Schedule

In Summer Night Music - Love Songs, artists from all over the world contribute their favourite love songs to an unusual and exciting event uniting classical, jazz, and world music. Among the classical musicians are the Gewandhaus Orchestra, cellist Mischa Maisky, and The King’s Singers. Other world stars include jazz vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater and flamenco cantaora Mayte Martin. The variety of musicians and genres appeals to a wide audience, aiming to create a grand open-air atmosphere that every music lover will remember.

Azerbaijan-born artist Seljan Nasibli moved to England at an early age, where she was encouraged to take up music. Although Nasibli chose to sing jazz, her Oxford teachers heard an operatic tendency in her voice and advised to train classically. Nasibli completed her studies at The Royal College of Music, where she graduated with a master's degree in Vocal Performance. In this episode of Stingray Originals, Nasibli performs three of Giacomo Puccini's most beautiful arias: 'Signore, ascolta!' and 'Tu, che di gel sei cinta' from the opera Turandot, and 'Quando m'en vo' (Musetta's Waltz) from the opera La bohème.

Chinese pianist Lang Lang performs some of the greatest works in the piano repertoire at Berghain in Berlin in 2010. The concert program includes the first movement of Piano Sonata No. 23, op. 57, called Beethoven's Appassionata, the precipato of Prokofiev's Sonata No. 7, and the mention of Iberia (Book 1), the masterpiece of Isaac Albéniz. Lang Lang closes the evening with a powerful version of the ''Heroic'' Polonaise, op. 53 from Chopin.

The 2007 Europa-Konzert takes place in Berlin, on the occasion of the 125th anniversary of the Berliner Philharmoniker. Under the theme "The Year 1882", the acclaimed orchestra is lead by conductor Sir Simon Rattle as it interprets Brahms’ “Concerto for violin, cello and orchestra”, his Fourth Symphony and Wagners’ “Prelude to Act I” from Parsifal - the piece that marked the orchestra's first recorded work of September 1913 under the baton of Alfred Hertz. The soloists are Lisa Batiashvili (violin) and Truls Mørk (cello), established as sought-after young virtuosos and appearing regularly with leading orchestras and in recitals throughout the world. The “Kraftwerk und Kabelwerk Oberspree (power and cable factory)”, the remarkable venue of this concert, is one of the most impressive historical industrial building from the late 19th century in Berlin. As its impressive presence is infused with Brahms and Wagner, there is an air of total commitment, only enhanced further by the unusual surroundings. The collaboration of Lisa Batiashvili and Truls Mørk ensures a moving performance of Brahms’s last orchestral work, his Double Concerto. Following this, Rattle and the orchestra continue to demonstrate their outstanding musicianship, delivering Wagner's amazingly fresh and dynamic Fourth Symphony.

The Lucerne Festival Orchestra performs Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 5 under the direction of Claudio Abbado. This unique orchestra was formed as part of the annual festival in Lucerne, Switzerland.

This very special concert event celebrates the diversity and richness of Canada through the eyes and ears of its people. Ensemble Made in Canada’s Mosaique Project features a commissioned suite of piano quartets by 14 Canadian composers, each inspired by a region of our vast country. Their album release and two-year National tour culminate in St. Catharines’ stunning Partridge Hall! The ensemble consists of Elissa Lee (violin) Sharon Wei (viola), Rachel Mercer (cello) and Angela Park (piano) and is rapidly gaining recognition as Canada’s premier piano quartet.

Sir Simon Rattle conducts the Berlin Philharmonic in the 2016 edition of the Europakonzert. This time, it takes place at the beautiful Baroque church of Røros, a Norwegian mining town whose intact picturesque old town makes it a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The talented Norwegian violinist Vilde Frang is the star soloist in Mendelssohn’s songful Violin Concerto, Op. 64, which she plays with warmth, elegance and effortless virtuosity.

This exclusive live concert production presents a unique selection of movie classics - from Sergio Leone’s iconic Spaghetti Westerns to modern mafia masterpieces by Francis Ford Coppola and the cult movies of Tarantino. The Danish National Symphony Orchestra and Concert Choir are conducted by Sarah Hicks in this premiere performance of authentic soundtracks by composer legends Ennio Morricone, Nino Rota, Sonny Bono, and Bernard Herrmann. Soloists for this performance are Tuva Semmingsen (mezzo), Christine Nonbo Andersen (soprano), Hans Ulrik (saxophone) and Mads Kjølby (guitars). Recorded at the DR Koncerthuset in Copenhagen, Denmark in 2018.

