The Philadelphia Orchestra explores Stravinsky’s provocative The Rite of Spring in special Beyond the Score performance on April 8

The year was 1913 and headlines like the ones above may well have been splashed across Parisian newspapers covering the premiere of Igor Stravinsky’s controversial new ballet, The Rite of Spring. The piece—with its dissonant sounds and shocking themes of human sacrifice— stunned audiences, sending them into frenzied riots. Within a decade this groundbreaking work would be heard in America in its U.S. premiere by The Philadelphia Orchestra under Leopold Stokowski.