Bach Beethoven Barber Bartók. Chamber Orchestra of Mallorca

Music has the extraordinary ability to transform pain, restlessness, and darkness into beauty. This program explores the limits of human expression through six works that travel between light and the most intimate depths of the soul. The concert begins with the bursting energy of Starburst, by African American composer Jessie Montgomery, before Bach’s spiritual serenity in the choral invites introspection. With the "Serioso" Quartet, Beethoven takes us into a world of tension, conflict, and extreme emotions, where the music seems to struggle between despair and hope and anticipates the radical language of his later works. Samuel Barber’s Adagio transforms a simple melody into a collective lament of striking intensity, demonstrating how beauty can arise from the deepest pain. The Beech Tree, a movement from Plan & Elevation, by fellow American Caroline Shaw, inspired by the gardens of Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, returns us to contemplation where the music evokes the shapes, movements, and textures of nature. To finish, Bartók’s Divertimento, written on the eve of World War II, confronts life.