The Russian National Orchestra and the Moscow Synodal Choir are led by maestro Mikhail Pletnev at a concert from the 9th Russian National Orchestra Grand Festival. The orchestra opens with a performance of Maurice Ravel's music suite to the ballet 'Daphnis and Chloe'. Furthermore, Lucas Debargue is the solo pianist in Alexander Scriabin's 'Prometheus: The Poem of Fire', Op. 60, a tone poem for piano, orchestra, choir, and a clavier à lumières ("Chromola"). A clavier à lumières actually is a musical instrument, especially invented by Scriabin for use in this work. Only one copy of the instrument was constructed for a performance of the piece in New York, 1915. As encore, Debargue performs Erik Satie's Gnossienne No. 1. This concert was recorded at Moscow's Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in 2018.

Bernard Haitink conducts the Berliner Philharmoniker at the Easter Festival in Baden-Baden, 2015. On the program is Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6 in F major, Op. 68. The composer wrote his Symphony No. 6 between 1802 and 1808. Nicknamed "Pastoral Symphony," this piece is one of the few examples of program music for the German composer. Unlike other Beethoven symphonies, this piece has not four, but five movements, each with a programmatic title.

The Berliner Philharmoniker and Lang Lang under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle

Every year the Berliner Philharmoniker gives an outstanding concert at the Waldbühne. This amphitheatre in Berlin can host 22,000 people and is used for many events such as film showings, boxing matches and concerts. In 1993 the Berliner Philharmoniker, under the baton of the Japanese conductor Seiji Ozawa, performed a Russian program. The concert starts with Russian Easter Festival Overture, Op. 36 by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, followed by Tchaikovsky' world-famous Nutcracker Suite, Overture 1812 and the Elegy from the Serenade for Strings. This is followed by Borodin’s Polovtsian Dance No. 17, Stravinsky’s Firebird and Aram Khachaturian’ Sabre Dance. The program closes with the Radetzky March by Johann Strauss Sr.

As part of a new collaboration with the famous composer of "music with repetitive structures" Philip Glass, French pianists Katia and Marielle Labèque perform the European premiere of Glass's Concerto for two pianos with the Orchester de Paris. The program continues with Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5 with the Orchester de Paris, directed by Jaap van Zweden, current music director of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and the next musical director of the New York Philharmonic.

Fabio Luisi conducts the Danish National Symphony Orchestra in this powerful performance taken from the 150th Anniversary celebrations of Denmark’s national composer, Carl Nielsen. Alongside Nielsen’s inscrutably ironic Symphony No. 6, this performance features world-renowned French pianist Lise de la Salle as soloist in Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 4. This lesser-known concerto saw three separate iterations throughout the composer’s life and is characterized by bold chromaticism and a distinctly Jazz-like quality. Luisi and de la Salle have prior experience with this piece, having previously performed and recorded it together. This performance was recorded at the DR Koncerthuset in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 2017.

At the age of seven, Argentine pianist Martha Argerich made her debut with Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in C major, Op. 15, a piece that would accompany her throughout her career. The celebrated pianist performs this signature piece at the Lucerne Festival with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra under the baton of Swedish conductor Herbert Blomstedt, who makes his festival debut with the orchestra. Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 36, is also on the program. This performance was recorded at the Lucerne Culture and Congress Center (KKL), Switzerland, in August 2020.

Italian pianist Andrea Molteni (1998) performs Frédéric Chopin’s Fantaisie in F minor, Op. 49. Molteni began studying the piano at the age of six. He graduated with honors and honorable mention at the Conservatorio di musica Giuseppe Verdi di Como, and was awarded a master’s degree Magna cum Laude in Advanced Performance Studies by the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana in Lugano. He has performed at the Wiener Saal of the Mozarteum University in Salzburg, Scriabin Museum in Moscow, National Opera Center in New York, and several other international venues. This performance was recorded at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Ohio, USA, in 2022.

Hannu Lintu conducts the Gulbenkian Orchestra in a Finnish flavoured concert program, since the concert features Cantus Articus, Op. 61 by Einojuhani Rautavaara, and Jean Sibelius’ Symphony No. 2. Furtermore, Daniil Trifonov (1991) is star soloist in Schumann’s Piano Concerto, Op. 54, which was premiered in 1841 by Clara Wieck, wife of the composer. Trifonov rose to fame after winning prizes at both the Tchaikovsky International Chopin competition in Moscow as well as the Chopin International Piano Competition in Warsaw. Trifonov has been called "arguably today's leading classical virtuoso,” and “without question the most astounding pianist of our age." This concert is recorded at the Grand Auditorium of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation of Lisbon, in 2018.

