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).

In 1996, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra celebrated its 60th anniversary with a gala led by maestros Zubin Mehta and Daniel Barenboim. This musical event features world-renowned soloists, including veteran violinist Isaac Stern, up-and-coming musicians Maxim Vengerov and Gil Shaham, as well as Pinchas Zukerman, Shlomo Mintz, and Itzhak Perlman. The evening begins with a moving speech about the early days of the orchestra. The evening's program continues with Bach's Concerto for Two Violins in D minor, BWV1043, Brahms's Symphony No. 2, Halvorsen's Violin, Violoncello and Viola Pass, Mozart's Serenade No. 6, K. 239., Vivaldi's Concerto in B minor for four violins and orchestra, and Weber's Oberon overture.

Venezuelan-born conductor Giovanni Guzzo leads the Camerata Fundación EDP of the Reina Sofía School of Music in a spirited concert. The program opens with the ethereal ‘Danza degli spiriti beati’ (Dance of the Blessed Spirits) from Christoph Willibald Gluck’s opera Orfeo ed Euridice, featuring flutist Matthew Raymond Origel. The concert continues with vocal masterworks, including J.S. Bach’s brilliant cantata aria ‘Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen!’, BWV 51, featuring soprano Marlin González Zúñiga and trumpeter Marc Ferrando Pelegrí, and W.A. Mozart’s joyous motet Exsultate, jubilate, K. 165, sung by soprano Carla Isabel Gómez del Pulgar. The concert concludes with one of the great classical works: Mozart’s dramatic Symphony No. 40 in G minor. This performance was recorded at Auditorio Sony of the Reina Sofía School of Music in Madrid, Spain, on December 18, 2024.

“Shusha, the Renaissance” is a musical journey featuring pianist Murad Huseynov. The city of Shusha is often considered the cradle of Azerbaijan's music and poetry and one of the leading centres of the Azerbaijani culture, having been declared the cultural capital of Azerbaijan in January 2021. On the program are the following works: Fikret Amirov’s (1922-1984) Twelve Miniatures for Piano Solo: I. Ballade - II. Ashigsayagi – III. Nocturne – IV. Humoresque – V. Lyrical Dance – VI. Hunting - VII. Lullaby – VIII. Waltz – IX. Barcarolle – X. Toccata – XI. Elegy – XII. March; Adil Babirov’s (1934-2021) ‘s Prelude & Scherzo; Gara Garayev’s (1918-1982) Sonatine: I. Allegro – II. Moderato assai – III. Vivo ; Tofik Kouliyev’s (1917-2000) ‘Gaytagi’ and F. Amirov’s Romantic Sonata: I. Allegro energico - II. Andante espressivo - III. Allegro non troppo). This performance is filmed in Shusha in October 2023 and in the Heydar Aliyev Center, Baku, in December 2023. Written and directed by Michel Swierczewski.

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 Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach Chamber Orchestra delivers a program entirely devoted to Mozart at the Konzerthaus in Berlin under the direction of Hartmut Haenchen. In reduced form, the ensemble manages to bring to life the many characteristics of the music and the unique spirit of the famous composer, be it his gaiety of heart, his lyricism, his dramatic side or his polyphonic writing inspired. Criticism has always praised Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach's stylistic assurance, transparency of textures and technical precision. The extraordinary sensitivity and ease of Stefan Vladar make him an ideal partner for Haenchen and his orchestra. The evening's program includes Divertimento, K. 113; the Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 20, K. 466, and Symphony No. 41, K. 551.

Misha Fomin performed romantic piano works at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw in November 2020. His recital opened with Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 10, Op. 14/2 and Sonata No. 15, Op. 28 'Pastoral'. He continued the program with a performance of Frédéric Chopin's Nocturne Op. 9/1, Etude Op. 25/7, and Johannes Brahms's technically demanding 'Variations on a Theme by Paganini', Op. 35 (Book II). As an encore, Fomin performs Chopin/Liszt's Chant Polonais No. 5 'Meine Freunden'.

Pianist Michelle Candotti (Italy, 1996) performs Barbara Assiginaak’s Mzizaakok Miiniwaa Mzizaakoonsak (Horseflies and Deerflies); Franz Liszt’s Après une lecture du Dante, fantasia quasi sonata (Années de pèlerinage, deuxième année, S. 161: No. 7); ‘Pavane’ from George Enescu’s Suite No. 2 in D major, Op. 10; Étude No. 111 in G minor from Hélène de Montgeroult’s Études; and Sergei Prokofiev’s Sonata No. 7 in B-flat major, Op. 83, 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.

Italian cellist Silvia Chiesa and Italian pianist Maurizio Baglini perform a wonderful recital of works by Ferruccio Busoni, Franz Liszt, Frédéric Chopin, and Sergei Rachmaninoff. On the program are Busoni’s Kultaselle – 10 variations on a Finnish folksong; Liszt’s Two Elegies for cello and piano; Chopin’s Introduction and Polonaise brillante in C major, Op. 3; and Rachmaninoff’s Sonata in G minor for cello and piano, Op. 19. As an encore, the duo plays Leonard Bernstein’s iconic composition ‘Tonight’ from the musical West Side Story. This performance was recorded at Sala Verdi of the Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi in Milan, Italy, on November 4, 2024.

