Schedule

Frédéric Chaslin (1963) leads the Orchestra and Chorus of the Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège in a performance of Léo Delibes’s tragic opera Lakmé (1883). Written to a libretto by Edmond Gondinet and Philippe Gille, the opera is set in nineteenth-century British India and tells the story of Lakmé, who falls in love with Gérald, a British officer. However, Lakmé’s father, the Brahmin priest Nilakantha, vows revenge after he discovers that Gérald has trespassed on their sacred ground. Like many of his contemporaries, Delibes was fond of exoticism, evoking foreign lands and cultures in the tradition of Georges Bizet’s Les Pêcheurs de perles (1863) and Camille Saint-Saëns’s Samson et Dalila (1877). Delibes’s opera features the celebrated “Flower Duet,” sung by Lakmé and her servant Mallika as they gather flowers by the river, and also the wonderful coloratura aria “Bell Song” (Air des Clochettes). Among the soloists are Jodie Devos, Philippe Talbot, Lionel Lhote, Pierre Doyen, and Marion Lebègue. This production was recorded at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie in Liège, Belgium, in 2022.

The award-winning Imperial Ice Stars are 26 Olympic, World, European and National Championship skaters, who jointly hold over 250 competition medals, performing theatrical ice dancing on a frozen theatre stage. The Imperial Ice Stars have received five-star praise from critics and standing ovations from audiences at some of the world's most prestigious venues - London’s Royal Albert Hall and Sadler's Wells, Singapore's Esplanade Theatre, Montreal's Place des Arts and Cape Town's Artscape. This stunning performance, filmed at the Melbourne Theatre Company in Australia, offers a new look on the secular tale of Sleeping beauty, with the original music of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893).

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.

In Geneva, the city where she spent the most of her life, Argentinian pianist Martha Argerich invites her lifelong music partner, the cellist Mischa Maisky, to play in private chamber music. Between each piece, Martha opens up to her daughter Annie Dutoit, in an intimate interview that brings both their intimacy and the music. On the program are Ludwig van Beethoven’s 7 variations after "The Magic Flute"; Robert Schumann’s Fantasiestücke, Op. 73; Frédéric Chopin’s Introduction & Polonaise, Op. 3; ‘Lerchengesang’ (No. 2) from Johannes Brahms’s 4 Gesänge, Op. 70; and ‘Largo’ from Chopin’s Cello Sonata in G minor, Op. 65. This broadcast was recorded on November 12 and 13, 2020, in Geneva, Switzerland.

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.

Pianist Antonio Chen Guang (China, 1994) joins the CMIM ensemble, consisting of three principal strings players of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, in a performance of the first movement, Sostenuto assai – Allegro ma non troppo, of Robert Schumann’s Piano Quartet in E-flat major, Op. 47. This performance took place during the chamber music round of the two-part semi-final of the Piano Edition of the Concours musical international de Montréal 2024 (CMIM). It was recorded at Bourgie Hall in the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

Experience a concert of high drama as conductor Nicolás Pasquet leads the Freixenet Symphony Orchestra of the Reina Sofía School of Music. The program opens with the heroic power of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Overture to Egmont, Op. 84. The concert culminates in a journey through fate and passion with Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s monumental Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36. This performance was recorded at Sala Sinfónica of the Auditorio Nacional de Música in Madrid, Spain, on October 3, 2024.

French violinist Renaud Capuçon appears at the festival Les Coups de Cœur de Chantilly, presenting a chamber music program consisting of classical and 20th century repertoire. He performs with the soloists of the International Menuhin Music Academy led by French conductor Jean-Jacques Kantorow. First on the program is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante in E-flat major, K. 364, in which Capuçon and violist Gérard Caussé appear as the soloists. Capuçon is then joined by pianist Iddo Bar-Shaï for a performance of Mozart’s Sonata for violin and piano in E minor, K. 304. The program closes with Dmitri Shostakovich’s Chamber Symphony in C minor, Op. 110a, which is a transcription of Shostakovich’s String Quartet No. 8 by Russian conductor Rudolf Barshai, the composer’s close friend. This performance was recorded at Château de Chantilly, on May 15, 2021.

Mahler's Symphony No. 4, composed between 1899 and 1901, depicts a child's vision of heaven, a theme central to the work's innocent and lyrical character. The symphony is notable for its relatively smaller orchestral forces compared to his other symphonies and its focus on melody and a sense of wonder. The final movement features a soprano solo singing about the joys of heaven, providing a serene and optimistic conclusion.

The documentary “Clara Haskil - Le mystère de l’interprète” (2017) tells the remarkable life story of Romanian pianist Clara Haskil (1895-1960). Born in Bucharest into a Jewish family, she began her career as a child prodigy, entering the Bucharest Conservatory at a very young age. She continued her music studies in Vienna and Paris. Haskil suffered from chronic health issues and lived through two world wars, which held back her career. Only after WWII, Haskil’s fame began to take off and she finally enjoyed international recognition. She performed as a soloist over the world with the foremost orchestras, and collaborated with acclaimed musicians including Eugène Ysaÿe, George Enescu, and Pablo Casals.

The documentary “The Three Lives of Clara Schumann” traces the fascinating life story of German pianist and composer Clara Schumann. Born Clara Wieck in Leipzig in 1819, she was an exceptionally talented pianist, with an impressive international music career. She first met Robert Schumann, whom she married in 1840 and eventually had eight children with, in 1828. Basing itself on her letters and diaries, her compositions, and on accounts from musicians who have intensively studied her music, this 2019 documentary offers a multi-angled perspective on Clara Schumann. It records the various places where she lived, and the cities she visited as a pianist. This thought-provoking film was directed by Andreas Morell and Magdalena Zieba-Schwind.