The six-concert series “Io suono italiano” is dedicated to music of Italian composers and performed by Italian musicians on Italian instruments. The concert programs cover four centuries of music: from Girolamo Frescobaldi and Antonio Vivaldi to more contemporary music by Ennio Morricone and Azio Corghi. These performances were filmed at the atmospheric Teatro Sociale in Rovigo, Italy, in January 2021. In this program, Federico Guglielmo (violin) and Roberto Loreggian (harpsichord) present Giuseppe Tartini’s Sonata in G minor Op. 1 No. 10 (B.g10) “Didone abbandonata”.

Every year, the Europakonzert is hosted by the Berliner Philharmoniker in a notorious concert hall or on a special location. This years concert is performed at the magnificent Royal Albert Hall in London. The Dutch conductor Bernard Haitink starts with Tchaikovsky's Fantasy Overture from "Roméo et Juliette". The second piece by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is his famous Violin Concerto No. 3 in G major K. 216 played by the German violinist Frank Peter Zimmermann. During his career he played with a lot of famous orchestras and conductors such as the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Mariss Jansons. He has a great passion for chamber music and plays a lot of recitals with the Italian pianist Enrico Pace. The concert closes with Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring which he wrote in 1913 for Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. The première caused a lot of sensation and near-riot in the audience because of the avant-garde nature, music and choreography of the piece. The Rite of Spring is now considered as one of the masterpieces of classical music history and has influenced many 20th-century music composers. The encore is Tchaikovsky's Flower Waltz from the Nutcracker.

Stefano Conticello leads the Orchestra of Teatro Comunale di Bologna in a Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart program. The concert opens with the Overture from Mozart’s popular opera “The Magic Flute”. This is followed by Piano Concerto No. 25 in C major, K. 503, with Maurizio Baglini as the featured soloist. Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 25 is just one of the twelve great piano concertos he composed during 1784 and 1786. The concert ends with Symphony No. 35 in D major, K. 385, also known as the “Haffner Symphony”. On the occasion of the ennoblement of Sigmund Haffner in 1782, the prominent Salzburg Haffner family of businessmen and philanthropists commissioned Mozart to compose a new piece. Mozart agreed, and initially wrote a serenade before recasting it as a symphony a few months later: the “Haffner Symphony”. This performance was recorded at the Teatro Comunale in Bologna, Italy.

Performed in the grandeur of Berlin's foremost opera house, the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, the Mozart Celebration is dedicated to the life's work of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. This one-time-only gala concert features exuberant Mozart pieces, performed by some of the world’s leading singers and musicians. Conductor Julien Salemkour leads these beautiful performances played by the Staatskapelle Berlin. The star solists are Nicolaj Znaider (violin), Thomas Quasthoff (baritone) and Sylvia Schwartz (soprano). The program features Ouverture from la Clemenza di Tito, 'Violin Concerto No. 5', the song 'Chi sa, chi sa, qual sia', Piano Concerto No. 23, the aria 'Per questa bella mano', Papageno's Aria from the Magic Flute, the duet 'Papageno-Papagena' from The Magic Flute, and Symphony No. 40.

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 perform Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36. The composer wrote the symphony between 1877 and 1878, and dedicated it to Nadezhda von Meck – an exceptionally wealthy widow and great admirer of Tchaikovsky’s music, whom the composer described as ‘my best friend’. Tchaikovsky explained in his letters that the symphony is characterization of the nature of fate. The work opens with a powerful motif in the horns and bassoons representing fate. The second movement expresses melancholy, whereas the third presents ‘fleeting images that pass through the imagination when one has begun to drink a little wine’. Although the ‘fate’ motif reappears toward the end of the final movement, the movement has a festive character. This performance was recorded at La Cité de la musique in Paris in 2016.

Every year, the Europakonzert is hosted by the Berliner Philharmoniker in a notorious concert hall or on a special location. This years concert is performed at the magnificent Royal Albert Hall in London. The Dutch conductor Bernard Haitink closes with Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring which he wrote in 1913 for Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. The première caused a lot of sensation and near-riot in the audience because of the avant-garde nature, music and choreography of the piece. The Rite of Spring is now considered as one of the masterpieces of classical music history and has influenced many 20th-century music composers. The encore is Tchaikovsky's Flower Waltz from the Nutcracker.

