Schedule

A crossover experience inspired by the music of Mozart: the surprising and original Spirits of Mozart. In this crossover concert, outstanding personalities from the fields of pop, jazz and classical music interpret Mozart`s compositions in their personal musical languages for a broad public of the 21st century. These performances show that the impact of Mozart`s music reaches far beyond the boundaries of classical music. Performers like Dee Dee Bridgewater, the young violinist Benjamin Schmid with jazz band and orchestra, Jethro Tull’s singer-flautist Ian Anderson and many others present Mozart arrangements in a rousing, electrifying mélange of classical, jazz and pop culture.

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 Alessandro Marangoni and Italian organist Paolo Oreni perform Marcel Dupré’s Variations on Two Themes for piano and organ, Op. 35. Designed by the organist himself, Oreni plays his ‘Wanderer’ organ in this performance, which is currently the largest existing transportable pipe organ. With its 1200 pipes and 42 stops, it has all the essential timbres needed for the organ repertoire. This performance was recorded at FabbricaPoggi in Pavia, Italy, on April 5, 2024.

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 Violin Concerto No. 5 in A major, K. 219, also known as the ‘Turkish Concerto’. Leading violinist Grimal features as the soloist. With the exception of the first violin concerto, Mozart composed his other four violin concertos in 1775 at a time when he was concertmaster at the Salzburg court. It is the third and final movement that gives Concerto No. 5 its nickname, the ‘Turkish Concerto’. This movement features a striking middle section of ‘Turkish music’, which the composer achieves not only by changing the meter, and the mode to minor, but also by letting the cellos and basses play col legno - creating a percussive sound with the wood of their bow. This performance was recorded at Cité de la Musique, France, in 2014.

Soprano Isabel Weller (Germany, 1994) and pianist Yuriko Watanabe (Japan, 1994) perform Claude Debussy’s Nuit d’étoiles, L. 2, and Mandoline, L. 43; Joseph Haydn’s Piercing eyes, Hob. XXVIa, No. 35; ‘Die Mainacht’ from Johannes Brahms’s Vier Gesänge, Op. 43; ‘Pietà’ from Paul Hindemith’s Das Marienleben, Op. 27; Bart Visman’s Vermeer’s Gold; and ‘Lied vom Winde’ from Hugo Wolf’s Mörike-Lieder, during the semi-finals of the International Vocal Competition 2021 – Lied Duo. This performance was recorded at Het Noordbrabants Museum in ’s-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands.

W. A. Mozart composed his Piano Concerto in D Major, KV. 537 in Vienna in February 1788. This concerto was later nicknamed "Coronation" because Mozart played it in October 1790 when Leopold II was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in Frankfurt am Main. In this broadcast, the Uruguay-born Swiss pianist Homero Francesch is accompanied by the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, under the baton of Gerd Albrecht. Francesch has performed as a soloist with the most renowned orchestras from the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Wiener Philharmoniker, the New York Philharmonic, and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. This program was recorded at the Christian-Zais-Saal in Wiesbaden, Germany.

Maestro Iván Fischer leads the Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in a remarkable concert program of works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonín Dvořák. Mozart’s Symphony No. 34 in C major, K. 338 opens the program. Completed in the summer of 1780, this was the last symphony Mozart wrote in Salzburg, where he worked as a court musician. The three-movement symphony features two vibrant outer movements with fanfares and rousing themes, while the quieter second movement is scored for strings alone, deviating from the typical four-movement structure of the time. Next on the program is Dvořák’s Symphony No. 7 in D minor, Op. 70, completed in March 1885 and premiered one month later in London conducted by the composer himself. With its dramatic and dark style, this symphony stands in stark contrast to the predominantly optimistic tone of Dvořák’s broader oeuvre. This performance was recorded at Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence, Italy, on January 29, 2021.

Israeli violinist Itzhak Perlman and the Berlin Philharmonic perform Johannes Brahms' Violin Concerto (1833-1897) under the direction of Daniel Barenboim. After Beethoven's Violin Concerto, Brahms' piece is probably the most famous German Violin Concerto ever written. These two works have much in common, especially the tone in D major in which they were composed. Highly technical, Brahms' Violin Concerto is reserved for virtuosos because of the marked presence of arpeggios, rapid passages of scales and rhythmic variations. Perlman and the Berlin Philharmonic are brilliantly meeting the challenge of this technically and intellectually demanding work.

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, Leonardo Colafelice (Italy, 1995) performs Felix Mendelssohn’s Variations sérieuses, Op. 54, and Frédéric Chopin’s “Heroic” Polonaise in A-flat major, Op. 53. This performance was recorded at Nuovo Teatro Ariberto in Milan, in May, 2021.

