Singapore Symphony Presents Music For Good Friday

Let the SSO and Maestro Lan Shui take you on a journey of exquisite music and reverent reflection on Good Friday (April 6), as they bring you Richard Wagner's sublime Good Friday Spell from his last stage creation, Parsifal, and Mendelssohn's inspirational Reformation Symphony.

A rarely performed treasure, the Good Friday Spell is austere and beautiful, showcasing Wagner's hallmark qualities of rich chromaticism and harmonies, and ingenious orchestration. Mendelssohn wrote the Reformation Symphony to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the 1530 Augsburg Confession, an important document leading up to the Reformation. Originally entitled Symphony for the Celebration of a Religious Revolution, it was later re-titled Reformation. The andante is a fantasia on Martin Luther's well-known hymn Ein' feste Burg (A Mighty Fortress is Our God).

And something for fans of Beethoven: the opulence of his last and greatest piano concerto, the 'Emperor', will be brought to life at the hands of the extraordinary Russian pianist Dmitri Alexeev, who took the top prize at the 1969 Marguerite Long Competition in Paris, 1970 George Enescu Competition in Bucharest, 1974 Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow and the 1975 Leeds International Competition in England. -- www.sso.org.sg