Praise of Freedom 11.9.

Thu 11.9. Paviljonki at 18
Fri 12.9. Kuopio Music Centre at 18

Lorenzo Passerini, conductor
Jyväskylä Sinfonia & Kuopio City Orchestra

Andrea Portera: new piece
Richard Strauss: Don Juan
Sergei Prokofiev: Symphony No. 5

Don Juan – now there’s a true ladies’ man! The legendary hedonist and archetype of seduction has captivated artists throughout history, revealing new facets of himself in different eras and places. Especially when evil finally gets its due—do we root for his downfall in the name of morality or feminism?

Richard Strauss’s larger-than-life symphonic poem, however, represents hedonism at its safest: a dazzlingly virtuosic and intoxicatingly colorful late-Romantic orchestral bath, more uplifting than the finest champagne!

Chief conductor Lorenzo Passerini leads the combined orchestras of Jyväskylä and Kuopio to the very source of pleasure, accompanied by other moral dilemmas. Sergei Prokofiev’s Fifth Symphony, composed amidst the turmoil of war, was expected to be a triumphant celebration—but the final result seems to mock all pomp and grandeur. Likewise, Andrea Portera bends perspectives and stretches our auditory senses into the most astonishing dimensions. And his latest work? Who knows what sonic wonders it will unveil!