riot broke out at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris when the audience, shocked by the work’s modernist musical language, disrupted the performance. Since then, The Rite of Spring has become one of the most eagerly anticipated works on concert programmes. The ballet depicts a primitive sacrificial ritual, and now it concludes the symphony series in honour of spring. The approaching summer is also a theme in the works by Pépin and Chausson. Vannina Santoni interprets the intoxication of ecstasy in a poetic ode to love and the sea, whilst ‘Heavenly Waters’ makes the orchestra sparkle like light on the water’s surface. Mikko Franck conducts this springtime French programme.