A delicate stained-glass light illuminates this program dedicated to mysticism and spiritual ascension: the musical experience transcends, in all its forms, the fear of finitude and the "triumph of death."

Created by a young composer still under Wagner's influence, "Death and Transfiguration" evokes the fate of an artist in agony, struggling with death in a miserable room. The unequal battle concludes with the transparency of harps, as the soul ascends in liberation, which is also the subject of Messiaen's "symphonic meditations" titled "Ascension Day" which also exists in an organ version. This intensely religious work serves as an ideal prelude to Fauré's famous Requiem, a mature work where certain pieces are pure jewels of Western sacred music. Devoid of the dramatic "Dies Irae," this Mass for the Dead offers a liturgy of gentleness and transparency: "Pie Jesu" and "In Paradisum," in particular, are moments of melodic ecstasy, equating death with spiritualization. "Towards the Light" was commissioned by the Orchestre national du Capitole de Toulouse, Orchestre de Paris-Philharmonie, and Svetlanov Legacy Charity.

Program
Richard Strauss: Death and Transfiguration 
Olivier Messiaen: Ascension Day
Gabriel Fauré: Requiem, 1900 version
Thierry Escaich: Towards the light

Performers
Orchestre de Paris
Orchestre de Paris Choir
Orchestre de Paris Youth Choir
Klaus Mäkelä, conductor
Sarah Aristidou, soprano
Jean-Sébastien Bou, baritone
Richard Wilberforce, choir director
Rémi Aguirre Zubiri, associate choir director
Edwin Baudo, associate choir director
Béatrice Warcollier, associate choir director

Subject to change.