Schedule

Iphigénie en Tauride (1779) is a four-act tragic opera by German-born composer Christoph Willibald Gluck. Written for the French stage, the work’s premiere in 1779 at the Parisian Royal Academy of Music was a great success. Iphigénie en Tauride is one of the composer’s ‘reform operas’, meaning that the music was to follow the drama and its expression. Nicolas-François Guillard’s libretto is based on Claude Guimond de La Touche’s play of the same name, but ultimately it derives from Euripides’s famous ancient Greek drama. Set shortly after the Trojan War, Iphigénie, who was to be sacrificed by her father Agamemnon, is saved and carried off by the goddess Diana to Tauris, where Iphigénie becomes Diana’s high priestess. Diego Fasolis conducts the Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire and the Chœur d’Angers Nantes Opéra in this production. Among the soloists are Marie-Adeline Henry (Iphigénie), Charles Rice (Oreste), Sébastien Droy (Pylade), Jean-Luc Ballestra (Thoas), and Élodie Hache (Diane). This performance was recorded at the Grand Théâtre d’Angers, France, in 2020.

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)

This concert is the result of the collaboration between the Giuseppe Nicolini Conservatory of Piacenza and the Giuseppe Verdi of Milan as part of the project "MIlanoPIACEnza ... suonare insieme.” On the program are works by the Dutch conductor and composer Johan de Meij. “Echoes of San Marco” is a tribute to the Venetian Renaissance composer Giovanni Gabrieli (1555-1612). Echoes of San Marco opens with a quote from Gabrieli’s “Canzon Septimi Toni” from the “Sacre Sinfoniae”, and is just like the original work composed for two choirs of brass instruments. “Fellini” is composed for solo saxophone and orchestra and is a tribute to Italian film director Federico Fellini (1920-1993). De Meij composed the work for saxophone player Hans de Jong, who during this concert is dressed as a melancholic clown to intensify the dreamy and imaginary worlds present in Fellini’s films. This concert is recorded at the Sala dei Teatini of the Teatri di Piacenza in 2018. Directed by Pietro Tagliaferri.

At St. Bartholomew Church in Dornheim, Germany, where composer Johann Sebastian Bach married his first wife Maria Barbara, renowned Dutch cellist Anner Bijlsma performs the composer's Cello Suite No. 1 in G major, BWV 1007. It is likely Bach wrote his collection of six Suites for unaccompanied cello during the years 1717-1723. His cello suites are an essential part of the cello repertoire, highlighting the instrument's manifold polyphonic possibilities. As customary in a Baroque suite, each movement is based on a dance type. Bach's Suite No. 1 opens with a prelude, and is followed by six dance movements, divided over five sections: an allemande, a courante, a sarabande, two minuets, and a final gigue.

Celebrated German violinist Isabelle Faust performs J. S. Bach’s Sonata No. 3 in C major (BWV 1005). The work is part of the composer’s well-known Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin (BWV 1001-1006). Sonata No. 3 includes an extensive fugue in which Bach employs many contrapuntal techniques. In this wonderful performance, Faust shows her mastery of Bach’s technically challenging piece. This performance was recorded at St. Thomas Church in Leipzig, Germany, in 2020.

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.

Christian Zacharias (piano), Frank Peter Zimmermann (violin), Tabea Zimmerman (viola) and Tilmann Wick (Cello) perform Mozart’s Piano Quartet No. 1 (K.478) at the Ludwigsburg Festival in 1988. Mozart received a commission for three quartets in 1785 from publisher Franz Anton Hoffmeister. Hoffmeister thought the first quartet (K. 478) was too difficult and the public would not like it. He released Mozart from the obligation of completing the three quartets. However, nine months later, Mozart composed this second quartet anyway.

In May and June 2021, Argentinian star pianist Martha Argerich celebrated her 80th birthday performing at Château de Chantilly, France. In this concert, recorded at the festival Les Coups de Cœur de Chantilly, Argerich is joined by three musicians who are particularly close to her heart: cellist Mischa Maisky, violinist Maxim Vengerov, and pianist Iddo Bar-Shaï. They perform with the orchestra Les Siècles under the baton of Romanian-Austrian conductor Ion Marin. The concert opens with Ludwig van Beethoven’s Triple Concerto in C major, Op. 56, with Argerich, Vengerov, and Maisky as soloists. Written in 1803, it is Beethoven’s only concerto for more than one solo instrument. This is followed by Camille Saint-Saëns’s musical suite The Carnival of the Animals (Le carnaval des animaux), featuring Argerich and Bar-Shaï as the pianists. This musical suite from 1886 consists of 14 movements, each depicting a different animal. The work was published posthumously in 1922, as Saint-Saëns was concerned that his animal miniatures, full of delightful jokes, might damage his reputation as a serious composer. This performance was recorded at Château de Chantilly, on May 4, 2021.

Conductor Eduard Topchjan leads the Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra in a performance of Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique, Op. 14. Berlioz wrote the piece of program music in 1830 while still a conservatory student. Inspired on the composer’s unrequited love for Irish actress Harriet Smithson, the five-movement piece portrays the dreams of a young artist who has taken an overdose of opium in the aftermath of a failed love affair. Berlioz used one melody in each movement of the work representing the artist’s beloved, an ‘idée fixe’ (a fixed idea or obsession). The work is scored for a large orchestra and features an astonishing array of instrumental colors, including church bells, an off-stage oboe, and strings playing col legno (using the wood of their bow). This performance was recorded at the Aram Khachaturian Concert Hall in Yerevan, Armenia, in 2021.

Pianist Arisa Onoda (Japan, 1996) performs Ferruccio Busoni’s transcription of J. S. Bach’s ‘Chaconne’ from Partita No. 2 for violin, BWV 1004; Frédéric Chopin’s Barcarolle in F-sharp, Op. 60; and ‘Noctuelles’ and ‘Alborada del gracioso’ from Maurice Ravel’s Miroirs, 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.

