Completed and premièred in Leningrad during the most critical phase of the siege of the Russian city by Nazi troops, Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 7 is a magnificent example of synchronisation between real events and musical creation. The première of the work took place in August 1942, when it was played and heard by an orchestra and a starving public who were being besieged by daily bombings. In this programme, this work is introduced by music related to other dramatic scenes of the same war: R. Strauss’ reaction to the bombing of the Vienna Opera; Penderecki’s deep lament for the victims of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima.

Gulbenkian Orchestra
Hannu Lintu Conductor

Krzysztof Penderecki
Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima

Richard Strauss
Metamorphosen

Dmitri Shostakovich
Symphony No. 7 in C major, op. 60, Leningrad

 Pre-Concert Talk

11 May, 20:00 – Auditorium 3
By Sérgio Azevedo