Music

Programme
MENDELSSOHNA Midsummer Night’s Dream: Overture
MENDELSSOHNPiano Concerto no. 1
MAHLERSymphony no. 4

Concluding for this season the HK Phil’s two-year traversal of Mahler’s symphonies, Maestro Yu Long leads the composer’s sunniest and most approachable: the Fourth, whose ethereal last movement describes a child’s vision of heavenly life—overflowing bowls of tasty food, 11,000 maidens dancing, singing angels joining in the jubilation, and St. Cecilia and her kindred musicians—radiantly portrayed by soprano Rao Lan (“Her voice is phenomenal in size, nuances and coloration” Süddeutsche Post). Sharing the programme is the amazing 13-year-old Serena Wang in Mendelssohn’s bravura Piano Concerto no. 1. The concert is opened by an overture of dancing fairies and romantic lovers, all beautifully crafted in Mendelssohn’s dream of midsummer.