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, Philipp Scheucher (Austria, 1993) performs Ludwig van Beethoven’s Fantasia Op. 77; Menuetto: ‘Moderato e grazioso’ from Beethoven’s Sonata No. 18 in E-flat major, Op. 31 No. 3; and Franz Liszt’s transcription of the first movement, ‘Allegro con brio’, from Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in C minor. This performance was recorded at Nuovo Teatro Ariberto in Milan, in May 2021.

Maestro Myung-Whun Chung leads the Orchestra and Chorus of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, along with two vocal soloists, in this impressive performance of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 in C minor, ‘Resurrection’. Soprano Christiane Karg and alto Claudia Huckle are the soloists. Written between 1888 and 1894, this five-movement symphony is scored for a large orchestra, chorus, and soprano and alto soloists. Mahler explores themes of life, death, and resurrection throughout the symphony. Its first movement resembles a funeral march, while the second, a graceful Ländler, creates a stark contrast with the somber character of the first. The third movement is a Scherzo based on Mahler’s musical setting of ‘Des Antonius von Padua Fischpredigt’ from the collection Des Knaben Wunderhorn. The composer also used another Wunderhorn poem, ‘Urlicht’ (Primal Light), for the fourth movement, incorporating both text and music, sung by the alto. The chorus makes its entrance in the second part of the fifth and final movement with the ‘Resurrection’ chorale. This performance was recorded at Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence, Italy, in 2021.

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.

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.

J. S. Bach’s six Brandenburg Concerto’s belong to his best-known works. The composer wrote these concertos between 1711 and 1720 and dedicated them in 1721 to Christian Ludwig, Margrave of Brandenburg. In celebration of the pieces’ 300th anniversary, Czech harpsichordist and conductor Václav Luks and the renowned Baroque ensemble Collegium 1704 recorded all six Brandenburg Concertos on historical instruments in 2021. The concertos are based on the Italian concerto grosso form, in which a group of solo instruments is set against a large ensemble. Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos feature remarkable combinations of solo instruments and virtuoso solos. In this performance at the Hall of Mirrors in the Köthen Castle, Germany, Luks and his Collegium 1704 present Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F major, BWV 1047. This piece features trumpet, violin, recorder, and oboe solos. Especially outstanding are the high, virtuoso trumpet parts.

Every year since 1991, the Berliner Philharmoniker has given concerts in a different European city on each May 1st. These concerts have become known as ‘Europakonzert’. Every guest city has its own special cultural importance. These concerts have served two purposes: to commemorate the anniversary of the orchestra’s founding on May 1st, 1882, and to celebrate the common heritage of the Old World. In 1991, soon after the opening of the Eastern European countries, the first Europakonzert took place in the Czech Republic in Prague. This decision was a deliberate step and an expression of willingness to support and to bring forward the democratization and the political social changes, especially in the cultural area. In 1996 the Europakonzert took place once again in Prague (at the National Theatre). To continue this tradition the Europakonzert 2013 was celebrated at the Prague Castle at the historical Spanish Hall. Conductor: Sir Simon Rattle. Soloist: Magdalena Kozená. Works: Ralph Vaughan Williams, Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, Antonín Dvořák, Ten Biblical Songs, Opus 99. Ludwig van Beethoven, Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op. 68.

The Royal Ballet Flanders performs a beautiful program with ballets by choreographers Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Jeroen Verbruggen. The Symphonic Orchestra of the Opera Vlaanderen is conducted by Yannis Pouspourikas. Ravel remains a source of inspiration for many choreographers. Cherkaoui and rising talent Verbruggen take their vision of Ravel's music to the stage with the Ballet Flanders. Verbruggen draws his inspiration from Ravel's ”Pavane pour une infante défunte” and from ”Ma mère l'Oye.” Cherkaoui also translates Ravel into dance, opting for the colorful ”Pictures at an Exhibition” composed by Mussorgsky, which was orchestrated by Ravel to become the most widely performed orchestration of this work. Among the star dancers are Nancy Osbaldeston, Alexander Burton, and Drew Jacoby. Recorded in the Opera Antwerp in 2016 and directed by Andreas Morell.

Andris Nelsons, together with his then-wife, the great soprano Kristine Opolais and the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig present a program dedicated to Antonin Dvořák, singing the melodies that the composer hid in all layers of his music with tender, warm, soft colors. Nelsons’ tempos remain calm and relaxed, allowing the omnipresent beauty of Dvořák’s music to unfold and flood the Gewandhaus. The program opens with Othello, a Concert Overture for Orchestra, Op. 93. Opolais performs “Song to the Moon” from Rusalka, “Songs my Mother Taught Me” from Gypsy Songs, Op. 55/4. This is followed by the Polonaise and 'O, marno, marno to je' from Rusalka and 'Dobrá! Já mu je dám!... Jak je mi?' from Smetana's opera Dalibor. The concert closes with a performance of Dvořák's Symphony no. 9 in E Minor, Op. 95 (“From the New World”). Recorded at the Gewandhaus, Leipzig in May 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.

The Zurich Opera House is one of the most renowned in Europe. Fifteen premieres are staged here every year - a significant achievement, when one considers just how much work goes into each individual production. In this exciting documentary, we go behind-the-scenes at the Zurich Opera House and follow the intensive progress of the new production of Gioachino Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia with Vesselina Kasarova in the role of Rosina. The film also shows preparations for other productions, such as a workshop for Richard Wagner's Siegfried directed by Robert Wilson, and a rehearsal for Igor Stravinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps with choreography by Heinz Spoerli. This film opens the curtain to understanding an opera house’s many exciting facets.