Sheherazade

Enchanting timbres, appealing melodies and a touch of oriental spice: these are the ingredients that make Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s orchestral suite Sheherazade a much-loved work. To escape her execution, Scheherazade tells the sultan stories for one thousand and one nights. Rimsky-Korsakov takes the listener through Sinbad’s sea voyage and encounters with extraordinary figures to a dazzling celebration in Baghdad.

The saxophone was still a relative stranger in symphonic music when Alexander Glazunov composed his Saxophone Concerto. He did so at the request of German saxophonist Sigurd Rascher, although according to Glazunov in one of his letters, the word ‘attack’ was a better description, given that the musician hounded him for it. The result? A lyrical and romantic work, full of surprising twists and turns. A new work by a composition student from the Conservatorium van Amsterdam completes the programme.

Please note: This programme has been changed with respect to the previous announcement. Ticketholders will be notified of this.

Concert and guided tour
Prior to this concert, you can join a guided tour of the Muziekgebouw (Dutch spoken), which starts at 13:00. The ticket for the guided tour costs €10.