The French conductor (who also trained as flautist) Pascal Rophé has previously led orchestras such as the Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège and the Orchestre national des Pays de la Loire. He has a keen interest in contemporary music, which is often reflected in the programmes of his concerts. Together with the NFM Wrocław Philharmonic, he will present works by two 20th-century classics: György Ligeti and Igor Stravinsky, as well as the Flute Concerto by the contemporary composer Marc-André Dalbavi. The solo part in the latter piece will be performed by the Austrian virtuoso Karl-Heinz Schütz. 

The evening will open with György Ligeti's Lontano – a composition completed in 1967. The title means something distant in Italian, but the composer did not specify what exactly it is about. Although the music is mostly quiet, it evokes an atmosphere of horror and eeriness, suggesting a distant threat. Ligeti used a micropolyphonic technique characteristic of his style, consisting in crafting multiple instrumental layers that create a dense and saturated sound. The featured flute concerto was created in 2006 with Emmanuel Pahud in mind, who first performed this work at the Berlin Philharmonic. It is a composition by Marc-André Dalbavi. The artist was born in 1961, educated at the Paris Conservatory, studied orchestration with Marius Constant, and was taught conducting by Pierre Boulez. The extremely colourful piece, intriguing on the one hand with the virtuosity of the solo part, and on the other with the lightness of sound and subtlety of the orchestration, will be performed together with the NFM Wrocław Philharmonic by Karl-Heinz Schütz – an Austrian virtuoso who holds the honourable position of soloist of the Wiener Philharmoniker and the Wiener Staatsoper. 

The second half of the concert will feature Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. The premiere of this ballet in May 1913 at the Théâtre des Champs Élysées in Paris has become both historical and legendary. The audience, surprised by Vaslav Nijinsky’s austere choreography, the brutality of the subject matter (the ballet tells the story of a human sacrifice so that spring can be reborn) and the violence of the music, according to witnesses, protested loudly and even started a regular brawl, which allegedly ended with dozens of the most hot-headed people being led out of the theatre. We will never know what exactly happened then, but it is true that Stravinsky’s music still sounds fresh, arouses emotions, although of a different kind, and enjoys great popularity.