230313 CUSO
Image © Tobia Nava

Programme

Ravel - Pavane pour une infante défunte

Rimsky-Korsakov - Antar, Symphonic Suite Op.9

Dvořák - Symphony No.9 - 'From the New World'

Performers

Cambridge University Symphony Orchestra

Box Office

£12 Adult; £8 Concessions; £5 Student/Child

Book tickets

Cambridge University’s premier student-run orchestra presents an exciting programme of idealised impressions. The concert opens with Maurice Ravel’s well-loved ‘Pavane pour une infante défunte’ which the composer described as ‘an evocation of a pavane that a little princess might, in former times, have danced at the Spanish court’.

Inspiration for Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s Antar was derived from an Arabian legend in which Antar, a recluse living in the desert, kills a large bird to save a gazelle. Falling asleep, he dreams that the gazelle was the Queen of Palmyra, who, as a reward grants him three joys: vengeance, power, and love. The first movement of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Suite depicts this narrative whilst the subsequent three explores each of the three joys respectively.

The concert will culminate with a performance of Dvořák’s renowned Symphony No.9 ‘From the New World’. Many of this symphony’s well-loved and folk-like melodies were inspired by the African American spirituals which, he thought, could be the basis of an ideal ‘American’ classical music.

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.