The film Jaroussky sings Bach & Telemann is a portrait of a very special vocalist, and of two exceptional composers. When Philippe Jaroussky - whose angelic voice seems almost timeless, not belonging to any one epoque or decade - sings works by Telemann and Bach, it becomes abundantly clear that the sheer emotional force and the purifying power of their music have not diminished over the centuries. The works performed in this film are Telemann's Jesus liegt in letzten Zügen and Sinfonia from Brockes-Passion; Der am Ölberg zagende Jesus, and Bach's Sinfonia from Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis and Ich habe genug.

After more than thirty years at the top Ensemble Daedalus is saying goodbye to the concert stage. That demands a fitting farewell. Roberto Festa sought and found music that mirrors his journey over three decades. With Italian carnival songs and morescas by Renaissance composers such as Barbetta, Banchieri, and Falconieri, this farewell will be above all a party, with – true to tradition – first-rate performers, such as his traveling companion Marco Beasley.

This concert is the result of the collaboration between the “Giuseppe Nicolini,” Conservatory of Piacenza, and the “Giuseppe Verdi,” Conservatory of Milan, as part of the project "MIlanoPIACEnza ... suonare insieme”. On the program are works by the Dutch conductor and composer Johan de Meij. His Symphony No. 1 for woodwind and brass orchestra is titled “Lord of the Rings” and is based on the famous trilogy by writer J. R. R Tolkien. The work exists of five movements, inspired by characters and passages from the story: Gandalf, Lothlórien, Gollum, Journey in the Dark and Hobbits. The symphony premiered in Brussels in 1988. In 2001, a symphonic version was recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra. This concert is recorded at the Sala dei Teatini of the Teatri di Piacenza in 2018. Directed by Pietro Tagliaferri.

In September 2016, we celebrated the birthday of one of Japan's best-known conductors: Seiji Ozawa. Renowned for his advocacy of modern composers, Ozawa founded the Saito Kinen Festival Matsumoto in 1992. As of 2015, it is better known as the Seiji Ozawa Festival. Seiji Ozawa appeared on stage himself with 63 Saito Kinen Orchestra members, passionately conducting Beethoven's Symphony No. 2 and No. 7. Beethoven's Second Symphony was mostly written during the composer's stay at Heiligenstadt, at a time when his deafness was becoming more pronounced. The work premiered in the Theater an der Wien in Vienna on April 5, 1803. The Seventh Symphony premiered with Beethoven himself conducting in Vienna in 1813 at a charity concert for wounded soldiers. The Allegretto was the most popular movement and had to be encored.

Italian pianist Roberto Prosseda (1975) performs Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 5, KV. 283. Prosseda is particularly noted for his performances of newly discovered works by Mendelssohn and has recorded a nine-CD series for Decca of the piano works of Mendelssohn. Since 2012, Prosseda also gives lecture-concerts with the robot pianist TeoTronico, as educational or family concerts, to demonstrate differences between a literal production of music and human interpretation.

Iván Fischer conducts the Budapest Festival Orchestra in a concert recorded at the Béla Bartók National Concert Hall in Budapest, Hungary in 2015. The concert opens with Sergei Prokofiev's Overture on Hebrew Themes, Op. 34. After this, Thomas Zehetmair stars as solo violinist in Prokofiev Violin Concerto No. 2, Op. 63. The second part of the concert is features music by Igor Stravinsky. On the program is music composed for the ballet 'Jeu de cartes' (1937) and the Firebird Suite, No. 2 (1919). 'Jeu de cartes' is one of Stravinsky's neo-classical works and consists of three parts ('deals'). The Firebird Suite, No. 2 is based on the music from the ballet of the same name, which was written for Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes and premiered in Paris in 1910.

Christa Ludwig offers a last performance before taking her leave of the opera and concert stage. In a final Lieder recital from the Wiener Musikverein, honouring the city that has seen her greatest triumphs and that has been her spiritual home, Ms. Ludwig performs a select repertoire of Beethoven, Schubert, Mahler and Wolf. She had given her first recital at this historic venue in 1965, only six years after her debut at the Metropolitan Opera. Now, before a huge audience of understandably adoring classical music lovers, she returns to the stage of numerous solo triumphs with a carefully chosen program of Lieder. Ludwig is accompanied by pianist Charles Spencer. The concert takes place at the Wiener Musikverein in 1994.

