JANUARY 13TH 2018
Sir Simon Rattle conducts two works from the 1940s, including a rarely-heard collaboration between some of the biggest composers of the day, with visual projections from director Gerard McBurney.
LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA - SIR SIMON RATTLE
GENESIS SUITE
Sir Simon Rattle conducts two works from the 1940s, including a rarely-heard collaboration between some of the biggest composers of the day, with visual projections from director Gerard McBurney.
1945: the world is reeling from war and persecution on a scale never seen before. Seven composers – many of them Jewish, with Schoenberg and Stravinsky among them – have left Europe, taking refuge in the US and finding opportunities in Hollywood’s glittering film industry.
These seven composers came together to create something never heard before: the Genesis Suite, musically depicting dramatic stories from the first book of the Bible. It’s a work of incredible ambition with political themes that still resonate in 2017. The Tower of Babel, Adam and Eve, the Flood – these are stories of displaced peoples, broken promises and destruction.
And in this rare performance these stories of Genesis, war and our current political climate will be brought to life through visual projections by Gerard McBurney and Mike Tutaj, transforming the Barbican Hall in a new realisation as innovative as the Genesis Suite itself.
Performers
Sir Simon Rattle conductor
Gerard McBurney creative director
Mike Tutaj projection design
London Symphony Chorus
Simon Halsey chorus director
London Symphony Orchestra
Simon Callow, Helen McCrory, Sara Kestelman & Rodney Earl Clarkenarrators