50e Concert de Gala SOS Villages d’Enfants Monde

«To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken.» Cautionary words from C. S. Lewis, with whom Hector Berlioz would no doubt agree. In his early twenties, the composer discovered that love can be passionate and tender; yet it can also be destructive and all-consuming. Symphonie fantastique was inspired by an actress with whom he had fallen head over heels in love. From frenzied passion and «volcanic» joy to the stuff of nightmares: jealousy, murder and the supernatural – Berlioz cleverly weaves the main musical idea throughout this fantastical tale.