Countertenor Nils Wanderer (Germany, 1993) performs ‘Cara sposa’ from George Frideric Handel’s opera Rinaldo; ‘Es ist vollbracht’ from J. S. Bach’s St John Passion, BWV 245; and ‘Cold Song’ from Henry Purcell’s opera King Arthur, during the semi-finals of the Aria division of the Concours musical international de Montréal 2022 (CMIM). He is accompanied by the Montreal Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Jacques Lacombe. This performance was recorded at the Montreal Symphony House.

Violinist Kristof Barati and Pianist Lucas Debargue pair for the first time in a duo concert at the 25th anniversary edition of the Swiss Verbier Festival in 2018. Although this was their inaugural collaboration, the two young artists found a perfect understanding around this romantic programme. The two featured works were written very few years apart from one another (Brahms’ first sonata for violin and piano in 1879 and Franck’s sonata in A in 1886). The Brahms sonata was recorded by Kristof Barati a few years ago, while Franck’s is known to be a favourite of Lucas Debargue. The virtuoso piano part suits his gigantic hands and the fantasy of the third movement his love for improvisation. The cyclic form and the many echoes between the piano and violin parts unite the two artists, like accomplices in possession of the best assets to bring in all the emotion these romantic works have to offer. The listener is suddenly in a position to re-discover the scores and cannot but join the admiration marks that escape from the audience in between the movements. A very moving performance which deserves its benchmark status.

For the 2016 edition of the Waldbühne, the Georgian violinist Lisa Batiashvili and the Québécois conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin join the Berliner Philharmoniker for a beautiful concert. They present an all Czech program! We always think of Germany, Austria, and Italy when we name great classical composers, but the Czech Republic also delivered some master composers such as Antonin Dvorák, Bedrich Smetana, Leos Janacek, and Bohuslav Martinu. This concert starts with Smetana’s famous Vltava from Má Vlast. Lisa Batiashvili plays Dvorák’s Violin Concerto in A minor, and the concerts centerpiece is Dvorák’s Symphony No. 6.

"What a Wonderful Town" was the motto of the traditional New Year's Eve Concert at the Berlin Philharmonie. The Berliner Philharmoniker, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle along with some of the most sought-after singers in this field including Thomas Hampson, Kim Criswell, Simone Sauphanor and Karl Daymond perform Leonard Bernstein's 'Wonderful Town'. 'Wonderful Town' was the second of Bernstein's trio of 'New York' musicals begun in 1944 with 'On The Town' and completed with 1957's 'West Side Story' and is a love letter to New York in the '30's. Bernstein's score combines witty pastiches of various popular musical styles of the 30s - Conga!, Swing! - and some of his most winning ballads. The program also includes George Gershwin’s songs ‘My Man’s Gone Now’, ‘Ask Me Again’ and ‘Fascinatin’ Rhythm’.

Sir Simon Rattle conducts the Berliner Philharmonic during the 2008 edition of the Europakonzert, held in the renowned hall of the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow. The first edition of the Europakonzert was in 1991, and since then, the founding of the Berlin Philharmonic on May 1st in 1882 is annually celebrated with a concert in a European city of cultural significance. The orchestra opens with an outstanding performance of Stravinsky’s Symphony in Three Movements.

French lutenist Thomas Dunford performs various works for lute by J. S. Bach in this intimate chamber music concert, recorded at Concertgebouw Brugge, Belgium, in 2017. On the program are Suite for lute in G minor, BWV 995; Suite for solo cello in G major (arr. for lute), BWV 1007; and Chaconne from Partita for solo violin in D minor (arr. lute), BWV 1004. Paris-born lutenist Thomas Dunford (*1988) discovered the lute at the age of nine. He studied at the Conservatory of Paris and the Schola Cantorum in Basel, and participated in masterclasses with lutenists such as Rolf Lislevand and Julian Bream. He has made various solo and ensemble appearances at Europe’s most prestigious festivals.

Musical critics from North America, Europe, and Russia praise Nalchik-born pianist Misha Fomin for his subtlety of touch and phrasing. He graduated cum laude from the Gnessin’s Russian Academy of Music, Moscow, where he studied with Lina Bulatova, a former student of professor Helen Gnessina and legendary Heinrich Neuhaus, and later continued his musical studies at the Hochschule für Musik “Franz Liszt” in Weimar. Today, he enjoys the praise from audiences around the world for outstanding performances and is known to teach piano to young musicians through frequent masterclasses and educational events. For this 2018 concert, Fomin returned to Amsterdam´s Concertgebouw to interpret Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 8, Op. 13 Pathétique and Piano Sonata No. 14, Op. 27, Nr. 2 Moonlight, as well as Tchaikovsky's The Four Seasons, Op. 37b.

