Schedule

Frédéric Chaslin leads the Orchestre Symphonique Région Centre-Val de Loire/Tours and the Choir of Opéra de Tours in a performance of Gaetano Donizetti’s comic opera Don Pasquale (1842). Featuring a cast of the most famous singers of the day, Don Pasquale premiered at the Parisian Salle Ventadour in 1843. It was an immediate success, being performed in the great opera houses of Europe within a year after its premiere. The work’s libretto is largely written by Giovanni Ruffini, as well as by the composer himself. It tells the hilarious story of the old, wealthy bachelor Don Pasquale, who is outraged when hearing his nephew Ernesto wishes to marry the impoverished widow Norina. Consequently, Pasquale decides to disinherit his nephew by marrying himself. His friend Malatesta and Norina, however, make up a plan to thwart the old bachelor, arranging a mock marriage. Among the soloists are Laurent Naouri (Don Pasquale), Florian Sempey (Malatesta), Sébastien Droy (Ernesto), Anne-Catherine Gillet (Norina), and François Bazola (notary). This performance was recorded at Opéra de Tours, in 2021.

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.

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 includes Symphony in D major, Op. 23, by Bohemian composer Jan Václav Hugo Voríšek. 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.

Conrad van Alphen conducts Sinfonia Rotterdam in a performance of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Symphony No. 35 in D Major, K. 385, recorded at the Nieuwe Kerk, The Hague, in 2020. Van Alphen founded Sinfonia Rotterdam in 2000. Under his passionate leadership, this orchestra has developed into one of the Netherland’s best-known orchestras. Mozart’s Symphony No. 35 is also known as the “Haffner Symphony”. In 1782, the Haffner family from Salzburg commissioned Mozart to write a new piece on the occasion of the ennoblement of Sigmund Haffner. Mozart agreed, and initially composed a serenade before recasting it as a symphony a few months later: the “Haffner Symphony”. One of his revisions was the addition of more instruments in the first and last movement, resulting in a fuller sound. The symphony consists of four movements: Allegro con spirito, Andante, Menuetto, and Presto.

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.

From the Barockschloss in Rammenau the Gewandhaus-Quartett plays Mozart’s String Quartet No. 19 in C-major, KV. 465. This work is nicknamed "Dissonance" due to its unusual slow introduction with dissonant notes before the harmony resolving in the key of C-major, starting the bright Allegro section. It is perhaps the most famous of Mozart’s quartets and the last of a set of six quartets composed between 1782 and 1785 which the composer dedicated to colleague and friend Joseph Haydn. The Gewandhaus-Quartett is the longest established string quartet in the world. Founded in 1808, it can be seen as a remarkable part of the western history of music, having continued its concert activity uninterrupted from generation to generation with great success for almost 200 years. In this performance, it consists of Frank Michael Erben (1st violin), Conrad Suske (2nd violin), Volker Metz (viola), Jürnjakob Timm (cello) and Steffen Adelmann (doublebass).

The Orchestra Mozart, founded in 2004, is supposed to give young, talented musicians a possibility to play in a world-class orchestra being conducted by one of the outstanding conductors of our time. Claudio Abbado, the artistic director, is responsible for its profile, inviting musicians and chamber ensembles of international reputation. The Orchestra Mozart, conducted by Claudio Abbado, with their leader Giuliano Carmignola is playing Johann Sebastian Bach's Brandenburg Concertos. Recorded at the Teatro Municipale Valli, Reggio Emilia. "Does the world need another set of Brandenburgs? Yes, when they are as freshly minted and as adventurously sonorous as this marvellous set from Abbado's young period-style Orchestra Mozart" (The Observer).

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 Adrian Herpe (France/Ukraine, 2000) performs Novellette No. 8 in F-sharp minor from Robert Schumann’s Novelletten, Op. 21; Domenico Scarlatti’s Sonata in B minor, K. 27, and Sonata in E minor, K. 98; and Guido Agosti’s transcription of Igor Stravinksy’s The Firebird Suite (Danse infernale, Berceuse, and Finale), 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.

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.

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. This performance was recorded at the Hall of Mirrors in the Köthen Castle, Germany.