Berlioz the Romantic

Berlioz was captivated by Shakespeare’s plays and saw the bard as a kind of advocate and alter ego two centuries his elder. The composer was utterly consumed with passion for the famous English actress Harriet Smithson, whom he saw on stage in Hamlet and who soon became his muse, and then his spouse. It was Smithson who inspired the Symphonie fantastique, an enduring metaphor for the artist-creator. Indulge in a concert imbued with the purest expression of Romanticism, as the prodigies of the NYO-USA make their debut with us alongside star violinist Gil Shaham, masterfully conducted by Sir Andrew Davis.