Renowned French string quartet Quatuor Ébène marked the 250th birth anniversary of Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) with a remarkable project: recording all of the great composer’s sixteen string quartets. For five years, violinists Pierre Colombet and Gabriel Le Magadure, violist Marie Chilemme, and cellist Raphaël Merlin immersed themselves in Beethoven’s 650 pages of sheet music. Their efforts culminated in the performance of the composer’s complete repertoire for string quartet, which covers three decades of Beethoven's musical creativity, during six impressive concerts at Philharmonie de Paris in the autumn of 2020. Quatuor Ébène explored every facet of Beethoven's string quartet repertoire: from the youthful Opus 18 string quartets to the Razumovsky, Harp, and Serioso quartets (Opus 59, 74, and 95) from his middle period, and finally, the depth of his late quartets (Opus 127 to 135). This program features Quatuor Ébène performing Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 6 in B-flat major, Op. 18 No. 6; and String Quartet No. 15 in A minor, Op. 132. This concert performance was recorded at Philharmonie de Paris on November 24, 2020.

The National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia is joined by acclaimed Russian pianist Boris Berezovsky in an interpretation of works by Rachmaninov and George Gershwin. Conductor Konstantin Khvatynets directs this concert, filmed at the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow. The programme includes George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue and Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini and is produced by the Moscow Philharmonic Society, which Saint Petersburg-born composer Dmitri Shostakovich himself once described as playing a significant role "in the development of musical life [in Russia]. It is a kind of university which is attended by millions of music lovers and thousands of musicians.” The Moscow Philharmonic Society was founded in 1922 by then-Commissar for Culture, Anatoly Lunacharsky, and has over the years come to be Russia's leading concert organizing institution.

Ukrainian-born pianist Inna Faliks performs Frederic Chopin's Polonaise-Fantaisie Op. 61. Recorded at the Nicols Concert Hall, Evanston, IL, USA. Faliks has established herself as one of the most communicative, and poetic artists of her generation. The Polonaise-Fantaise was dedicated to Mme A. Veyret, composed and published in 1846

Italian cellist Silvia Chiesa and Italian pianist Maurizio Baglini perform Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Sonata in G minor for cello and piano, Op. 19. This performance was recorded at Sala Verdi of the Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi in Milan, Italy, on November 4, 2024.

American ‘Conductor Laureate’ Michael Tilson Thomas leads the London Symphony Orchestra in a program of romantic masterworks. The concert opens with Franz Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1, featuring the brilliant Czech pianist Lukáš Vondráček as soloist. The evening concludes with the emotional journey of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 5. This performance was recorded at the Barbican Hall in London, UK, on May 15, 2022.

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.

Dutch choreographer Hans van Manen (1932) is internationally recognized as one of the grand masters of contemporary ballet. His over 150 ballets all bear his distinct signature, featuring a great clarity in structure, refined simplicity and an aversion to decorative frills. In this tribute to the great choreographer, dancers of the Dutch National Ballet perform three masterpieces from Van Manen’s extensive oeuvre. The program opens with Metaforen (1965), set to Daniel-Jean-Yves Lesur’s Variations for organ and strings—a groundbreaking work featuring one of the first male pas de deux, considered provocative at the time. This is followed by Adagio Hammerklavier (1973), set to the third movement, Adagio sostenuto, of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Hammerklavier Sonata, Op. 106. The program concludes with Frank Bridge Variations (2005), written to Benjamin Britten’s Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge, Op. 10. This performance was recorded at Opéra Berlioz, Le Corum in Montpellier, France, in 2017.

Pianist Elias Ackerley (United Kingdom/South Korea, 2001) joins the CMIM ensemble, consisting of three principal strings players of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, in a performance of the first movement, Allegro molto moderato, of Gabriel Fauré’s Piano Quartet No. 1 in C minor, Op. 15. This performance took place during the chamber music round of the two-part semi-final of the Piano Edition of the Concours musical international de Montréal 2024 (CMIM). It was recorded at the Bourgie Hall of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

The Danish National Symphony Orchestra opens the door to a wealth of fantasy universes in this mesmerizing concert program. Under the direction of German conductor Christian Schumann, the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Danish National Concert Choir, and Danish National Junior Choir team up to perform music from the most popular fantasy movies, TV series and video games, including The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Highlander, and The Chronicles of Narnia. Featured soloists in this concert are Danish soprano Christine Nonbo Andersen, Korean percussionist Jihye Kim, Norwegian mezzo-soprano Tuva Semmingsen, Swedish bass Johan Karlström, and British actor David Bateson. This performance was recorded at the DR Koncerthuset in Copenhagen, Denmark, in June 2019.

One of the world’s most popular pieces of classical music, Maurice Ravel’s Boléro (1928), was no longer copyrighted as of May 1, 2016. Up to then it had made Ravel and his heirs millions. Ravel died in 1937 and left all he owned to his brother Edouard. Edouard’s death in 1960 unleashed a complex legal battle over the rights, involving among others Edouard’s nurse and her husband. This 2017 documentary gives a fascinating account of what happened to one this iconic piece of music right under the nose of the public. Filmmaker Fabien Caux-Lahalle underpins this investigative story with clips of the Boléro in various guises.