Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks

Première audiences and critics were overwhelmed by this innovative synthesis of the arts, first seen and heard at the Paris Opera in 1910. The ballet The Firebird enchanted audiences as a "glittering, sensuously beguiling apparition", as the reviews put it, and Igor Stravinsky's "music, shimmering in all tonal colours" contributed to its success. One person who has repeatedly demonstrated his special approach to Stravinsky's timbres and complex rhythms is Sir Simon Rattle, himself a trained percussionist. The British conductor has been at the helm of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra since 2023 and, as the inaugural concert in Frankfurt in April 2024 impressively demonstrated, has built up a close relationship with the orchestra in a very short time. Together they are immersing themselves in the unmistakable colours of the Firebird.