Iván Fischer leads his Budapest Festival Orchestra (BFO) in a concert program dedicated to the music of Ludwig van Beethoven. The program opens with the composer’s Symphony No. 1 in C major, Op. 21. Afterward, Fischer conducts Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58, in which Richard Goode features as the soloist. The acclaimed American pianist (1943) is known for his interpretations of the Beethoven repertoire. Goode recorded all five Beethoven piano concertos with the BFO and Fischer, earning him exceptional critical acclaim and a Grammy Award nomination. As an encore, Goode performs the Sarabande from J. S. Bach’s Partita in B-flat major, BWV 825. The program closes with Beethoven’s famous Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67. This performance was recorded at the Béla Bartók National Concert Hall in Budapest, Hungary, on January 29, 2017.

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 Johannes Brahms’s Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98. Brahms completed his last symphony in 1885. He conducted the successful premiere of the piece in the German city of Meiningen in October of the same year. The symphony’s finale movement is a chaconne, a variation form that reflects the composer’s fascination with Baroque music. In this movement, Brahms borrowed an 8-measure theme from J. S. Bach’s cantata ‘Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich’, BWV 150. The movement opens with the theme and then presents a set of variations all set over the same repeated theme in the bass. This performance was recorded at Opéra de Dijon, France, in 2014.

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 concert entitled 'Liszt Mosaics' is dedicated to the rich traditonal of Hungarian Folk Music. The concert opens with a selection of Bartók's 44 Duos for 2 Violins (No. 17, 18, 36 and 44) performed by Shlomo Mintz and Radics Ferenc. Furthermore, Pál Eszter is accompanied by the Hungarian State Folk Ensemble and Cameristi della Scala in vocal performances of Hungarian Folk Music from the Kalotaszeg region. The ensembles conclude the concert by performing Romanian Folk Dances by Bartók, led by musical director István Pál Szalonna. Solo violinist is Agnese Ferraro.

Misha Mengelberg, the forgetting has begun. He is waiting for a taxi he didn’t call to go to a performance that won’t take place. Dutch composer/pianist and grand duke of jazz Misha Mengelberg (1935) has been submerged in the shadow of dementia, ending his life as a musician. At the London jazz club Vortex in 2013 he impressively says his goodbyes to the international stage. It’s also his last major performance with his band, the Instant Composers Pool Orchestra. The musicians find it hard to let him go, but Misha’s decline is constant, and he slowly fades away from their midst. A film about exceptional loyalty, dilemmas, respect and dedication. And about music, the music of Misha Mengelberg.

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.

Tenor Zhuohan Sun (China, 1993) and pianist Sara Pavlovic (Serbia, 1996) perform ‘Wanderlied’ from Robert Schumann’s Kerner-Lieder, Op. 35; ‘Der Abend kommt gezogen’ from Alphons Diepenbrock’s Drie ballades, Op. 1; Gabriel Fauré’s Prison, Op. 83, No. 1; ‘Ganymed’ from Hugo Wolf’s Goethe-Lieder; Franz Schubert’s Nacht und Träume, D. 827; Zaiyi Lu’s The bridge in my homeland; ‘Mit Myrten und Rosen’ from Schumann’s Liederkreis, Op. 24; ‘C’ from Francis Poulenc’s Deux poèmes de Louis Aragon, FP 122; and ‘Scheiden und Meiden’ from Gustav Mahler’s Lieder und Gesänge aus der Jugendzeit, during the final round of the International Vocal Competition 2021 – Lied Duo. This performance was recorded at De Verkadefabriek in ’s-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands.

For this exceptional recital, recorded in 2019 at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Camille (cello) and Julie Berthollet (violin) are accompanied by pianist Guillaume Vincent and the Ensemble Appassionato under the direction of Mathieu Herzog. The two musical sisters have chosen a repertoire which crosses genres and eras to explore the expressive palette of the violin and cello, from the baroque of Vivaldi to the jazzy notes of Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grapelli. Among the works on the program are Brahms Hungarian Dances No. 5 and No. 6, Karl Jenkins' Palladio, 'Theme from Forrest Gump' by Alan Silvestri, Schumann's Piano Quintet, Op. 44, The Red Violin by Corigliano, Hungarian Rhapsody, op. 68 by Popper, Minor Swing by Reinhardt/Grappeli and Csárdás by Monti.

In 2012, Norwegian opera director Stefan Herheim brought Giacomo Puccini's opera La bohème to the stage of the Norwegian National Opera in Oslo. About his choice for this updated version, Herheim explained: “In bringing La bohème into a present-day setting with this new production we hope to revive the immediate power of suggestion and importance that this work at one time revelled in.” The opera about the Bohemian lifestyle of the poor seamstress Mimì and her artist friends is a fast-moving story, and offers some of the greatest arias Puccini ever wrote. Norwegian conductor Eivind Gullberg Jensen leads the Orchestra and Chorus of the National Opera Oslo. Among the soloists are Marita Sølberg (Mimì), Diego Torre (Rodolfo), Vasily Ladyuk (Marcello), and Jennifer Rowley (Musetta).

