The rare Overture for wind instruments that Mendelssohn composed after a Notturno written at the age of 15 seems to be full of twittering in preparation for the coming of Oiseaux exotiquesthat Olivier Messiaen composed in 1955 following a commission from the young Pierre Boulez. The piano soloist dialogues with 11 wind instruments, xylophone, glockenspiel and percussion in an imaginary aviary using Greek and Hindu rhythms. Return to Europe with  Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyagein the company of Goethe and Mendelssohn, just in time to savour Maurice Ravel's Concerto in Gcombining classical limpidity and "jazzy" rhythms and marking the first appearance of pianist Francesco Piemontesi as artist in residence in Lausanne.

Discover an excerpt of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande playing the overture to Félix Mendelssohn's Mer calme et heureux voyage conducted by Marek Janowski on March 26, 2010 at Victoria Hall and recorded by Espace 2.