Shostakovich’s Tenth
19:00
Tue 18 Aug 2026
Royal Albert Hall

Cristian Măcelaru, whose own childhood was spent in communist Romania, conducts the Âé¶¹Éç Symphony Orchestra in Shostakovich’s devastatingly powerful Symphony No. 10. Premiered after Stalin’s death in 1953, it’s a work whose fierce rage, violence and grief tell a terrifying story of life in the dictator’s Russia – a painfully personal history, and one shot through with the composer’s own musical signature: DSCH. The concert opens with the UK premiere of Édith Canat de Chizy’s intricately textured Skyline for three percussionists, timpani and orchestra – a musical vision of the cosmos, from void to teeming, multiplying musical life.
Cristian Măcelaru © Peter Adamik