The debut concert of Odyssey Festival Orchestra under its Artistic Director, Peter Ash, explores why the mythological figure of Prometheus so fascinated early Romantic artists. Beethoven’s ballet music The Creatures of Prometheus (1801) will be interspersed with extracts from Percy Bysshe Shelley’s verse play Prometheus Unbound (1820) featuring a rare stage appearance by theatrical legend Dame Janet Suzman.

The concert will also explore how Prometheus was idolised by romantic revolutionaries, many of whom hailed Napoleon Bonaparte as his modern incarnation. The concert will culminate in a performance of Beethoven’s ‘Eroica’ Symphony (1805) which was originally dedicated to Napoleon and uses the Prometheus theme in its thrilling finale.

Odyssey Festival Orchestra is made up of young players, student and professional, under 30 years of age.