Schedule

‘Iolanta’ and ‘Perséphone’ – A double bill consisting of two stage works that “represent an ideal of beauty, poetry and hope” forms this new production by Peter Sellars in Madrid from the Teatro Real from 2012. In both works, the progression from darkness to light acts as an initiation rite that completely transforms the existential attitude of the leading characters. This broadcast features ‘Iolanta’, a mature composition by Tchaikovsky, which was premiered in 1892. It contains all aspects of the composer’s mastery: beautiful melodies, clear structure, and genuine passion in its many varieties. The Chorus and Orchestra of the Teatro Real are conducted by Teodor Currentzis. The soloists in this production are Ekaterina Scherbachenko (Iolanta), Alexej Markov (Robert), Pavel Cernoch (Vaudémont), Dmitry Ulianov (King René), Willard White (Ibn-Hakia), Vasily Efimov (Alméric), Pavel Kudinov (Bertrand), Ekaterina Semenchuk (Marta), Irina Churilova (Brigita) and Letitia Singleton (Irina Churilova).

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.

American conductor Leonard Slatkin leads the Orchestre National de Lyon in a concert recorded at the Auditorium de Lyon in 2014. The concert opens with William Bolcom´s Circus Ouverture, which was specially composed for Slatkin's 70th birthday. The concert continues with a performance of Beethoven's Triple Concerto in C, Op. 56 performed by three female soloists: Olga Kern (piano), Baibe Skride (violin) and Sol Gabetta (cello). The work is the only concerto which Beethoven ever completed for more than one solo instrument. The concert closes with Ravel's beloved orchestration of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition.

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’ string quartet – consisting of David Grimal (violin), Hans Peter Hofmann (violin), David Gaillard (viola), and Xavier Phillips (cello) – performs Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s String Quartet No. 19 in C major, K. 465, ‘Dissonance’ (Op. 10 No. 6). The String Quartet is the last in the set of six quartets that were dedicated to Joseph Haydn. Written between 1782 and 1785, these are also known as the Haydn Quartets (Op. 10). String Quartet No. 19 is remarkable for its slow, dissonant introduction, giving the piece its nickname. This ominous passage suddenly gives way to the bright Allegro in C major. This performance was recorded at Opéra Comique in Paris, France, in 2015.

Europakonzert has been a tradition of the Berlin Philharmonic since 1991. Every year, the musicians commemorate the anniversary of the orchestra's founding (May 1st, 1882) and celebrate their heritage from the Old World. The Europakonzert of 1992 from El Escorial in Madrid was conducted by Daniel Barenboim and features the world-renowned tenor Plácido Domingo. The program consists of Giuseppe Verdi's Overture La Forza del Destino and Verdi's Lo l'ho perduta! from Don Carlos. Followed by excerpts from Hector Berlioz' La damnation de Faust and Franz Schubert's unfinished Symphony No. 7., the concert also features music by Richard Wagner: Winterstürme wichen dem Wonnemond from Die Walküre, Prelude to Act I from Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, and orchestral excerpts from Götterdämmerung.

Soprano Harriet Burns (United Kingdom, 1989) and pianist Ian Tindale (United Kingdom, 1990) perform Franz Schubert’s Verklärung, D. 59; Clara Schumann’s Er ist gekommen in Sturm und Regen, Op. 12, No. 2; ‘L’heure exquise’ from Reynaldo Hahn’s Chansons grises, and ‘Le printemps’ from Hahn’s Douze rondels; ‘Herzeleid’ from Robert Schumann’s Sechs Gesänge, Op. 107; ‘Le corbeau et le renard’ from André Caplet’s Trois fables; Alphons Diepenbrock’s Die Liebende schreibt, RC 20; ‘Seranilla de la zarzuela’ from Judith Weir’s A Spanish liederbooklet; Muriel Herbert’s Renouncement; and ‘Waldmädchen’ from Hugo Wolf’s Eichendorff-Lieder, during the final round of the International Vocal Competition 2019 – Lied Duo. This performance was recorded at Theater aan de Parade in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands.

Pianist Gabriele Strata (Italy, 1999) joins the CMIM ensemble, consisting of three principal strings players of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, in a performance of the first movement, Sostenuto assai – Allegro ma non troppo, of Robert Schumann’s Piano Quartet in E-flat major, Op. 47. This performance took place during the chamber music round of the two-part semi-final of the Piano Edition of the Concours musical international de Montréal 2024 (CMIM). It was recorded at the Bourgie Hall of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

The Dutch musicologist, conductor, organ and clavecimbel player Ton Koopman specilizes in the performance of Early Music, in particular the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. Although Koopman performs across the globe with his Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Koopman is also a sought-after organist. In this broadcast in St. Mary's Cathdral in Leipzig, the treasured musician performs organ compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach: 'Wachtet Auf', BWV 645; 'Nun komm der Heiden Heiland', 'Fugue in g minor', 'Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele', and the 'Toccata in d minor'.

