Schilderen met muziek

Rachmaninov was inspired by Arnold Böcklin's painting 'The Isle of the Dead', a black-and-white reproduction of which he saw in Paris in 1907, and composed his work of the same name. 

With his sparkling ballet Les Biches (1924), Poulenc pays homage to Antoine Watteau's fêtes galantes, paintings of luxurious outdoor festivities full of play, flirtation and romance. Biches is French for does, but in 1920s Paris it was also used for uninhibited, seductive women or courtesans. This double meaning resonates throughout one of Poulenc's most playful and charming works. 

Mussorgsky composed his Pictures at an Exhibition for piano following a visit in 1874 to a retrospective exhibition of works by his dear friend Viktor Hartmann, who had died young. The work brings ten of his paintings to life, interspersed with six 'promenades' that form the leitmotif during the walk from one painting to the next. Following Mussorgsky's early death, the piano work was orchestrated for symphony orchestra by various composers. 

Under the baton of Michiel van Vliet, Symfonieorkest Haerlem brings these three worlds together in a program full of imagination, colour and contrast. 

More information: symfonieorkesthaerlem.nl