Schedule

Omer Meir Wellber leads the Orchestra and Chorus of Teatro La Fenice in a performance of Vincenzo Bellini's tragic opera 'I Capuleti e i Montecchi'. Felice Romani's libretto is not based on William Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet' but on Luigi Scevola's 1818 play 'Giulietta e Romeo'. Teatro La Fenice commissioned Vincenzo Bellini's opera for the Venetian Carnival of 1830. Bellini composed 'I Capuleti e i Montecchi' in just a month and a half, recycling material from his previous opera 'Zaira', which enjoyed little popular success. In this production, English-born soprano Jessica Pratt performs the role of Giulietta, and Italian mezzo-soprano Sonia Ganassi performs the role of Romeo. Among the other soloists are Rubén Amoretti, Shalva Mukeria, and Luca Dall'Amico. This performance was recorded at Teatro la Fenice di Venezia in Venice, Italy, on January 18, 2015.

In this concert, Herbert Blomstedt conducts the Gewandhaus Orchestra and Kammerchor for the last time as the Gewandhaus Music Director at the Leipzig Bachfest 2005. After seven successful years in Leipzig, the maestro performs J. S. Bach's Mass in B minor (BWV 232), one of the greatest works of church music ever written. Soloists are Ruth Ziesak (soprano), Anna Larsson (alto), Christoph Genz (tenor), and Dietrich Henschel (bass). The mass is a musical setting of the complete Ordinary of the Latin Mass and is one of last compositions Bach completed, just one year before his death, in 1750. Blomstedt's reading of the work is conceived and executed on the highest level with the performance pulsating with life. Since 1999, the Leipzig Bachfest has been regarded as the world’s leading festival celebrating the music of Bach.

One night only! Welcome to the spectacular and decadent world of The Babylon Hotel, where music pours out of every crevice like bubbling champagne. In this concert, the upper class meets the underworld in a melting pot of euphoria and extravagance, nostalgia and pleasure with a carefree sinfulness only seen in the exuberant nightlife of the 1920s around the world. The concert features iconic music from movies and series, such as The Great Gatsby, Burlesque, and Babylon Berlin. The music is performed by the Danish National Symphony Orchestra and DR Big Band under the direction of Miho Hazama. The concert also features the Moka Efti Orchestra, and singers Madame le Pustra, Emma Smith, Mademoiselle Karen, Jakob Munch, and Nikko Weidemann, as well as dancers of Sweet Burlesque. This performance was recorded at the DR Koncerthuset in Copenhagen, Denmark, in May 2023.

Italian pianist Roberto Prosseda performs Frédéric Chopin's technically challenging Ballade No. 4 in F minor, Op. 52. Completed in 1842, this piece is celebrated as a masterpiece within the Romantic piano repertoire, renowned for its intricate structure and profound emotional depth. This performance was recorded at the stunning baroque palace Villa Contarini in Piazzola sul Brenta, Italy, in 2006.

Gianluigi Gelmetti conducts the Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart in a performance of W. A. Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 in G Minor (K. 550), directed for television by Janos Darvas. The work was composed in 1788 and is sometimes referred to as the "Great G minor symphony", with the Symphony No. 25 being the "Little G minor symphony". The two are the only of Mozart’s 41 symphonies that were written in a minor key. It is arguably the most popular of all of Mozart’s symphonies. The catchy opening melody became one of the most popular ringtones of mobile phones in the 90s. Scholars are not in agreement whether it was popular in Mozart’s own time. The composer performed it a few times and rewrote some parts of the score.

During the years when Bach was in the service of the courts of Prince Leopold in Köthen, he had his own orchestra and was contracted to compose a great deal of instrumental music. This gave him an opportunity to try new techniques and to develop his own instrumental style. The six Brandenburg Concertos belongs to these masterpieces which he composed for a small ensemble . The joyously infectious performance of these masterpieces by the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra demonstrates both the pleasure and the highest professional standard that can be reached with period instruments. Their decision to perform without a conductor is therefore quite deliberate, reviving a tradition practised right back in the 18th century.

