Streams, fountains, rivers and bathtubs abound in this eclectic programme from Cambridge University’s premiere student-led orchestra. The programme opens with Mendelssohn’s little-known Overture of the Fair Melusine which loosely evokes the legend of a water-nymph who forbids her husband from seeing her on a Saturday, when she takes the form of a mermaid. In Maeterlinck’s symbolist play Pelléas and Mélisande, water acts as a foreteller of destiny and a catalyst in the downfall and death of Mélisande. Fauré’s suite from his incidental music to the play anticipates more famous works by Schoenberg and Debussy. John Luther Adams’ ‘Become River’ invites us to be beside the flow of a river from source to mouth. Finally, we end in Europe, following the Rhine in Schumann’s Third Symphony, the ‘Rhenish’.
more about Cambridge University Symphony Orchestra
CUSO is Cambridge's premier student-run symphony orchestra. Founded in 1991 to give the best student conductors a high-quality ensemble of student musicians (entry is by audition only), the orchestra has gone from strength to strength and earned itself a strong reputation in the competitive Cambridge environment.