For its 2016 season-opening concert, the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse has selected two monumental works of the classical repertoire by Beethoven and Berlioz. Christian Zacharias opens the evening with Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5, "Emperor" (1809), the last concerto for the instrument the composer ever wrote.

Under the baton of its musical director Tugan Sokhiev, the Orchestre National du Capitole then performs Berlioz' dazzling Symphonie fantastique (1830). The piece bursts with a truly unique expressive power, infused with Berlioz's mad passion for the Irish actress Harriet Smithson.