Schedule

Based on a story by William Shakespeare, the Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi wrote the opera Otello. Stage director David Alden created his version of this tragedy for the Teatro Real, in Madrid. Renato Palumbo conducts the orchestra and chorus of the Teatro Real. The performance also features Gregory Kunde, Ermonela Jaho, and George Petean. Othello, the Venetian governor of Cyprus, returns to the island after a victorious campaign. Iago, his ensign, feels snubbed by Cassio's promotion to captain and seeks revenge on Othello. After arranging for Cassio to be dismissed, Iago makes Othello believe that his wife Desdemona is having an affair with Cassio. Othello decides to kill her. At night, he wakes her with a kiss and asks her to admit that she betrayed him. Although she tries in vain to convince him of her innocence, Othello strangles her. Emilia then exposes Iago's plot. Racked with guilt, Othello plunges a dagger into his heart.

The program is introduced with a short documentation about Schönberg's Pelleas et Melisande, based on a text by Claudio Abbado. Every musical theme relates to a special colour appearing on screen. What has been so remarkable about Abbado’s Mahler performances is that their impact has never been achieved at the expense of the multiple sensitivities, subtleties and extreme sophistication. Together with the world's leading youth orchestra – the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester (GMJO) – Abbado performs Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 and Schönberg’s Pelleas und Melisande, Op. 5. The Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester was founded in Vienna in 1986, by Abbado’s initiative. The orchestra's high level of artistic quality and its international success have moved important conductors and soloists to work with the ensemble.

Mahler's Kindertotenlieder (Songs on the Death of Children) is a deeply personal song cycle for voice and orchestra inspired by Friedrich Rückert's poems about the loss of his children. The work's emotional depth comes from its unflinching portrayal of grief through a powerful juxtaposition of natural imagery and intimate parental pain. Audiences are captivated by the work's profound expression of universal human sorrow and the raw, restrained intensity of Mahler's masterful musical depiction of a parent's pain.

Mikhail Pletnev leads the Russian National Orchestra (RNO) in a performance of Maurice Ravel's Piano Concerto No. 1 with Lucas Debargue as the soloist. The concert opens with a selection of music by Georges Bizet based on Alphonse Daudet's play 'L'Arlésienne'. The music is compiled by Mikhail Pletnev. The first movement of Ravel's Piano Concerto No. 1 contains five distinctive themes, of which three are reminiscent of jazz. Debargue's performance of Ravel's concerto is followed by Gabriel Fauré's Barcarolle No. 4. The performance was recorded at Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow as part of the Ninth RNO Grand Festival.

Pianist Jakub Kuszlik (Poland, 1996) 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 the Bourgie Hall of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

The Dutch musicologist, conductor, organ and clavecimbel player Ton Koopman specilizes in the performance of Early Music, in particular the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. Although Koopman performs across the globe with his Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Koopman is also a sought-after organist. In this broadcast in St. Mary's Cathdral in Leipzig, the treasured musician performs organ compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach: 'Wachtet Auf', BWV 645; 'Nun komm der Heiden Heiland', 'Fugue in g minor', 'Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele', and the 'Toccata in d minor'.

Claudio Abbado conducts the Lucerne Festival Orchestra in Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 1. The principal motif of this symphony, “Like a cry of Nature”, gave the Lucerne Festival 2009 its central theme. To Mahler, nature and art are not opposed but are rather symbiotic, with one informing the other. Abbado and the orchestra are joined by a special guest for a spectacular début: twenty-two-year-old Chinese pianist Yuja Wang performs Sergei Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 3. In her Lucerne performance, Wang steps into the spotlights to display the full range of her artistry - the piano concerto demands not only lyricism and intimacy, but also brilliancy and virtuosity.

Every year, the Berliner Philharmoniker commemorate their founding in 1883 with the Europa Konzert at a venue of cultural importance in a different European city. This year, the Berliner Philharmoniker under the baton of internationally acclaimed conductor Gustavo Dudamel welcomes one of the world's leading young cellists, Gautier Capuçon. On the program are Johannes Brahms' Variations on a Theme by Haydn in B flat Major, Op. 56a; Joseph Haydn: Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra in C Major Hob. VIIb: 1 and Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67. Filmed at the Spanische Hofreitschule, (Spanish Riding School), in Vienna, Austria.

