Candide, concert version
Marin Alsop, conductor; Simon Halsey, chorus director; Leonardo Capalbo, Candide; Jane Archibald, Cunegonde; Ann Sofie von Otter, The Old Lady; Sir Thomas Allen, Dr. Pangloss, Narrator; with the London Symphony Chorus; Garnett Bruce, director
It’s an outrageous odyssey of misadventure! Marin Alsop leads the way in Bernstein’s riotous satirical operetta Candide.
Open-hearted and good-natured, Candide lives a life of blissful ignorance until war comes to Westphalia. The hapless Candide’s ordered life is thrown into disarray, as he embarks on a round-the-world voyage, bouncing from one rollicking melodrama to the next. Candide’s sunny optimism is put to the test, as he encounters man-eating sharks, duelling sultans and swindling con-artists.
With lyrical contributions from acerbic writers Richard Wilbur and Dorothy Parker and a young Stephen Sondheim, Candide marries raucous humour with the extraordinary genius of Leonard Bernstein. Marin Alsop – who was mentored by the great conductor and composer – leads this performance, rounding off celebrations of Bernstein’s centenary year.
