Schedule

The Berliner Philharmoniker, Daniel Barenboim and Claudio Abbado star at the Europakonzert 1994 in Meiningen, Germany, performing Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 and Johannes Brahms’ Symphony No. 2. Popularly known as the Emperor Concerto and composed in Vienna between 1809 and 1811, Piano Concerto No. 5 is Beethoven’s last completed piano concerto and often performed by star pianists such as Daniel Barenboim. A few decades later in 1877, Brahms completed his Second Symphony, which is often compared to Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony given its cheerful and pastoral character.

The legendary pianist Vladimir Horowitz (1903-1989) won his first praise on his interpretation of Rachmaninoff's Third Piano Concerto from the composer himself. When Rachmaninoff heard the young Kiev-born pianist play his work shortly after Horowitz's arrival in New York in 1928, he exclaimed: "He swallowed it whole." Fifty years later, on September 24, 1978, Horowitz electrified his audience once again with this monumental work. Accompanied by the New York Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta, he gave a special performance of this work as part of the celebrations honoring his U.S. debut 50 years earlier. His unforgettable account was recorded live on video and broadcast simultaneously throughout the United States. It was the last time Horowitz played the Third in his lifetime. The work itself, reverently called "Rach 3" by pianists brave enough to tackle its monstrous technical challenges, achieved international celebrity of a different kind in recent years.

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 play Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 3 in G major, K. 216. Leading violinist Grimal features as the soloist. With the exception of the first violin concerto, Mozart composed his other four violin concertos in 1775 at a time when he was concertmaster at the Salzburg court. Violin Concerto No. 3 opens with a theme the composer borrowed from the aria ‘Aer tranquillo’ of his then recent opera Il re pastore. In the beautiful Adagio, the strings are muted and the oboes make way for the flutes, which only sound in the second movement. The finale movement has a dance-like character. This performance was recorded at Cité de la Musique, France, in 2014.

Iván Fischer conducts the Budapest Festival Orchestra in a concert recorded at the Béla Bartók National Concert Hall in Budapest, Hungary in 2015. The concert opens with Sergei Prokofiev's Overture on Hebrew Themes, Op. 34. After this, Thomas Zehetmair stars as solo violinist in Prokofiev Violin Concerto No. 2, Op. 63. The second part of the concert is features music by Igor Stravinsky. On the program is music composed for the ballet 'Jeu de cartes' (1937) and the Firebird Suite, No. 2 (1919). 'Jeu de cartes' is one of Stravinsky's neo-classical works and consists of three parts ('deals'). The Firebird Suite, No. 2 is based on the music from the ballet of the same name, which was written for Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes and premiered in Paris in 1910.

From the Rammenau Castle, the Gewandhaus-Quartett presents Mozart's String Quartet No. 21 in D major, K. 575. Nicknamed The Violet, this piece was composed in 1789 and is the first of the Prussian Quartets, a series of plays written for Friedrich Wilhelm II, King of Prussia and amateur cellist, in a style similar to Joseph Haydn's quartets. Founded in 1808, the Gewandhaus-Quartett is the oldest quartet in the world, continuously performing for more than 200 years. It is currently composed of Frank Michael Erben (first violin), Conrad Suske (second violin), Volker Metz (viola), Jürnjakob Timm (cello), and Steffen Adelmann (double bass).

Conductor Jan Latham-Koenig leads the Flanders Symphony Orchestra in this concert recorded at Concertgebouw Brugge, Belgium, on April 21, 2016. The program opens with Felix Mendelssohn’s concert overture Die Hebriden, Op. 26 (The Hebrides). During a trip to Scotland, the composer was deeply impressed by the natural splendor of Staffa, an island of the Inner Hebrides, which inspired him to compose his concert overture. Next on the program is Edvard Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 16, featuring Pascal Amoyel as the pianist. It is the composer’s only concerto. Grieg composed the work in 1868, drawing inspiration from Norwegian folk music. The program ends with Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92. The work is very popular, especially because of its touching second movement. At the Allegretto’s 1813 premiere, the audience demanded an immediate encore.

On New Year’s Eve the Berliner Philharmoniker and Sir Simon Rattle invite us to join them together with Cecilia Bartoli, who graced their annual concert at the Philharmonie, Berlin with arias selected from her extraordinary repertoire. Also featured: exhilarating dances by Brahms and Dvořák that happily combine characteristics of their own idioms with Slavonic and Hungarian folk music. The program features following works: Rameau’s Dances Suite, Gavotte and Entr’acte from Les Boréades; Handel’s “Scherza in mar la navicella" from Lotario, “Ah che sol...M'adoro l'idol mio” from Teseo and “Lascia la spina” from Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno. This is followed by orchestral performances such as Dvořák’s Slavonic Dances Op. 46/1, No. 4, Op.72/4 and Op. 46/3, Suite No. 2 from Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé and Brahms’ Hungarian Dance No. 1.

This Sonata for Violin and Harpsichord No. 1 BWV 1014 is the fourth out of the set of sonatas Johann Sebastian Bach composed before 1725, probably during his time as chapel master in Köthen. Presumably, he wrote these sonatas for Prince Leopold and later adapted them for further use in Leipzig. Maybe this is why these pieces are well playable for amateurs, while every sonata still has the finesse that can offer a challenge to professional musicians. The different pieces are meant to be a set, just like the Brandenburg concertos.

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 play Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 4 in D major, K. 218. Leading violinist Grimal features as the soloist. With the exception of the first violin concerto, Mozart composed his other four violin concertos in 1775 at a time when he was concertmaster at the Salzburg court. Among his five concertos, Violin Concerto No. 4 is one of the best-known. This performance was recorded at Cité de la Musique, France, in 2014.

