National Symphony Orchestra 
John Finucane, conductor 
Kelli-Ann Masterson, soprano
Presented by Liz Nolan, RTÉ lyric fm

Dvořák Song to the Moon Rusalka)
Dvořák The Devil and Kate Overture
Puccini ‘Quando m’en Vo’ (Musetta’s Waltz) from La bohème
Janáček Moravian Dances
Lehár ‘Vilja’ from The Merry Widow
J Strauss II ‘Mein Herr Marquis’ (Laughing Song) from Die Fledermaus
Smetana ‘Vltava’ from Má vlast

A lunchtime excursion into the sylvan, picture-postcard romance of Bohemia with essential stops en route for some mischievous flirting in Venice and pulse-quickening seduction in Paris.

John Finucane, the National Symphony Orchestra’s former Principal Clarinet, makes a welcome return, this time on the conductor’s podium.

With a ‘captivating soprano, characterised by its crisp, pure tone’ (Opera Wire), Kelli-Ann Masterson comes into her own for the seductive ‘Quando m’en Vo’’ (more familiar as Musetta’s Waltz) from Puccini’s heart-rending tale of young love, La bohème, the yearning, fragile beauty of Song to the Moon from Dvořák’s Rusalka, the exquisite, hauntingly delicacy of ‘Vilja’ from Lehár’s The Merry Widow, and the infectious coloratura brilliance of the Laughing Song from Richard Strauss’s Die Fledermaus.

Away from affairs of the heart, love of landscape and homeland lights up Janáček’s colourful, animated Moravian Dances, Smetana’s liquid ‘Vlatava’, hymning the mighty River Moldau, while the Overture to Dvořák’s The Devil and Kate takes a thrilling excursion Into the bewitching realms of fairy tale and fantasy.

Presented by National Symphony Orchestra