Flights of Fantasy

About the Event

This event is promoted by Sinfonia Viva, Derby LIVE are pleased to act as a ticket agent.

As part of this year’s Derby Book Festival and the Grand Tour 2016, Sinfonia Viva will present Felix Mendelssohn’s interpretation of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Der Freischütz by Carl Maria von Weber. Both considered master classes in storytelling bravado, these tales are at once worlds apart and yet universally linked.

Mendelssohn was the great composer of The Grand Tour era, having gone on The Grand Tour of Europe during his lifetime. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is among his best loved works and is itself a journey into the beautiful dreamlike world of Shakespeare’s classic play. This performance will not only feature extracts from Mendelsohn’s score, but will also allow you to experience the story through live narration from 1623's Ben Spiller.   

Weber’s Der Freischütz is based on the German folk tale of the same name and is considered a monumental moment in German storytelling and music. Telling a tale of love, dark magic and feudal rivalry, it is an epic story that takes you on an incredible journey to 17^th century Eastern Europe.

Drawing on our human need for musical imagination Sinfonia Viva reinterpret these two classic tales through narration and chamber music. Vivid, powerful and expertly adapted, this performance is not to be missed.