Don't miss the rich and rewarding season opener by the renowned Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège, led by their music director Gergely Madaras with the vocal talents of soprano Jennifer Holloway! The OPRL begin their orchestral season with Beethoven's stirring Egmont Overture, a rousing battle cry against oppression composed soon after the Fifth Symphony. The enchanting Holloway, who recently won acclaim for playing the title role in Franck's Hulda, then takes the stage to perform Wagner's celebrated Wesendonck Lieder, five passionate songs composed during the creation of Tristan und Isolde and based on the poetry of Mathilde Wesendonck, the wife of one of Wagner's wealthy patrons with whom the composer was infatuated. Finally, maestro Madaras leads the ensemble in Mahler's First Symphony ("Titan"), a captivating musical mosaic that expertly mixes brass fanfares, Bohemian motifs, klezmer influences, and even an uncanny nod to "Frère Jacques"…

Photo: Jennifer Holloway © Arielle Doneson