When it comes to shaping a musical event for the ears and the eyes, the monumental majesty of Anton Bruckner’s (1824-1896) symphonies and the exhilarating vibrancy of St. Florian’s monastery are a perfect match – especially when they are captured on film so thrillingly by such an eminent director as Brian Large in 2012. Bruckner became acquainted with the monastery’s organ in his childhood and served as the organist there from 1845 to 1855. Welser-Möst, the principal conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra and General Music Director of the Vienna State Opera, is an acknowledged Bruckner specialist who has developed a passion for the composer’s Fourth Symphony – called the “Romantic” by its creator – in its infrequently played first edition (1888/89). More slender, dynamic and finely shaded than the more commonly performed version, this score is also more daring, with its sharper contrasts and boldly exposed dissonances. Recorded at the St. Florian Monastery in Austria, in 2012.

Critics praise her, and the audience loves her. Kristine Opolais, the prima donna and the star of the New York Metropolitan Opera, performs in her home country Latvia.  She gives a splendid concert with the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra, at the Latvian National Opera, in 2017. The program includes arias from operas that made Kristine an international star. It includes mostly Italian music that will encourage you to dream about love and think about what is truly important. Enjoy the most beautiful arias and instrumental pieces of opera by Giuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Puccini, Pietro Mascagni, Camille Saint-Saëns, Arrigo Boito, and Alfredo Catalani.

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 present Johannes Brahms’s Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68. Brahms realized he was expected to compose a symphony that would match the musical standards established by Ludwig van Beethoven. After working on it for at least fourteen years, he completed his Symphony No. 1 in 1876. Brahms’s symphony was hailed as ‘Beethoven’s Tenth’: a worthy successor to Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. Brahms’s work contains several references to Beethoven. For instance, the main theme of the fourth movement – first appearing in the strings – resembles the ‘Ode to Joy’ in the finale of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. This performance was recorded at Philharmonie de Paris, France, in 2014.

On December 24, 2011, one of the world’s most renowned classical orchestras, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, celebrated the 75th anniversary of its founding. The film portrays the orchestra and its eventful history against the backdrop of Israel and the holocaust. Interwoven with individual biographies and archival footage, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra’s 75 years of history are brought back to life in concerts featuring Arturo Toscanini, Arthur Rubinstein, Leonard Bernstein, Isaac Stern, Zubin Mehta, Daniel Barenboim and Itzhak Perlman. We also get the opportunity to watch the Israel Philharmonic in rehearsals, concerts and on tour

Sir Simon Rattle leads the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) and Chorus in a performance of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125. The soloists are Iwona Sobotka (soprano), Anna Stephany (mezzo-soprano), Robert Murray (tenor), and Florian Boesch (baritone). Engineered with unmatched symphonic finesse, Beethoven set aside ruminations on fate and heroism to compose his utterly musical and wholly satisfying Ninth Symphony. It is a monumental work, renowned for its innovative use of a chorus and vocal soloists in the final movement, singing a setting of Friedrich Schiller's poem "Ode to Joy". Premiered in 1824, it remains one of the most performed and recognizable pieces of classical music. This performance was recorded at Barbican Hall in London, on February 16, 2020.

In this splendid 2013 concert from the Church of Verbier, Switzerland, Greek violinist Leonidas Kavakos and Chinese pianist Yuja Wang join forces to interpret three sonatas by Johannes Brahms. Leonidas Kavakos rose to fame in 1985, when he became the youngest musician to ever win the first price of the prestigious Sibelius Competition. With Yuja Wang, an accomplished artist at young age herself, he forms a masterful duo of chamber music interpretation. The programme features Brahm's Sonata for Piano and Violin, No. 1 in G major, Op. 78, also known as the "Regensonate," Sonata for Piano and Violin, No. 2 in A major, Op. 100, the "Thuner Sonata," a portrait of the Swiss lake of Thun's peaceful scenery. It comes to a fiery and passionate finale with Brahm's Sonata for Piano and Violin, No. 3 in D minor, Op 108.

Conrad van Alphen leads Sinfonia Rotterdam in a performance of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 1 in G minor, Op. 13, ‘Winter Daydreams’, recorded at De Doelen in Rotterdam, the Netherlands in September 2022. Having completed a number of shorter orchestral works, Tchaikovsky embarked on a more ambitious project in March 1866: to write his first symphony. In the summer of that year, the young composer showed his still-unfinished score to his former teachers Anton Rubinstein and Nikolai Zaremba, whose harsh criticism thoroughly disillusioned him. With significant changes, the entire symphony was first performed in 1868, but Tchaikovsky further revised the work in 1874. Not only did the composer subtitle his symphony ‘Winter Daydreams’, he used descriptive titles for the first two of the four movements as well: ‘Dreams of a Winter Journey’ and ‘Land of Desolation, Land of Mists’.