Armagh is one of the oldest cities of Ireland and also the place St-Patrick choose to build his first stone church. Nowhere in the world is the connection with Saint-Patrick more meaningful than in this city and the neighbouring counties in which he lived. This program brings the viewers to places most associated with Saint-Patrick and brings highlights of the annual concert, held in the cathedral that bears his name. Join composer and presenter John Anderson as he conducts a celebratory and reflective event honoring Saint-Patrick. A range of choirs unite in a unique evening of music and spoken words in the beautiful cathedral setting. Recorded March 9th, 2019.

The Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (Florence Musical May) is Italy’s oldest opera and arts festival. It was founded in 1933 with the aim of presenting contemporary and forgotten operas. Over the years, the scope widened, and orchestral concerts have long been an integral part of the festival. As part of the festival’s 2021 edition, Sir John Eliot Gardiner leads the Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in a wonderful concert program that includes Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 2 in C minor, Op. 17, ‘Little Russian’, and Edward Elgar’s Variations on an Original Theme, Op. 36, better known as the Enigma Variations. Written in 1872, Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 2 bears the nickname ‘Little Russian’, as the composer used folk tunes in his work from Ukraine, then known as ‘Little Russia’. Completed in 1899, Elgar’s Enigma Variations is an orchestral work comprising a theme and fourteen variations, each variation being a musical sketch of one of the composer’s friends. This performance was recorded at Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence, Italy, in 2021.

Pianist Derek Wang (USA, 1998) performs Francis Poulenc’s Improvisation No. 1 in B minor, Nocturne No. 4 in C minor (Bal fantôme), and Improvisation No. 6 in B-flat major; Barbara Assiginaak’s Mzizaakok Miiniwaa Mzizaakoonsak (Horseflies and Deerflies); and Ludwig van Beethoven’s Sonata No. 29 in B-flat major, Op. 106 (Hammerklavier), during the solo recital of the two-part semi-final 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.

Acclaimed classical music talent scout Antonio Mormone (1930-2017) lives on as the name-giver of the Premio Internazionale Antonio Mormone (PIAM), awarded to the winner of the Italian music competition of the same name. The first edition of this competition, which was held in various venues in Milan from 2019 to 2021, was dedicated to the piano. As part of this competition, Ying Li (China, 1997) performs Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Sonata No. 13 in B-flat major, K. 333, and Béla Bartók’s Sonata, BB 88, Sz.80. This performance was recorded at Nuovo Teatro Ariberto in Milan, in June 2021.

Enjoy a genuine musical marathon as a prelude to the Utrecht Early Music Festival 2018. During three concerts, the Huelgas Ensemble sing an entire alphabet of Burgundian composers, one for every letter. It concerns composers who were employed by the Burgundian court, with a special exception for Josquin, prince of polyphony. The singers perform arm-in-arm with Paul Van Nevel, visiting mass movements, motets and chansons by known and masters-to-be-discovered like Champion, Divitis, Binchois, de Orto, van Weerbeke, and many others. With “anonymous” to “incognito” they bring a double ode to the many nameless polyphonists who nonetheless made breathtaking contributions to the polyphonic repertoire of the 15th century.

On May 1, 1882, fifty members of the former Bilse Kapelle refused to sign their new contracts and formed their own democratically-governed ensemble. Today still, the present-day Berlin Philharmonic continues to elect its new members and principal conductors. Isabel Iturriagagotia and Paul Smaczny accompanied the Berlin Philharmonic after chief conductor Claudio Abbado announced in February 1998 that he would not be renewing his contract after 2002. Maestros in Democracy, the most extensive documentary ever produced about the Berlin Philharmonic, shows the new candidates for Abbado's position in rehearsal with the orchestra, revealing the various working practices of Lorin Maazel, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Bernard Haitink, Daniel Barenboim, Simon Rattle and Zubin Mehta. Later in the film, after several nail-biting rounds of voting, full of expectation and excitement, the orchestra has to come to a decision...

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.

Acclaimed classical music talent scout Antonio Mormone (1930-2017) lives on as the name-giver of the Premio Internazionale Antonio Mormone (PIAM), awarded to the winner of the Italian music competition of the same name. The first edition of this competition, which was held in various venues in Milan from 2019 to 2021, was dedicated to the piano. During the competition’s final round, Ying Li (China, 1997) performs Ludwig van Beethoven’s Sonata No. 28 in A major, Op. 101; Frédéric Chopin’s Fantasia in F minor, Op. 49; and Sergei Prokofiev’s Sonata No. 7 in B-flat major, Op. 83. This performance was recorded at Sala Verdi of the Conservatory of Milan, in July 2021.

The wild and breathtaking scenery of Austria's Roman Quarry of St. Margarethen provides an ideal and unique backdrop for this live and colourful open-air performance of Georges Bizet's opera Carmen (1875). With over 400 participants, this opulent staging of Bizet's famous opera - one of the most popular works in the genre's history - proves a feast for all the senses. Austria's Opera Festival St. Margarethen, one of Europe's most important open-air festivals, is attended by about 220, 000 opera lovers every year. The Brno National Theatre Orchestra & Chorus is led by conductor Ernst Märzendorfer. Soloists are Nadia Krasteva, Russi Nikov and Alexandr Antonenko.

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.