The idea for this evening grew out of two sparks: Ingmar Bergman’s daughter’s book about her father, and Rembrandt’s Return of the Prodigal Son — which, as you can see on the poster, has been quietly transformed into the return of a daughter.

The program explores the mysterious and often complicated territory of the parent–child relationship: separation and return, inheritance and rebellion, forgiveness and the possibility of understanding.

Rembrandt’s painting offers one powerful image of reconciliation: a child returns after years of wandering, and a father receives him with compassion. But what happens when we imagine the story differently? What if the relationship remains unresolved? Are we still capable of returning to one another — and of forgiving?

The music of Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, and Rachmaninoff becomes another way of exploring these questions. Each composer had his own complicated relationship with family, shaped by love, loss, distance, memory, and the circumstances of their lives.

Two short film excerpts add another perspective: the extraordinary tenderness of the bond between mother and son, and the quiet, aching distance between father and daughter.

Rather than offering answers, the evening invites us to reflect on the relationships that shape us — and on what love asks of both parents and children.

Contact the host of Classical Plus: FATHER AND DAUGHTER - MOTHER AND SON