Fauré’s Requiem [interim title]
The Philharmonia Orchestra marks the centenary of Fauré’s death with an all-French programme featuring his beloved Requiem.
After decades of playing the organ at funerals, Fauré declared, ‘I’d had them up to here. I wanted to do something different.’
Not for him the hellfire and brimstone of the Day of Judgement. Instead, he set texts speaking of mercy, deliverance and eternal rest. The gentleness and serenity of his music, including the beloved In Paradisum, has brought comfort to many thousands of listeners.
Before Fauré transports us to musical Heaven, Ravel’s song cycle Shéhérazade offers us a tantalising glimpse of Asia – or rather the ‘ancient, wonderful land of nursery stories’ that was Asia in the imaginations of many European poets and composers (and of course audiences) of Ravel’s time.
‘Utterly persuasive… remarkable’ (Gramophone) soprano Lea Desandre is our guide through a sensuous fantasy world of minarets, roses, turbans and dark-eyed beauties.
Bizet’s Symphony in C, written when the student composer had just turned 17, is a work of Mozartian freshness and spontaneity, with some wonderful melodies for the Philharmonia’s Principal Oboe.
We’re lucky to be able to listen to this gem at all – it languished in the library of the Paris Conservatoire until the 1930s, and only received its premiere 60 years after Bizet’s death.
Performers
Philharmonia Orchestra
conductor to be announced
Lea Desandre mezzo-soprano
Stéphane Degout baritone
choir to be announced
Repertoire
Bizet: Symphony in C
Ravel: Shéhérazade
Fauré: Requiem
Need to know
For your visit
This event is held at the Royal Festival Hall Southbank Centre
The Royal Festival Hall is open six days a week.
Tuesday – Sunday, 10am – 11pm
Monday, closed.
Plan your visit
The Royal Festival Hall is home to our largest auditorium as well as The Clore Ballroom, National Poetry Library, Members’ Lounge, Festival Bar & Kitchen, Ballroom Cafe and Skylon restaurant.
Getting here
Our address is Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London, SE1 8XX.
The nearest tube stations to us are Waterloo and Embankment; Waterloo is also the nearest train station. And more than 20 different London bus routes pass within 500 metres of our venues. More information on getting here by rail, road or river is available on our Getting here page.
We’re cash-free
Please note that we’re unable to accept cash payments across our venues.
Access
We’re working hard to remove barriers, so that our facilities and events can be accessible to as many people as possible.
All help points, toilets, performance and exhibition spaces at the Southbank Centre are accessible to all, as are the cafes, bars and restaurants. We also have excellent public transport links with step-free access.
All information about booking wheelchair spaces, step-free access, blue badge parking, access maps and guides and other help available whilst you’re here, including details about our Access Scheme, can be found on our Access page.
Food & drink
On Level 2 of our Royal Festival Hall you can grab a slice of life by the Thames with drinks and freshly made pizza at our Festival Bar & Kitchen which opens out onto our Riverside Terrace. You can grab a coffee and a slice of freshly made cake from our Ballroom Cafe. Or alternatively enjoy destination dining in the restaurant at Skylon.
From coffee to cocktails, filling favourites to fine dining, plus some of London’s best street food – it’s all here at the Southbank Centre.