“Oh! How can I find her – the Ophelia, the Juliet for whom my heart cries! To intoxicate myself with the anguish and joy that is true love!” Lélio is a lover, a dreamer - and a composer. And if you think his name sounds a bit like Berlioz: well, we don’t want to give too much away about 'Lélio or The Return to Life' – the extraordinary autobiographical musical drama that Berlioz composed in 1831 at the height of an unrequited love affair. But it’s utterly unique: a delirious odyssey through the Romantic imagination, told in some of Berlioz’s most flamboyantly original music. Conductor Pascal Rophé brings all his sense of theatre to this rare full performance which also features actor Samuel West. ‘Lelio’ is proceeded by the composer’s Walter Scott-inspired 'Waverley' overture, and Karen Cargill in the sensuous and dramatic solo cantata, 'The Death of Cleopatra'.

This concert is part of ‘Berlioz - The Ultimate Romantic’, a celebratory weekend of live and specially recorded concerts showcasing the BBC Orchestras and Choirs, as well as the Ulster Orchestra, marking the anniversary of the remarkable composer, writer, and master-orchestrator Hector Berlioz, who died on 8 March 1869. Show less