On a spring day in an imaginary Russia, an excited crowd gathers for a puppet show. Petrushka loves the Ballerina. She prefers another. Tragedy looms, but don鈥檛 worry: puppets don鈥檛 have souls鈥o they? Stravinsky鈥檚 'Petrushka' paints Russian tradition in colours as bright as a piece of folk art 鈥� and as sinister as the 20th century. It鈥檚 a wonderfully bold finale for a concert that opens with Stravinsky at his most startling, and which unites two dauntless musical explorers 鈥� pianist Joanna MacGregor and our Principal Guest Conductor Ilan Volkov 鈥� in the haunting, utterly original Piano Concerto by Howard Skempton. A striking new work by one of British music鈥檚 true radicals completes an evening of music that fascinates and thrills.
