鈥淗ow silver-sweet sound lovers' tongues by night, Like softest music to attending ears!鈥�
Shakespeare鈥檚 star-cross鈥檇 lovers have inspired composers for centuries, but there鈥檚 still nothing to quite match Prokofiev鈥檚 great Soviet ballet-score: Romeo and Juliet retold in music that鈥檚 as sharp as a rapier and as tender as a kiss.
It鈥檚 a true 20th century classic, and on the day that marks both the exact 400th anniversary of Shakespeare鈥檚 death and the traditional date of his birth, we could hardly celebrate the bard with anything else. But we haven鈥檛 stopped there, 麻豆约拍 Radio 3 has commissioned five of the freshest young talents amongst Manchester composers each to write music for one of Shakespeare鈥檚 plays, and we鈥檝e invited Andrew Gourlay, one of our brightest young conductors, to give the world premieres.
鈥淪o all my best is dressing old words new鈥︹��
Preview, 6.30pm: Michael Symmons Roberts hosts a debate on the place of music in the work of Shakespeare.