Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra joins William Kentridge for striking Shostakovich performance at Brighton Festival
A powerful fusion of music, film and political history comes to Brighton Festival this May as the Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra collaborates with internationally acclaimed South African artist William Kentridge for an ambitious performance of Shostakovich Symphony No. 10.
Oh To Believe in Another World takes place at Brighton Dome Concert Hall on Sunday 17 May, bringing together live orchestral performance, animated film and striking theatrical imagery in what promises to be one of the most thought-provoking events of this year’s Brighton Festival.
Under the baton of Music Director Joanna MacGregor, the Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra will perform Dmitri Shostakovich’s monumental Tenth Symphony, one of the 20th century’s most emotionally charged and politically resonant works. Written in the years following the death of Stalin, the symphony is widely understood as both a deeply personal statement and a powerful artistic reckoning with oppression, fear and survival under authoritarian rule.
For this performance, the music is paired with William Kentridge’s extraordinary animated film Oh To Believe in Another World, a dream-like visual landscape populated by collage, puppetry and masked performers, creating what he describes as an “abandoned Soviet museum”. The work explores the tangled relationship between art and state power, drawing on figures including Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin, poet Vladimir Mayakovsky, Lily Brik, and Shostakovich himself.
Kentridge, one of the world’s leading contemporary artists, is known for politically charged work that interrogates memory, injustice and history, often drawing connections between Soviet repression and the legacy of apartheid in his native South Africa. He will introduce the performance from the stage, offering audiences insight into the ideas behind this ambitious multimedia collaboration.
The result promises to be far more than a concert. This is an immersive meeting of sound, image, and political imagination where symphonic music promises to become part of a larger artistic conversation about power, resistance and human resilience.
The event begins at 8pm, with the Foyer Bar opening from 6pm for ticket holders, featuring live music and a visual art exhibition presented by the Adelaide Salon ahead of the performance.
Details
Oh To Believe in Another World: Shostakovich Symphony No.10 takes place at Brighton Dome Concert Hall on Sunday 17 May as part of Brighton Festival.
Dates: Sun 17 May, bar opens 6.15pm, doors 7.15pm for 8pm.
Venue: Brighton Dome, Church St, Brighton, BN1 1UE.
Accessible: Details here
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