Concerts with Maria Bengtsson and Bertrand de Billy in Turin and Lyon

An autumnal atmosphere, imbued with a sense of farewell and transcendence, pervades Strauss's Four Last Songs and Brahms's Fourth Symphony – the two works entrusted to the sensitive direction of Bertrand de Billy in the TRT Philharmonic 's first collaboration. In the songs, his last great creation, Strauss enveloped his beloved soprano voice in a rich orchestral sound: Maria Bengtsson conveys the twilight radiance of these works. The Fourth Symphony is a work of grand, fateful tone – with it, Brahms bid a final farewell to this genre.

Turin : March 23, 2026

The internationally acclaimed Franco-Swiss conductor Bertrand de Billy is a regular at the Vienna State Opera, but has not performed at the Auditorium de Lyon since the 2005/2006 season. This return is celebrated in grand style with Bruckner's Symphony No. 4 , which begins with a whisper and swells to a finale with blazing brass. Bertrand de Billy has chosen the revised version of 1878–1880, with its incredible Scherzo depicting a hunting scene. In the Four Last Songs , the orchestra envelops, carries, and caresses the voice—in this case, that of Maria Bengtsson , who, like all great interpreters of this music, is an outstanding Mozart soprano. Hardly any score has painted the awakening of spring, the last trembling of nature at dusk, and the reconciled solitude of the old man before nightfall more vividly.

Lyon : April 3rd and 4th, 2026