Azerbaijan-born artist Seljan Nasibli moved to England at an early age, where she was encouraged to take up music. Although Nasibli chose to sing jazz, her Oxford teachers heard an operatic tendency in her voice and advised to train classically. Nasibli completed her studies at The Royal College of Music, where she graduated with a master's degree in Vocal Performance. In this episode of Stingray Originals, Nasibli performs three of Giacomo Puccini's most beautiful arias: 'Signore, ascolta!' and 'Tu, che di gel sei cinta' from the opera Turandot, and 'Quando m'en vo' (Musetta's Waltz) from the opera La bohème.

Fidelio (originally titled "Leonore, oder Der Triumph der ehelichen Liebe," which translates to "Leonore, or the Triumph of Marital Love"), Op. 72, is Ludwig van Beethoven's only opera. This 2018 opera film from the Swiss Theater St. Gallen is based on Jan Schmidt-Garre's highly acclaimed stage production of Beethoven's Fidelio. Otto Tausk conducts the Sinfonieorchester and choir of St. Gallen, as well as many wonderful soloists in a beautifully designed set by Nikolaus Webern. The producers carefully filmed and edited several performances, and by using additional footage of starring soloist Jacquelyn Wagner as Leonore, the captivating stage production is enhanced and transformed into a unique cinematic experience.

The Berliner Philharmoniker is one of the world’s finest orchestras, its fame stretching all the way to Japan. Unsurprisingly, this 2000 concert, recorded at Tokyo’s magnificent Suntory Hall, was a resounding success. Mariss Jansons conducts a beautiful program that includes Antonin Dvorák’s Symphony No. 8, Carl Maria von Weber’s Overture to Oberon, and Dmitri Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto featuring star violinist Hilary Hahn (*1979)

Roberto Prosseda (1975) performs Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 5 (KV. 283) and four Impromptus Op. 90 by Franz Schubert. The performance ends with Chopin's technically demanding Ballade No. 4, Op. 52. Prosseda is particularly noted for his performances of newly discovered works by Mendelssohn and has recorded a nine-CD series for Decca of the piano works of Mendelssohn. Since 2012, Prosseda also gives lecture-concerts with the robot pianist TeoTronico, as educational or family concerts, to demonstrate differences between a literal production of music and human interpretation.

Long before upcycling became a trend, there was Josquin Desprez. To this day his inventiveness in processing existing musical material remains unparalleled. The Catalan bass-baritone Josep Cabré and his Companyia Musical focus on a fine example of what Josquin was capable of: the Missa Fortuna desperata, in which the three voices of an Italian song are deployed both separately and combined – a technical tour de force that also happens to sound splendid.

At the age of seven, Argentine pianist Martha Argerich made her debut with Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in C major, Op. 15, a piece that would accompany her throughout her career. The celebrated pianist performs this signature piece at the Lucerne Festival with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra under the baton of Swedish conductor Herbert Blomstedt, who makes his festival debut with the orchestra. Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 36, is also on the program. This performance was recorded at the Lucerne Culture and Congress Center (KKL), Switzerland, in August 2020.

Fabio Luisi conducts the Danish National Symphony Orchestra in this powerful performance taken from the 150th Anniversary celebrations of Denmark’s national composer, Carl Nielsen. Alongside Nielsen’s inscrutably ironic Symphony No. 6, this performance features world-renowned French pianist Lise de la Salle as soloist in Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 4. This lesser-known concerto saw three separate iterations throughout the composer’s life and is characterized by bold chromaticism and a distinctly Jazz-like quality. Luisi and de la Salle have prior experience with this piece, having previously performed and recorded it together. This performance was recorded at the DR Koncerthuset in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 2017.

This Sonata for Violin and Harpsichord No. 1 BWV 1014 is the first of the set of sonatas Johann Sebastian Bach composed before 1725, probably during his time as chapel master in Köthen. Presumably, he wrote these sonatas for Prince Leopold and later adapted them for further use in Leipzig. Maybe this is why these pieces are well playable for amateurs, while every sonata still has the finesse that can offer a challenge to professional musicians. The different pieces are meant to be a set, just like the Brandenburg concertos.