Around 1700, in Naples, anyone who aspired to make a career as a violinist had the monumental figure of Gian Carlo Cailò to reckon with: this virtuoso worked for the royal chapel and taught at four conservatoires. Only one of his sonatas was preserved, which inspired the young Dutch star violinist Eva Saladin, together with Daniel Rosin on cello and Johannes Keller on harpsichord, to build a programme around Cailò and his brilliant pupils Mascitti and Piani.

Testing Mozart is a 60 minute film about the Mozart effect; the power of Mozart's music to fight disease and increase the mental ability of listeners. It is common knowledge that cows give more milk and tomatoes grow bigger when Mozart is played, but what effect does his music have on humans? In this journey into the worlds of music and medicine, Testing Mozart examines the latest scientific discoveries that shed new light on the influence the composer’s work has on the brain. The documentary by award-winning director Frederick Baker explains why Mozart is so special. Produced in 2006 as part of Mozart Year, this captivating documentary caters to a wide audience and introduces neophytes to the work of Mozart.

For the 2016 edition of the Waldbühne, the Georgian violinist Lisa Batiashvili and the Québécois conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin join the Berliner Philharmoniker for a beautiful concert. They present an all Czech program! We always think of Germany, Austria, and Italy when we name great classical composers, but the Czech Republic also delivered some master composers such as Antonin Dvorák, Bedrich Smetana, Leos Janacek, and Bohuslav Martinu. This concert starts with Smetana’s famous Vltava from Má Vlast. Lisa Batiashvili plays Dvorák’s Violin Concerto in A minor, and the concerts centerpiece is Dvorák’s Symphony No. 6.

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.

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 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s String Quartet No. 19 in C major, K. 465, ‘Dissonance’ (Op. 10 No. 6). The String Quartet is the last in the set of six quartets that were dedicated to Joseph Haydn. Written between 1782 and 1785, these are also known as the Haydn Quartets (Op. 10). String Quartet No. 19 is remarkable for its slow, dissonant introduction, giving the piece its nickname. This ominous passage suddenly gives way to the bright Allegro in C major. This performance was recorded at Opéra Comique in Paris, France, in 2015.

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.

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. 1 in F major, Op. 18, No. 1; String Quartet No. 10 in E-flat major, Op. 74, "Harp"; and String Quartet No. 9 in C major, Op. 59, No. 3, "Razumovsky". This concert performance was recorded at Philharmonie de Paris on October 13, 2020.

Every year, the Europakonzert is hosted by the Berliner Philharmoniker in a notorious concert hall or on a special location. This years concert is performed at the magnificent Royal Albert Hall in London. The Dutch conductor Bernard Haitink closes with Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring which he wrote in 1913 for Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. The première caused a lot of sensation and near-riot in the audience because of the avant-garde nature, music and choreography of the piece. The Rite of Spring is now considered as one of the masterpieces of classical music history and has influenced many 20th-century music composers. The encore is Tchaikovsky's Flower Waltz from the Nutcracker.

Italian pianist Roberto Prosseda performs Frédéric Chopin's technically challenging Ballade No. 4 in F minor, Op. 52. Completed in 1842, this piece is celebrated as a masterpiece within the Romantic piano repertoire, renowned for its intricate structure and profound emotional depth. This performance was recorded at the stunning baroque palace Villa Contarini in Piazzola sul Brenta, Italy, in 2006.

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.

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, Su Yeon Kim (South Korea, 1994) performs various works by Frédéric Chopin: Nocturne in C minor, Op. 48, No. 1; Mazurka, Op. 2, No. 2 and 4; Scherzo No. 3 in C-sharp minor, Op. 39; and Waltz in A-flat major, Op. 34 No. 1. The recital comes to a close with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Gigue in G major, KV 574. This performance was recorded at Teatro EDI Barrio’s in Milan, in January 2020.

Maestro Myung-Whun Chung leads the Orchestra and Chorus of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, along with two vocal soloists, in this impressive performance of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 in C minor, ‘Resurrection’. Soprano Christiane Karg and alto Claudia Huckle are the soloists. Written between 1888 and 1894, this five-movement symphony is scored for a large orchestra, chorus, and soprano and alto soloists. Mahler explores themes of life, death, and resurrection throughout the symphony. Its first movement resembles a funeral march, while the second, a graceful Ländler, creates a stark contrast with the somber character of the first. The third movement is a Scherzo based on Mahler’s musical setting of ‘Des Antonius von Padua Fischpredigt’ from the collection Des Knaben Wunderhorn. The composer also used another Wunderhorn poem, ‘Urlicht’ (Primal Light), for the fourth movement, incorporating both text and music, sung by the alto. The chorus makes its entrance in the second part of the fifth and final movement with the ‘Resurrection’ chorale. This performance was recorded at Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence, Italy, in 2021.

In this concert recorded in November 2016 at the magnificent Baroque basilica of Saint Florian, Austria – once the home of Anton Bruckner – the Wiener Singverein, the Cleveland Orchestra and its principal conductor Franz Welser-Möst pare down all traces of bombast wherever emotions could easily run out of control. Brahms' Ein Deutsches Requiem, Op. 45, reaches out to comfort the living through religious texts not traditionally associated with the Requiem Mass. The result is a work of great intensity that speaks to people of all faiths, believers and non-believers alike. The program’s two soloists – Hanna-Elisabeth Müller and Simon Keenlyside – are already at home on the world’s stages. While the former has carved a career for herself not only as an opera singer but also as a concert artist, the London-born Keenlyside has been building his impressive career around the prestigious guest appearances he has made during the past ten years.

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.

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.