NSO Summer Lunchtime

Luis Toro Araya, conductor
Seán Boylan, baritone
Presented by Liz Nolan, RTÉ lyric fm

Johann Strauss II Die Fledermaus Overture 
Verdi ‘C’est mon jour suprême… Ah, je meurs’ (Don Carlos)
Soro Danza fantástica 
Wagner ‘O, du mein holder Abendstern’ (Tannhäuser) 
Verdi Ballet music from Macbeth 
Rossini ‘Largo al factotum’ (The Barber of Seville) 
Johann Strauss II Unter Donner und Blitz / Thunder and Lightning Polka

Two remarkable young talents – Luis Toro Araya, whose conducting ‘seemed more like… a wise old master than that of a 27-year-old’ (Cellesche Zeitung) and Seán Boylan, ‘already the perfect young baritone’ (The Arts Desk) – serve up a lunchtime treat of love in all its contrary forms.

There’s playful whimsy aplenty in the sparkling gaiety of the Overture to Johann Strauss II’s Die Fledermaus, and just as much drama in his crackling Thunder and Lightning Polka. Love’s selfless sacrifice is heard in the ardent ‘C’est mon jour suprême’ from Verdi’s Don Carlos, the goddess of love is hymned in Wagner’s bewitching Song to the Evening Star, love corrupted brilliantly conjured in the Ballet Music from Verdi’s Macbeth, while Figaro salutes himself in the tongue-twisting, tongue-in-cheek ‘Largo al factotum’ from Rossini’s The Barber of Seville. And Enrique Soro’s exhilarating Danza fantástica is full of fantasy, fervour and fire.

Presented by NCH