Schedule

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.

Not only was Mozart unlucky in love in Mannheim, but he also failed to achieve his ambition of becoming a court composer. The young lady Antonia Lützow, for whom he wrote his Piano Concerto No. 8, was not a very accomplished performer, but in all its simplicity, this concerto is seldom short of sublime. In this episode, soloist Christian Zacharias performs Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 8, K 246, accompanied by the Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart and conducted by Gianluigi Gelmetti. The concert took place in Schwetzingen palace, where the Mannheim Elector’s court spent their summers.

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’.

Austrian conductor Franz Welser-Möst leads his Cleveland Orchestra in a performance of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Divertimento No. 2 in D major, KV 131, and Arnold Schoenberg’s Variations for Orchestra, Op. 31, recorded at Severance Hall in Cleveland, USA. In addition, Welser-Möst takes a walk through ‘his’ Vienna, enlightening us on this musical capital that was home to both Mozart and Schoenberg. He contrasts the Divertimento No. 2, written by 16-year-old Mozart, with Variations for Orchestra, by the mature Schoenberg.

Pianist Jakub Kuszlik (Poland, 1996) performs Barbara Assiginaak’s Mzizaakok Miiniwaa Mzizaakoonsak (Horseflies and Deerflies); Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Fantasia No. 3 in D minor, K. 397; and Johannes Brahms’s Sonata No. 3 in F minor, Op. 5, 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.

Spanish and Flemish musical chapels characterized the music practice at the courts of Charles V and Philip II. But how would Josquin sound in the Spanish tradition, with singers doubled by wind instruments? And how would Josquin sound alongside music by his admirer Guerrero? Música Temprana consists of a capilla (singers) and ministriles altos (wind players), and juxtaposes Josquin’s Missa Hercules Dux Ferrariae with music by Morales and Guerrero.

“For me, it’s the utmost to play and work on the music of Bach!” Violinist Frank Peter Zimmermann is one of the greatest artists of his generation. Accompanied by Enrico Pace, his pianist counterpart since 1998, he plays the unrivalled violin sonatas of Johann Sebastian Bach. In this documentary “Bach and Me” he provides us with personal insights into his relationship with this famed Baroque composer as well as into his own life as an artist and human being.

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. As part of this competition, Josef Edoardo Mossali (Italy, 2001) performs Frédéric Chopin’s collection of 12 Etudes, Op. 25, and Johannes Brahms’s Variations on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 35, Book II. As an encore, Mossali plays Etude No. 3 “La Campanella” from Franz Liszt’s Six Grandes études de Paganini. This performance was recorded at Nuovo Teatro Ariberto in Milan, in June 2021.

Baritone Geng Lee (China, 1994) and pianist Nils Basters (Germany, 1989) perform Henri Duparc’s Chanson triste; ‘Ein Jüngling liebt ein Mädchen’ and ‘Am leuchtenden Sommermorgen’ from Robert Schumann’s Dichterliebe, Op. 48; ‘Litany’ from John Musto’s Shadow of the Blues; Bart Visman’s Vermeer’s Gold; ‘Hôtel’ from Francis Poulenc’s Banalités, FP 107; and ‘Ging heut’ Morgen über’s Feld’ from Gustav Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, 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.

Einstein on the Beach is an opera by minimalist composer Philipp Glass, director Robert Wilson, and choreographer Lucinda Childs. The work premiered in 1976 at the Avignon Festival in France. It is the composer’s first and longest opera, lasting approximately 4.5 hours. The work’s title appears to refer to Nevil Shute’s novel ‘On the Beach’ (1957), taking place in a world that is destroyed after an atomic war. Breaking the rules of conventional opera, Einstein on the Beach has neither a narrative nor named characters. The work’s libretto consists of solfège syllables, numbers, and sections of poetry. It includes texts by Christopher Knowles, Samuel M. Johnson and Childs. The opera is in four acts, connected by so-called “Knee Plays” – interludes between acts. It contains several references to Einstein’s theories on time, space, and relativity, for instance the appearance of trains, which Einstein used as a metaphor in his theory of relativity. The music is performed by The Philipp Glass Ensemble conducted by Michael Riesman, and features Antoine Silverman as the solo violinist. Among the performers are Helga Davis, Kate Moran, Jasper Newell, and Charles Williams. The opera features dancers of The Lucinda Childs Dance Company. This performance was recorded at Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, France, in 2014.

