Summer Nights

About

As the days grow longer and the blossoms bloom, look forward to the warmth and laughter of summer in the company of fast-rising French conductor Chloé van Soeterstède. Internationally acclaimed Scottish mezzo soprano Karen Cargill guides you through the joys and sorrows of the luscious love songs in Berlioz’s bittersweet Les nuits d’été. It’s all about the fun, though, in Beethoven’s most upbeat, exuberant symphony, full of musical jokes and sly wit. Van Soeterstède opens the concert with a true discovery: 19th-century German composer Emilie Mayer was one of the most acclaimed musical figures of her age, famed for her passionate, rugged music full of power and invention – nowhere more so than in her dynamic First Symphony.