LYS Finale Concert 2026

Georges Bizet was a French composer of the Romantic era. Best known for his operas in a career cut short by his early death, Bizet achieved few successes before his final work, Carmen, which has become one of the most popular and frequently performed works in the entire opera repertoire.

The Carmen Suites are two suites of orchestral music drawn from the music of Georges Bizet's 1875 opera Carmen and compiled posthumously by his friend Ernest Guiraud. They adhere very closely to Bizet's orchestration. However the order of the musical allusions are in reversed chronological order, and do not adhere to the operatic versions entirely, although the Suite is directly inspired by Bizet's opera.

Symphony No. 5 was composed by Ludwig van Beethoven between 1804 and 1808. It is one of the best-known of all symphonies and one of the most frequently played. First performed in Vienna in 1808, the work achieved its strong critical reputation not long afterward; E. T. A. Hoffmann described it as "one of the most important works of the time".

The Fifth Symphony falls squarely within what is called Beethoven's "Middle Period" of composition, starting from about 1803, when Beethoven chose to launch new works of unprecedented scope and ambition, often emphasizing the musical portrayal of heroism, as in the Third Symphony and the opera Fidelio. The process of composition for the Fifth Symphony was lengthy and had frequent interruptions; the first sketches date from 1804, following the completion of the Third Symphony. Beethoven repeatedly interrupted his work on the Fifth to prepare other compositions. The Fifth and Sixth Symphonies were completed simultaneously during 1807–1808, and both premiered at the same concert.

Beethoven was in his mid-thirties during this time; his personal life was troubled by increasing deafness. In the world at large, the period was marked by the Napoleonic Wars, political turmoil in Austria, and the occupation of Vienna by Napoleon's troops in 1805. The symphony was written at his lodgings at the Pasqualati House in Vienna.

Serenade for Strings is one of the composer's most popular orchestral works. It was composed in the first two weeks of May 1875.

By 1875, Dvořák was gaining recognition as a composer. He received a generous stipend from a commission in Vienna, allowing him to write the Serenade, in addition to Symphony No. 5, String Quintet No. 2, Piano Trio No. 1, the opera Vanda, and the Moravian Duets. Dvořák is said to have written the Serenade in just 12 days, from the 3rd to 14th of May.

The piece premiered in Prague on 10 December 1876 by Adolf Čech and the combined orchestras of the Czech and German theatres.