"When I first read the book i was breathless"

Inspired by British poet W.H. Auden's Pulitzer Prize-winning 1947 work of the same name, Bernstein's Second Symphony is a complicated yet radiant exploration of the themes of self and desires, mirroring the clashing ideals of the post-war generation, driven to confusion and loneliness in the rapidly changing world around them.

As with Auden's poem, the Symphony provides four voices of a group of men and one women as they ruminate together and alone, wishing to discover their own source of happiness. Alongside, the evening will also include a recital of Schumann's smooth Symphony No.4 and Richard Strauss' unforgettable Don Quixote.