Once upon a time there was an extraordinarily gifted young man – Mendelssohn was only 17 when he composed the famous Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, after the play by Shakespeare. In the wave of a wand, an enchanted forest unfolds in our mind’s eye. Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme will be equally vivacious under the bow of Anne Gastinel and the baton of the Orchestre de Picardie’s new musical director, Johanna  Malangré. A modern orchestral arrangement of the Russian composer’s rarely performed Souvenir de Hapsal introduces a beautiful new perspective on the work. As for the Tombeau de Couperin, Ravel orchestrated a magnificent tribute to baroque music under the reigns of Louis XIII and XIV.