On the occasion of her 80th birthday, Argentinian pianist Martha Argerich explored repertoire for piano and violin in this wonderful concert, recorded at Château de Chantilly, France. The ‘Grande Dame’ of the piano is joined by various renowned artists, including pianists Evgeny Kissin, Theodosia Ntokou, and Cristina Marton-Argerich, and violinist Maxim Vengerov. On the program are Dmitri Shostakovich’s Concertino for two pianos, Op. 94; Frédéric Chopin’s Impromptu No. 3, Op. 51, Polonaise No. 6, Op. 53 “Heroic”, and Waltz No. 6, Op. 64 No. 1; Camille Saint-Saëns’s Polonaise for two pianos, Op. 77; César Franck’s Sonata for violin and piano in A major; and Fritz Kreisler’s Liebesleid and Schön Rosmarin. This performance was recorded on June 12, 2021.

The compelling documentary How to Get Out of the Cage (2012) by award-winning filmmaker Frank Scheffer presents an intimate portrait of John Cage (1912-1992), one of 20th century's most important composers. From 1982 to 1992, Scheffer worked with Cage on numerous occasions, which resulted in unique archives of historical audio-visual material, including interviews, musical performances, and images of locations related to the composer’s life and work. In all Scheffer’s works related to Cage, he used the old Chinese method of chance operations based on the Yi Jing – as often used by Cage himself in his compositions. Instead of using chance operations, Scheffer edited the film in the usual way that is based on choice.

Musicians of the Reina Sofía School of Music pay tribute to the rich musical heritage of Czechia in this chamber concert. The program features Bedřich Smetana’s Piano Trio in G minor, performed by violinist Eduard Kollert, cellist Célia Garetti Nicole, and pianist Mariam Chitanava. Pianist Natalie Schwamova takes the stage for Leoš Janáček’s Piano Sonata 1.X.1905, followed by Josef Suk’s Four Pieces for violin and piano, featuring Eduard Kollert and pianist Marie Rosa Günter. The concert concludes with Antonín Dvořák’s Mazurek in E minor, performed by Kollert and Schwamova. This performance was recorded at Auditorio Sony of the Reina Sofía School of Music in Madrid, Spain, on November 28, 2024.

Mikhail Pletnev leads the Russian National Orchestra in a performance of Maurice Ravel's Piano Concerto in G major, featuring Lucas Debargue as the soloist. The composer completed this lively three-movement Piano Concerto in 1931. He incorporated several jazz elements in the work, especially in the two outer movements. This performance was recorded at Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow, Russia, in 2017, as part of the Ninth RNO Grand Festival.

Richard Danielpour (*1956) is one of the most beloved American composers of his generation due to his frequent referencing of and connection with the past, being inspired by American icons such as Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber and Leonard Bernstein. His lush musical language is often infused with swingy jazz rhythms just as is the music of Copland and Bernstein. Thus, he conveys an intense musical experience to the listener with his intuitive musical style, his exquisite melodic lines and accessible harmonic language. All this makes him to be a hugely popular composer with American orchestras. The initial idea for the composition of a song cycle “Elegies” came from the American mezzo soprano Frederica von Stade who was born in 1945, the same year in which her father was killed when the Jeep he was driving drove over a land mine. Charles von Stade is buried at the American cemetery in Margraten (South Netherlands). His daughter could thus only create a picture of him for herself via family stories and through his letters. These letters form the basis of the text of the songs, where father and daughter “meet” and communicate for the first time. The first movement Vigil, depicts the arrival of the daughter who hopes for a spiritual connection with her father. The second movement describes the intense sorrow of her father at the horrors of war and is as if his daughter is calling on him to return to her. In the third movement we hear the father give his unborn daughter his blessing, “Little soul, to where would you go from the darkness of the womb?” Movement four is the preparation for the reunion of the souls of father and daughter which takes place in movement five, Paradise. Here the daughter welcomes her father’s spiritual rest and sings, “Peace, the air which I breathe”. The philharmonie zuidnederland is conducted by Harmut Haenchen. The German born conductor who naturalized to become Dutch and was chief conductor of the Dutch Opera Amsterdam, the Dutch Philharmonic Orchestra and the Dutch Chamber Orchestra from 1986 to 1996. He was knighted for his services to Dutch music. Harmut Haenchen is a regular guest conductor with the philharmonie zuidnederland. Conductor: Hartmut Haenchen Orchestra: philharmonie zuidnederland Soloists: Marina Prudenskaya (mezzo-soprano), Thomas Oliemans (baritone)

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. 5 in A major, Op. 18, No. 5; String Quartet No. 4 in C minor, Op. 18, No. 4; and String Quartet No. 12 in E-flat major, Op. 127. This concert was recorded at Philharmonie de Paris on December 17, 2020.

