GIVEAWAY: The Bard and Beyond, Queensland Symphony Orchestra

WIN a double pass (there are two up for grabs!) to see Queensland Symphony Orchestra’s The Bard and Beyond, with guest conductor Carlos Kalmar and acclaimed violinist Arabella Steinbacher.

If every piece of music is like an act in a play, then together these three pieces of music create a work that is Shakespearean in its depth and scope. It’s hard to believe that Medelssohn write A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the tender age of 17, as incidental music to Shakespeare’s play. It boasts striking effects, with different instruments and passages used to conjure people and places – including a braying ass in the strings. Bruch’s Concerto meanwhile is fiery and demanding; it scales the highest and lowest reaches and surprises the listener with sudden melodic leaps and pace changes. Which leaves us with Walton’s Symphony in finale – herculean in its grandeur and surging intensity, it screams, despairs and finally roars.