National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain

The 20th Century saw momentous social change driven by passionate young people. Decadent and radical, 1920’s Berlin was a haven for subversive, left-wing artists. Among them was Hans Eisler, who took his music out of the concert hall and onto the streets, dissolving the divide between performer and audience with his stirring songs for the people.

Long before John Lennon, Bob Dylan and U2 made anti-war protest songs cool, Benjamin Britten wrote Sinfonia da Requiem – its huge orchestral forces and pervasive sense of foreboding a heart-on-sleeve warning of the war-time horrors that lay ahead.

Brutal and deadly, Russia’s 1905 revolution set in motion a chain of events that would change the country forever. Shostakovich weaves fragments of old revolutionary songs into huge cinematic soundscapes and a startling critique of political oppression.