Magic, Spells, and Other Worlds

About

Step beyond the familiar and enter a sound-world shaped by myth, ritual, and imagination.

Magic, Spells, and Other Worlds is a concert experience that explores how composers have drawn on folklore, fantasy, and the supernatural to create some of the most vivid and evocative music ever written. Performed by piano duo Andrew Rumsey and Ivan Horvatic, this program traces a journey from enchantment and innocence through darkness, mystery, and transformation.

The afternoon opens in the shimmering fairytale landscapes of Ravel’s Mother Goose, where delicacy, colour, and imagination evoke a world of childhood wonder. From there, Grieg’s Peer Gynt leads us into Nordic myth and psychological fantasy — music that moves from radiant calm to grief, illusion, and finally, the grotesque energy of In the Hall of the Mountain King.

As the program darkens, Saint-Saëns’ Danse macabre introduces death itself as a dancing presence: elegant, playful, and unsettling in equal measure. Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain plunges even further into the supernatural, depicting a ferocious witches’ sabbath at midnight — raw, elemental music where ritual and chaos collide, and the magical world feels truly dangerous and savage.

Moments of stillness and beauty offer contrast and release. Gluck’s Dance of the Blessed Spirits provides a vision of serenity beyond the mortal realm, reminding us that mystery is not always dark. The concert culminates in one of the great musical tales of sorcery and obsession:…