The Rite of Spring – Primal at Sydney Opera House, Concert Hall

The Rite of Spring ballet shocked audiences and sparked a riot at its 1913 premiere in Paris. This did more good than harm - it was asuccès de scandale - and Stravinsky's explosive score was a game-changer for the world of music. Hear it live in concert and you'll literally feel its pounding rhythms resonating through the hall. It might more than a century old but it's lost none of its exhilarating power.

Steve Reich's Desert Music has its own hypnotic rhythmic drive emerging from a central principle of repetition and interlocking patterns: 'Repeat and repeat again...' as the choir sings above the orchestra. Its ritualistic character makes it the perfect contemporary companion to The Rite.

Program:
REICH The Desert Music
STRAVINSKY The Rite of Spring