Beethoven may be centre stage, but Shakespeare is once more in the wings for an extraordinary programme conducted by Elena Schwarz.

Ophelia, Hamlet鈥檚 doomed lover, narrates Hans Abrahamsen鈥檚 prize-winning song
cycle Let me tell you. With a vivid and virtuosic role, Jennifer France becomes an empowered and defiant heroine worthy of a Scandi drama. Roman General Coriolanus appears in tonight鈥檚 curtain raiser; fortunately, Beethoven鈥檚 version is more child friendly than Shakespeare鈥檚. Coriolan is also the starting point of Unsuk Chin鈥檚 miniature for orchestra, subito con forza. Powerful and impulsive, Unsuk Chin pulls no punches in her homage to Beethoven, surely something he would have approved of!

Beethoven鈥檚 symphonic canon is to the concert platform what Shakespeare鈥檚 plays are to the stage. We join the man taking Vienna by storm at the start of his journey with the ebullient First Symphony. (Exit, pursued by a bear).