RPO x Vasily Petrenko: Strauss - Also sprach Zarathustra

A classical concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London, in which the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra performs under Vasily Petrenko, with Richard Strauss's tone poem Also sprach Zarathustra in the programme.

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, known as the RPO, is the London-based orchestra that presents this evening with the conductor Vasily Petrenko. The programme centres on Richard Strauss's Also sprach Zarathustra, a tone poem for large orchestra composed in 1896 and inspired by Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophical work of the same name. The piece opens with its well-known introduction, which has become familiar through its use in films, and moves through a sequence of sections that the orchestra renders with wide dynamic contrasts.

Vasily Petrenko is the conductor of this performance, and the evening is built around the orchestral writing of Strauss rather than a soloist. Audiences drawn to late German Romantic orchestral music, or to the large-scale symphonic repertoire, will find the programme focused on that tradition.

The Royal Albert Hall is a large circular venue in South Kensington, which hosts concerts, shows and events throughout the year. Its main auditorium is the setting for this performance.