Russian conductor and pianist Mikhail Pletnev leads the Russian National Orchestra in performances of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's music. On the program are Suite for Orchestra after the opera 'The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevroniya', and Musical Pictures for Orchestra from the opera 'The Tale of Tsar Saltan'. Part of the latter is the famous 'Flight of the Bumblebee'. This concert was recorded at the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall of the Russian Philharmonic Society in 2017.

Pianist Deawon Kim (South Korea, 1994) performs Ludwig van Beethoven’s Sonata No. 31 in A-flat major, Op. 110, and ‘Ondine’ and ‘Scarbo’ from Maurice Ravel’s Gaspard de la nuit, during the first round of the Piano Edition of the Concours musical international de Montréal 2024 (CMIM). This performance was recorded at the Bourgie Hall of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

Discover the finest opera houses. Travel with us to France in this episode, and get the insider's perspective on the Lyon Opera House. When the Ferris wheel lifts visitors over the rooftops of this French trading town, a vaulted half cylinder catches the eye amidst the sea of buildings: the Lyon Opera House. This is the work of architect Jean Nouvel (1945), who placed a steel and glass barrel vault atop the old opera house’s classicist facade. His intentional unification of contrasts explores the intersection between tradition and innovation. It is culture as refracted through the zeitgeist - modern opera. This documentary describes how the opera house, which enjoys international acclaim as a work of architecture, has undergone an artistic transformation into one of Europe’s leading stages - and how it has won over the city’s inhabitants with its repertoire. A crucial success factor in this cultural balancing act has been the opera’s collaboration with other houses. The initiators aimed to create a center of music and the performing arts with young singers working under directors and conductors such as Peter Stein and William Christie. Our film also touches upon what French audiences, in particular, consider most sacred: ballet. A ballet hall - possibly the most beautiful in the world - is located in the crest of the glass semi-cylinder, which makes use of the formal vocabulary of the Hotel de Ville. With a panoramic view of the historic town center, the troupe of 30 ballet dancers rehearses for the four productions they will present to the public.

In ca. 1600, composer Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) wrote new works for choir and soloists. In this period, Monteverdi combined traditional styles with newer ones, such as the madrigal and liturgical compositions. These compositions became an enormous success, cementing the composer’s reputation as one of the important figures in Baroque music. His example set the standard for all significant religious Baroque music styles, such as the oratorio, the cantata, and the passion. Actively combining various styles was not only put into practice in religious music, but also in opera. A great example of combined styles is the work ‘Vespro della beata vergine’ (ca. 1610), also known as the ‘Vespers for the Blessed Virgin’. Vespers like these were performed mainly in Roman-Catholic churches. Soloists: Dorothee Blotzki-Mields, Katharine Fuge, Mark Padmore, Jan Kobow, Furio Zanasi, Dominik Wörner.

Les Dissonances is a collective of artists founded by violinist David Grimal in 2004. The conductorless ensemble consists of musicians from the most prestigious European orchestras, international soloists, and young talents. In this performance, Les Dissonances play Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Serenade No. 10 for winds in B-flat major, K. 361, also known as the ‘Gran Partita’. The composition is written for twelve winds and double bass and consists of seven parts. The piece’s duration is longer than the composer’s other chamber music works. Remarkably, Mozart chose to use a larger instrumentation. To the eight instruments of the common wind octet, Mozart added two basset horns, two additional horns, and a double bass. This performance was recorded at Philharmonie de Paris, France, in 2015.

