Symphonic Date: Symphonie fantastique

With the Symphonie fantastique, Hector Berlioz created a work far ahead of its time. Rather than an abstract symphony, it is a musical vision. Berlioz tells the story of an artist, unmistakably his own alter ego, who encounters an idealised beloved and then spirals into a series of increasingly feverish dreams. What begins in longing and...

With the Symphonie fantastique, Hector Berlioz created a work far ahead of its time. Rather than an abstract symphony, it is a musical vision. Berlioz tells the story of an artist, unmistakably his own alter ego, who encounters an idealised beloved and then spirals into a series of increasingly feverish dreams. What begins in longing and ecstasy unravels into obsession, slips into hallucination, and culminates in a frenzied witches’ sabbath.

Through an unprecedented orchestration — featuring no fewer than four harps! — and vivid contrasts of colour and drama, Berlioz turns the symphony into an opera for orchestra, where every emotion and twist of the story is conveyed without a single word.

An adventurous Symphonic Date, to be discovered alongside Thomas Vanderveken, who guides you with humour and flair through this fantastic symphony.

Thanks to the players of the National Lottery and to the Tax Shelter of the Federal Government of Belgium through Casa Kafka Pictures.