Sir Simon Rattle conducts the Berlin Philharmonic in the 2016 edition of the Europakonzert. This time, it takes place at the beautiful Baroque church of Røros, a Norwegian mining town whose intact picturesque old town makes it a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The talented Norwegian violinist Vilde Frang is the star soloist in Mendelssohn’s songful Violin Concerto, Op. 64, which she plays with warmth, elegance and effortless virtuosity.

This exclusive live concert production presents a unique selection of movie classics - from Sergio Leone’s iconic Spaghetti Westerns to modern mafia masterpieces by Francis Ford Coppola and the cult movies of Tarantino. The Danish National Symphony Orchestra and Concert Choir are conducted by Sarah Hicks in this premiere performance of authentic soundtracks by composer legends Ennio Morricone, Nino Rota, Sonny Bono, and Bernard Herrmann. Soloists for this performance are Tuva Semmingsen (mezzo), Christine Nonbo Andersen (soprano), Hans Ulrik (saxophone) and Mads Kjølby (guitars). Recorded at the DR Koncerthuset in Copenhagen, Denmark in 2018.

This performance was recorded during Mozart Week on January 27, 2006 in Salzburg, Austria, at the Großes Festspielhaus (Large Festival House) in celebration of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's 250th birthday. Under conductor Riccardo Muti, it features Thomas Hampson (baritone), Mitsuko Uchida (piano), Gidon Kremer (violin), Yuri Bashmet (viola), Wiener Singverein, and Wiener Philharmoniker. Pieces include Piano Concerto No. 25 in C major, Sinfonia concertante in E-flat major, K. 364, arias and scenes from Così fan tutte, Le nozze di Figaro, The Magic Flute and Symphony No. 35 in D major, K. 385 ("Haffner").

In May 2019, the new principal conductor of the Gewandhaus, Andris Nelsons, presented Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 with his orchestra in combination with Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No. 1 with outstanding violinist Baiba Skride as the soloist. In this composition, the violin does not allow itself a break, continually tells its dark story and gets into a vicious circle of ostinato Passacaglia bass lines again and again falls into beguilingly beautiful singing. Tchaikovsky initially thought his 'Symphony of Fate' was a failure and believed himself to be at the end of his creative powers. It was probably the composer's nature, plagued by self-doubt, that made it almost impossible for him to develop a self-confident attitude to his own creative power. Between this two works, Skride performs Stravinsky's Elegy for Solo Violin.

The film Jaroussky sings Bach & Telemann is a portrait of a very special vocalist, and of two exceptional composers. When Philippe Jaroussky - whose angelic voice seems almost timeless, not belonging to any one epoque or decade - sings works by Telemann and Bach, it becomes abundantly clear that the sheer emotional force and the purifying power of their music have not diminished over the centuries. The works performed in this film are Telemann's Jesus liegt in letzten Zügen and Sinfonia from Brockes-Passion; Der am Ölberg zagende Jesus, and Bach's Sinfonia from Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis and Ich habe genug.

The Lucerne Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Neeme Järvi presents the world premiere of Rodion Shchedrin's Double concerto for cello, piano and orchestra. Soloists are Martha Argerich (piano) and Mischa Maisky (cello). The concert program features Antonín Dvořák's Scherzo capriccioso Des-Dur Op. 66, B 131, Shchedrin's aforementioned Double concerto "Romantic Offering", César Franck's Sonata for piano and cello in A, and Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 9, Op. 70. This première performance was recorded at the Culture and Congress Centre of Lucerne, KKL, on February 9, 2011. The Lucerne Symphony Orchestra is orchestra-in-residence at KKL Luzern. The Lucerne Symphony Orchestra is Switzerland’s oldest symphony orchestra and has won an international standing that extends far beyond its home base.

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.

Soprano Sarah Dufresne (Canada, 1994) performs ‘Eccomi in lieta vesta … Oh! Quante volte’ from Vincenzo Bellini’s opera I Capuleti e i Montecchi; ‘Exsultate jubilate – Allegro’ from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s motet Exsultate, jubilate (Exult, rejoice), K. 165; and ‘Pâle et blonde’ from Ambroise Thomas’s opera Hamlet, during the semi-finals of the Aria division of the Concours musical international de Montréal 2022 (CMIM). She is accompanied by the Montreal Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Jacques Lacombe. This performance was recorded at the Montreal Symphony House.

Pianist Mikhail Pletnev is accompanied by the Russian National Orchestra led by Kirill Karabits in a performance of Camille Saint-Saëns's Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 22. At its premiere in 1868, the orchestra was led by Anton Rubinstein, with the composer himself at the piano. The current concert was recorded at the Moscow Philharmonic Society and opens with a performance of Sergei Prokofiev's symphonic picture 'Dreams'. The concert was part of the Ninth Russian National Orchestra Grand Festival from 2017.

