The ESMAE Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Jan Wierzba, will present a programme dedicated to Antonín Dvořák and Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky on 24 October at 7.00 pm at the Helena Sá e Costa Theatre. The concert will be repeated at 9.30 pm on 28 October at the Casa da Música.

The programme opens with Antonín Dvořák’s symphony ‘The Noon Witch’, Op. 108, a work inspired by a poem by Karel Jaromír Erben and characterised by a strong narrative dimension. The composition forms part of the Kytice cycle, in which Dvořák transforms motifs from the Czech folk tradition into symphonic music.

This is followed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36, one of the central works in the Russian composer’s symphonic repertoire. Written between 1877 and 1878, the symphony articulates different emotional states and orchestral contrasts within a four-movement structure.