Baritone Bryan Murray (USA, 1989) performs ‘Ich ging mit Lust’, ‘Ablösung im Sommer’, and ‘Zu Straßburg auf der Schanz’ from Gustav Mahler’s Lieder und Gesänge aus der Jugenzeit; ‘Wo die schönen Trompeten blasen’, and ‘Wer hat dies Liedlein erdacht?’ from Mahler’s song cycle Des Knaben Wunderhorn; ‘Oh No, I Beg You, Forsake Me Not!’, ‘Morning’, ‘In the Silence of the Secret Night’, and ‘Do Not Sing, My Beauty’ from Sergei Rachmaninoff’s 6 Romances, Op. 4, and Lee Hoiby’s song cycle I Was There: Five Poems of Walt Whitman, Op. 49, during the final round of the Art Song division of the Concours musical international de Montréal 2022 (CMIM). This performance was recorded at the Bourgie Hall of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

Cellist Nicolas Altstaedt performs J. S. Bach's Suite No. 5 in C minor for cello solo, BWV 1011. This performance was recorded at St. Mary’s Church in Wittenberg, Germany.

Despite his motto ‘Aultre n’auray’ (‘I shall never have another’), Philip the Good was known for his passion for the fairer sex. Could this explain why Le Champion des Dames – Martin le Franc’s monumental poem about famous women – was dedicated to Philip? From the Virgin Mary to Joan of Arc to Christine de Pisan: in this programme medieval woman appears in all her guises, in music by Baude Cordier, Gilles Binchois and Johannes Ghiselin, among others.

Stefano Demicheli conducts the Ensemble Talenti Vulcanici and soloists Nicola Cianncio (bass) and Catherine Jones (cello) in a varied baroque music program, recorded at Chiesa di Santa Caterina da Seina in Naples, Italy. On the program are Alessandro Scarlatti's Quante i boschi han piane (from his serenade Erminia); Nicola Fago's Contro colpi di fortuna (from the opera Il faraone sommerso); Nicola Porpora's Idre, arpie, draghi e leoni (from his serenade La Iole); Angelo Ragazzi's Sonata a quattro, no. 1 in G major; Alessandro Scarlatti's cantata Nel mar che bagna al bel Sebeto; Giovanni Bononcini's Quanto abbraccia il mar (from Euleo festeggiante); Georg Frideric Handel's Precipitoso il mar che freme (from his cantata Aci, Galatea e Polifemo); Nicola Porpora's Concerto for Cello and Strings in G major; Nicola Fago's Miei fidi armatevi (from his cantata Il faraone sommerso); and Giovanni Bononcini's Per molti lustri (from Euleo festeggiante).

Fabio Luisi conducts the Danish National Symphony Orchestra in a performance of Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 8. The work is one of the largest-scale choral works in the classical concert repertoire and is frequently called the "Symphony of a Thousand." The work was composed at Mahler's Maiernigg villa in southern Austria in the summer of 1906 and is the last work which was premiered in Mahler's lifetime. Soloists include Ricarda Merbeth (soprano), Henriette Bonde-Hansen (soprano), Sofia Fomini (soprano), Marianne Beate Kielland (alto), Olesya Petrova (alto), Stefan Vinke (tenor), Russel Braun (baritone), and Günther Groissböck (bass). Among the participating choirs are the Danish National Concert Choir, MDR Leipzig Radio Choir and Copenhagen Royal Chapel Choir. Recorded at the DR Koncerthuset in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 2017.

This 2016 concert at Chambord Castle in France under the direction of Hervé Niquet features 70 musicians that gave a spectacular performance of Handel‘s Water Music and Music for the Royal Fireworks. In between Le Concert Spirituel also plays Concerto Grosso’s No. 4 and No. 5 also by Georg Friedrich Handel. After that you can enjoy the celebrated movement of Marc- Antoine Charpentier’s Te Deum, now universally known as the signature tune of Eurovision. The music brings to mind the splendor at the court of King Louis XIV, who sojourned in Chambord on several occasions.

The Valerius Ensemble, consisting of Robert Windak (violin), Michael Rein (violin), Eva Šušlíková (viola), Judith Chapman (cello) and Ingo Lylofs (piano) played a concert in Muziekcentrum Enschede on April 15, 2018. On the concert program are the Allegro Moderato from Glières String Quartet No. 2 and the Scherzo, Intermezzo, and Finale from Shostakovich’s Piano Quintet, Op. 57. The work is one of the more popular chamber music works by the composer and a year after its premiere it was awarded the Stalin Prize in 1941.