THE BELLS & SYMPHONIE FANTASTIQUE

NOV 8 & 9, 2025 | Music Hall

Bells will ring throughout Music Hall as Berlioz depicts a haunted artist’s dreams and Rachmaninoff tolls through life’s phases. 

Program

Sergei Rachmaninoff The Bells 

Hector Berlioz Symphonie fantastique 

Venue

Music Hall

What's Interesting

Can you hear the bells? Rachmaninoff’s choral symphony The Bells — inspired by Edgar Allen Poe’s poem of the same name — evokes the experience of bells ringing through the phases of life, and features Cincinnati’s own May Festival Chorus. Then, Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique takes you inside the delirious fever-dream of a young artist driven mad by unrequited love. Fueled by opium-induced hallucinations, the visions culminate in a sabbath dance where the bells toll a haunting clamor