Antonio Pappano

London Symphony Orchestra

Tuesday June 10th at 8 pm, in the Sala Grande del Teatro, the return of Antonio Pappano and the London Symphony Orchestra

The program includes compositions by Richard Strauss, Giacomo Puccini and Hector Berlioz.

Florence, June 9th 2025 – More than twenty-five years after his last performance in Florence, Sir Antonio Pappano returns to the podium of the Teatro del Maggio.

The concert, scheduled in the Main Hall on Tuesday June 10th at 8 pm, sees the maestro conducting the London Symphony Orchestra, of which he is principal conductor.

Antonio Pappano, who made his debut at the Maggio in March 1995, was Music Director of the Den Norske Opera in Oslo in 1990 and, from 1992 to 2002, held the same position at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels. From 1997 to 1999, he was Principal Guest Conductor of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. He is a regular guest conductor at the world’s leading opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Vienna and Berlin State Operas, the Bayreuth and Salzburg Festivals, the Lyric Opera of Chicago and La Scala. As a guest conductor, he has collaborated with some of the world’s most prestigious orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, the Bayerischer Rundfunk, the Czech Philharmonic, the Orchestre de Paris, and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Since 2005 he has been the musical director of the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and since 2007 he has been an active Academician.

The program includes Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche by Richard Strauss, the Capriccio sinfonico by Giacomo Puccini and the Symphonie Fantastique Hector Berlioz.

Begun in Florence in June 1893, Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche is a symphonic poem that tells the jokes and adventures of a fictional character who was very popular in Germany, Till Eulenspiegel. The work is divided into five episodes, each evoking the adventures of the protagonist, preceded by an introduction and followed by an epilogue.

The Capriccio sinfonico was one of Giacomo Puccini's first compositions, and was created as the final essay of the course of studies undertaken in 1880 at the Milan Conservatory. It was first performed in July 1883. In March 1893 Puccini revised the original autograph manuscript; the new version was performed in Venice the following month.

The Symphonie Fantastique, which closes the concert, is one of the most famous compositions by Hector Berlioz: composed between 1829 and 1830, it can be considered a debut work. It has the subtitle "Episodes from the Life of an Artist" and is dedicated to Tsar Nicholas I, and it definitely propelled its author to the international musical limelight. The Fantastique inaugurates the series of Berlioz's programme symphonic compositions and is indeed one of the first examples ever of this genre of music.