Palestrina and Monteverdi were fans. The Gonzagas and the d’Estes were his employers. And the Marchioness of Padulla was his Neapolitan patroness. Thanks to his talents, Giaches De Wert moved from the region around Ghent where he was born to work in some of the most important Italian centres of Renaissance polyphony. He developed into an international star. The Belgian vocal ensemble Utopia sings his motets and Missa dominicalis.

On January 27, 2006, Chinese virtuoso pianist Lang Lang celebrated WA Mozart's birthday with a performance of the Piano Concerto No. 24 in the Forbidden City Concert Hall of Beijing with the China Philharmonic Orchestram directed by Long Yu. The concert hall is located inside the walls of the Forbidden City, in the beautifully maintained gardens of Zhongshan Park, directly adjacent to Tiananmen Square. The program of the concert also includes the opening of Cosi fan tutte, Symphony No. 25, KV 183, "Hai gia came the causa!" from Le Nozze di Figaro, "Finch'han dal vino" from Don Giovannia, and Piano Sonata No. 10, K. 330.

Sir Simon Rattle leads the Berlin Philharmonic in a performance of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2 in E minor, Op. 27. After the disastrous premiere of the composer’s Symphony No. 1 in 1897, Rachmaninoff seriously doubted his ability as a symphonist. Almost a decade later, in October 1906, he started composing his Symphony No. 2. Months of revisions followed. He finished this large orchestral work in the summer of 1907, followed by a highly successful 1908 premiere in St. Petersburg. This performance at the magnificent Teatro Real in Madrid, Spain is part of the Europakonzert 2011.

Mahler's Symphony No. 6 is a monumental work exploring deep personal tragedy, incorporating a unique, famous "hammer" blows that symbolize the inevitable blows of fate. This symphony's intense emotional power, epic scope, and the composer's eventual wrestling with fate and personal loss make it an unforgettable, profoundly moving experience for audiences.

This chamber music concert is part of ‘Preludio’ concert series of the Reina Sofía School of Music in Madrid. The program opens with Joseph Haydn’s Concerto in D major for cello and orchestra, H VIIb: 2 (cello and piano reduction), performed by cellist Alejandro Gómez Pareja and pianist Miguel Ángel Ortega Chavaldas. Next, violinist Cecilia Novella Genovés and pianist Alina Artemyeva present Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir d'un lieu cher, Op. 42, followed by Eugène-Auguste Ysaÿe’s Sonata for solo violin in D minor, Op. 27, No. 3, played by Genovés. Next on the program is Henry Vieuxtemps’s Capriccio, Op. 55, ‘Hommage à Paganini’, presented by violist Mario Carpintero Martín. Bassist Ramsés Martínez Millán and pianist Marharyta Kozlovska close the program with a performance of Johannes Sperger’s Sonata for double bass and viola in D major (in an arrangement for double bass and piano). This performance was recorded at Auditorio Sony of the Reina Sofía School of Music in Madrid, Spain, on April 30, 2024.

Violinists Francesca Dego and Domenico Nordio and pianist Andrea Bacchetti perform Serenade in A major, Op. 92 by Norwegian composer Christian Sinding (1856-1941). Together with Edvard Grieg, Sinding was Norway’s best-known composer at the turn of the century. Composing in the late Romantic style, Sinding’s oeuvre includes a large number of piano pieces, chamber music, and songs. The composer wrote two serenades for two violins and piano: Op. 56 and Op. 92. His Serenade Op. 92 dates from 1909 and consists, like his other Serenade, of five movements. This performance was recorded at Teatro Comunale Città di Vicenza, Italy, on December 2, 2013.

Pianist Carter Johnson (Canada, 1996) 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 the Bourgie Hall of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

For years, tension between the group and the individual has been a central theme of Platel’s performances. In C(H)ŒURS, his biggest project yet, he examines how dangerously beautiful a group can be. What is the relationship between the progressive 19th-century nationalism of Verdi and Wagner and the current tendency for countries to close themselves off? Platel looks at the emotions that arise from the assembly of individuals within groups, reflects on the dynamics of collective movements, and explores the boundary between the public and the individual. C(H)ŒURS features magnificent choral scenes with over 80 singers, dancers and musicians and was premiered on March 12, 2012 at the Teatro Real Madrid.