The ensemble YES Camerata (Young European String Camerata) and violinist William Hagen perform The Red Priest and the Tanguero at the Academiezaal in the Belgian city of Sint-Truiden in 2017. The concert program includes The Four Seasons of Antonio Vivaldi (1679-1741) and Las quatros estaciones porteñas of Astór Piazzolla (1921-1992), in a transcription of Leonid Desyatnikov. YES Camerata is a young dynamic string ensemble that performs without a conductor. The young American violinist William Hagen was the third winner of the prestigious Queen Elisabeth competition in 2015.

Italian pianist Andrea Molteni (1998) performs Alban Berg’s Piano Sonata in B minor, Op. 1. Molteni began studying the piano at the age of six. He graduated with honors and honorable mention at the Conservatorio di musica Giuseppe Verdi di Como, and was awarded a master’s degree Magna cum Laude in Advanced Performance Studies by the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana in Lugano. He has appeared at the Wiener Saal of the Mozarteum University in Salzburg, Scriabin Museum in Moscow, National Opera Center in New York, and several other international venues. This performance was recorded at the Verbrugghen Hall of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Australia, in 2023.

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.

At the gala concert of 2009, the Berlin Philharmonic under its musical director Sir Simon Rattle and Lang Lang present works by two Russian composers. The concert starts with a performance of Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18, one of the composer’s most enduring popular pieces, which demands a virtuoso pianist and a huge supple orchestral sound. Both it gets from the world-famous Berlin Philharmonic and the gifted Chinese piano star Lang Lang. The orchestra continues with ballet music from Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker, perhaps the most popular of all ballets. The concert concludes a few following encores: Tchaikovsky ‘Waltz of the Snowflakes’ from The Nutcracker and Chopin’s Etude No. 1, Op. 25.

Conductor Herbert Blomstedt and the Gewandhausorchester take us on a musical journey to the Czech Republic in this 2020 concert from Leipzig’s Gewandhaus. The program opens with Bohemian composer Jan Václav Hugo Voríšek’s Symphony in D major, Op. 23 (1821). Although the composition – Voríšek’s only symphony – was never performed during the composer’s lifetime, it has become one of his most-performed works today. Also on the program is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Symphony No. 38 in D major, K. 504. This work, which premiered while Mozart was visiting Prague in 1787, is often referred to as the ‘Prague Symphony’.

Sir Simon Rattle conducts the Berliner Philharmonic during the 2008 edition of the Europakonzert, held in the renowned hall of the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow. The first edition of the Europakonzert was in 1991, and since then, the founding of the Berlin Philharmonic on May 1st in 1882 is annually celebrated with a concert in a European city of cultural significance. The orchestra opens with an outstanding performance of Stravinsky’s Symphony in Three Movements. Furthermore, Vadim Repin, one of today’s most fascinating artists, features as soloist in Bruch’s Concerto for Violin No. 1, Op, 26. The orchestra concludes with a performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7, of which the second movement, Allegretto, gained instant popularity after its premiere in 1813 and remains a crowd favorite.

Franz Liszt (1811 - 1886) composed 13 symphonic poems, largely inspired by literary texts. The composer himself wrote piano duet arrangements for these pieces, showcasing his incredible ability of imitating a full orchestra on the piano. Liszt, one of the 19th century’s most important piano virtuosos, strongly influenced the further development of piano music. The Romantic period was the era of the virtuoso pianists: the piano was the instrument of choice for countless musicians and listeners alike. No house of standing could do without a piano: it was a status symbol. Piano music was played in concert halls, palaces, salons, churches and public houses alike. Liszt’s symphonic poem no. 4, ‘Orpheus’, breathes a meditative atmosphere. No. 3, ‘Les Préludes’, is best known in its symphonic version – the piano version presented here is rarely heard. The work dates back to the period 1848 – 1854 and was initially meant to serve as introduction to a choral cycle to be based on the texts of the poet Joseph Autran, ‘Les quatre éléments’: earth, air, water and fire. In this broadcast, the Italian piano duo of Marco Sollini and Salvatore Barbatano performs these Liszt piano works. These recordings were made at the beautiful 12th century church of San Marco in the small but picturesque village of Ponzano di Fermo, as part of the 2015 edition of the annual, itinerant festival ‘Armonie della sera’ in the Italian province of Le Marche.