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 Franz Schubert’s String Quartet No. 15 in G major, D. 887, Op. 161. Schubert composed this work, his final string quartet, in a mere ten days in June 1826. However, this highly original piece, characterized by its restless shifts between major and minor, was not published until after Schubert’s death in 1851. This performance was recorded at Cité de la Musique in Paris, France, in 2014.

German conductor Christian Zacharias leads the Orchestre national de Lille in a performance of Robert Schumann’s Symphony No. 1 in B-flat major, Op. 38, also known as the ‘Spring Symphony’. This optimistic work is written in 1841 and is the most performed of Schumann’s four symphonies. This concert was recorded at Auditorium du Nouveau Siècle in Lille, France, on June 16, 2017.

Mezzo-soprano Ema Nikolovska (Canada, 1993) and pianist Michael Sikich (United States, 1993) perform ‘The sailor’s song’ from Joseph Haydn’s Six original canzonettas, Book 2 – Hob. XXVIa; Franz Schubert’s Auf dem See, Op. 92 No. 2 (D. 543); ‘Botschaft’ from Johannes Brahms’s Fünf Lieder, Op. 47; ‘Röselein, Röselein!’ from Robert Schumann’s Sechs Gesänge, Op. 89; ‘A girl’ and ‘Pan is dead’ from Robert Heppener’s Four songs on poems by Ezra Pound; ‘La Flûte de Pan’ and ‘La chevelure’ from Claude Debussy’s Trois chansons de Bilitis, L. 90; Pauline Viardot’s ‘Haï luli!’; and ‘Produzhdeniye vesnï’ (Spring awakening), and ‘Kreytserova sonata’ (Kreutzer sonata) from Dmitri Shostakovich’s Satirï (Satires – Pictures of the past), Op. 109, 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 Michelle Candotti (Italy, 1996) performs Frédéric Chopin’s Barcarolle in F-sharp major, Op. 60; Franz Liszt’s Paraphrase de concert sur Ernani II, S. 432; and Béla Bartók’s Piano Sonata, Sz. 80, 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.

The dramatic events surrounding the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre, in which approximately 3000 Protestants were murdered by Catholics, forms the setting for this historical ‘grand opera’ by Giacomo Meyerbeer. Protestant Raoul is in love with Catholic Valentine: an impossible love. Religion is not the only matter that keeps the two lovers apart, as Valentine has been promised to the Catholic Comte de Nevers, his enemy... This work enjoyed an incredible popularity after it premiered, but suffered oblivion shortly after. This production of the Deutsche Oper Berlin (1991) marks a triumphant comeback for this timeless work, presented in a contemporary setting. Soloists: Angela Denning (Margarethe von Valois), Lucy Peacock (Valentine), Richard Leech (Raoul von Nangis), Hartmut Welker (Graf von Saint-Bris), Camille Capasso (Urban), Martin Blasius (Marcel). Conductor: Stefan Soltesz. Directed by John Dew.

The Europakonzert has been a tradition of the Berlin Philharmonic since 1991. The musicians commemorate the anniversary of the orchestra's founding on May 1, 1882 by playing in different European cities every year. This concert was recorded at St. Mary's Church in Kraków, Poland, where Bernard Haitink wielded the baton over the Berlin Philharmonic along with soloist Christine Schäfer (soprano) The performance features Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Exsultate, jubilate, K. 165.