The documentary Summertime at the Domaine Forget introduces internationally renowned treasure: Domaine Forget festival in Saint-Irénée, Québec. Domaine Forget is one of Canada's leading music academies and hosts this annual festival to promote music and dance. Every summer, 500 music students from around the world gather for an intensive course program featuring: masterclasses, individual lessons, chamber music sessions, lectures, and special workshops.

Pianist Vadim Repin and Violist Murad Hüseynov perform Gara Garayev's Violin Sonata and 24 Preludes for Piano. Recorded at La Grange au Lac. Written and directed by Juliette Swierczewski and recorded at La Grange au Lac. Although Garayev is a 20th century composer, his music nonetheless carries allusions to romantic music. Murad, the main actor, will represent one of those characters carried by solitude that can be found in the romantic paintings of Friedrich. The overall atmosphere of the musical program is rather melancholic, tending either towards a certain musical lightness, or, on the contrary, towards drama. The production is a cinematographic accompaniment of the music and its performers.

On the occasion of her 80th birthday, Argentinian pianist Martha Argerich explored chamber music repertoire in a wonderful concert, recorded at Château de Chantilly, France. The ‘Grande Dame’ of the piano is joined by various renowned artists. As part of this concert, violinist Tedi Papavrami, violist Lyda Chen-Argerich, cellist Mischa Maisky, and pianist Lily Maisky perform Johannes Brahms’s Piano Quartet No. 3 in C minor, Op. 60.

Alexander Ullman (1991, United Kingdom) performs Franz Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 2 (S125) during the final of the 11th International Franz Liszt Piano Competition, held in TivoliVredenburg, Utrecht 2017. The competition actively presents, develops and promotes piano talents from around the world. In doing so, it has become one of the prominent gateways to the international professional classical music scene for young musicians. The International Franz Liszt Piano Competition was founded in 1986 in the Netherlands and since has built a reputation as one of the world’s most prestigious piano competitions.

Mezzo-soprano Ekaterina Chayka-Rubinstein (Germany, 1998) and pianist Maria Yulin (Israel, 1988) perform ‘Colloque sentimental’ from Claude Debussy’s Fêtes galantes II; ‘Die Geister am Mummelsee’ from Hugo Wolf’s Mörike-Lieder; ‘Bei dir allein’ from Franz Schubert’s Vier Refrainlieder, D. 866; Bart Visman’s Vermeer’s Gold; ‘La fleur qui va sur l'eau’ from Gabriel Fauré’s Trois melodies, Op. 85; ‘Dance of the moon in Santiago’ from George Crumb’s Sun and Shadow (Spanish Songbook II); and ‘Den’ li tsarit?’ (Does the day reign?) from Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Seven Romances, Op. 47, 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.

Celebrated German violinist Isabelle Faust performs two of J. S. Bach’s incredible works for solo violin: Partita No. 2 in D minor (BWV 1004), and Sonata No. 3 in C major (BWV 1005). Both works are part of the composer’s well-known Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin (BWV 1001-1006). Partita No. 2 is made up of four dance movements, concluded by its famous Chaconne, a monumental piece within the violin repertoire. In this Chaconne, Bach develops a series of continuous variations from a theme, exploring a complex range of harmonic possibilities. 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 pieces. This performance was recorded at St. Thomas Church in Leipzig, Germany, in 2020.

Paul McCreesh conducts the Orquesta Gulbenkian and Coro Infantil da Academia de Música de Sana Cecília in a performance of Benjamin Britten’s (1913-1976) War Requiem, Op. 66. Soloists are Tatiana Pavlovskaya (soprano), John Mark Ainsley (tenor) and Hanno Müller-Brachmann (bass). Recorded at the Grande Auditorio Gulbenkian in Lisbon in 2014 and directed by Yan Proefrock. The War Requiem was performed for the consecration of the new Coventry Cathedral in 1962. Traditional Latin texts are interspersed with extra-liturgical poems by Wilfred Owen. Britten scored the requiem for soprano, tenor and baritone, a chorus and boys' choir, organ and an orchestra and chamber orchestra. The chamber orchestra accompanies the settings of English poetry, while the voices and orchestra are used for the Latin sections.

Daniel Harding leads the Orchestra and Choir of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and four vocal soloists in a magnificent performance of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Requiem in D minor, K. 626. The soloists are soprano Christiane Karg, mezzosoprano Sara Mingardo, tenor Matthew Swensen, and bass Gianluca Buratto. The Austrian Count Walsegg commissioned Mozart to compose a Requiem in July 1791 to commemorate his late wife, Anna. At the time, Mozart was busy working on his operas La clemenza di Tito and The Magic Flute. By the time he started on the Requiem, in the fall of that same year, his health was seriously declining. Mozart passed away in December 1791, leaving the Requiem uncompleted. His pupil Franz Xaver Süssmayr completed Mozart’s swan song in the form known today, based on Mozart’s sketches and possibly verbal instructions. This performance was recorded at Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence, Italy, in 2021.