Schedule

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.

Indian conductor Zubin Mehta (1936) became Music Director of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) in 1977 and was appointed Music Director for Life in 1981. On July 18, 1996, Mehta led the IPO in its first-ever performance of Richard Strauss’s tone poem Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche, Op. 28. Renowned as one of the world’s foremost interpreters of the great symphonic repertoire—especially the Romantic works of Anton Bruckner, Gustav Mahler, and Richard Strauss—Mehta had conducted this popular masterpiece many times before. However, this was the first occasion he rehearsed it from the very beginning with the orchestra. This episode of ‘In Rehearsal’ offers an intimate look at the dialogue between Mehta and the musicians as they explore Strauss’s tone poem together.

Minsoo Hong (1993, South Korea) performs Liszt’s Sposalizio from Années de Pèlerinage: Deuxième Année (S161/1) and Bellini/Liszt’s Réminiscences de Norma (S394) during the Solo Finals of the11th International Franz Liszt Piano Competition, held in TivoliVredenburg, Utrecht, in 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 has since built a reputation as one of the world’s most prestigious piano competitions.

In 2006, Gidon Kremer and Martha Argerich set out on tour performing solos and duets by Bartók und Schumann. The last of the concert series at the Berliner Philharmonie has been recorded for this film, featuring a rare solo performance by Martha Argerich. A concert film with personal and moving commentary by Gidon Kremer. Program: Schumann's Violin Sonata No. 1, Op. 10, Violin Sonata No. 2, Op. 121; Kinderszenen, Op. 15; Bartók: Violin Sonata No. 1 Sz 75; Violin sonata No. 2 Sz 76.

In 2013, the Finnish conductor Hannu Lintu was appointed principal conductor of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. Lintu studied piano and cello at the Sibelius Academy and the Turku conservatorium in Sweden’s southeast. He started conducting at the Sibelius Academy. His many concerts with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra in 2012 made him the obvious replacement for Sakari Oramo, who, after many years as conductor and concert master, terminated his contract in 2012. The orchestra specializes in the performance of Finnish music, but also performs the great masterpieces of Gustav Mahler and Béla Bartók. The Finnish composer Jean Sibelius is the orchestra’s favourite, as well as the conductor. In cooperation with Finland’s national public broadcasting company Yle, all seven Sibelius symphonies are recorded and broadcast. After a brief spoken introduction about the piece, the orchestra performs the complete symphony. After Sibelius was diagnosed with throat cancer in 1908, he changed his lifestyle as well as his approach to composition. Fearing death, he quit using alcohol and tobacco. Simultaneously, the harmonies in his works grew darker and more sombre. Devils and death are among the images conjured up by the gloomy sounds of this Symphony.

Pianist Anthony Ratinov (USA, 1997) 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 Berliner Philharmoniker is one of the world’s finest orchestras, its fame stretching all the way to Japan. Unsurprisingly, this 2000 concert, recorded at Tokyo’s magnificent Suntory Hall, was a resounding success. Mariss Jansons conducts a beautiful program that includes Antonin Dvorák’s Symphony No. 8, Carl Maria von Weber’s Overture to Oberon, and Dmitri Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto featuring star violinist Hilary Hahn (*1979)

As part of a new collaboration with the famous composer of "music with repetitive structures" Philip Glass, French pianists Katia and Marielle Labèque perform the European premiere of Glass's Concerto for two pianos with the Orchester de Paris conducted by Jaap van Zweden, current music director of the New York Philharmonic.

The Valerius Ensemble, consisting of Carola Ligt (flute), Robert Windak (violin), Eva Šušlíková (viola) and René Geesing (cello) played a concert in Concordia, Enschede on April 23, 2018. The program consists of Mozarts Flute Quartet No. 1, K. 285 and the Romanzo from Von Dohnányi’s Serenade Op. 10. Caroli Ligt follows with her own composition “Moods.” The ensembles closes with Thomas-Mifune’s and Joseph Haydn’s “Südamerikanische Saitensprünge.”

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.

Celebrated German violinist Isabelle Faust performs J. S. Bach’s Sonata No. 3 in C major (BWV 1005). The work is part of the composer’s well-known Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin (BWV 1001-1006). 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 piece. This performance was recorded at St. Thomas Church in Leipzig, Germany, in 2020.

This stunning, new interpretation of Cinderella, is a theatrical ice dancing performance not to be missed.This story of Cinderella focuses on a humble chorus dancer who is thrust into the spotlight, captivates the heart of the most eligible bachelor in town, and despite rival attempts by her stepsisters to steal his heart, shows viewers that true love always triumphs. Recorded in 2008 in Australia by award winning artistic director Tony Mercer, this twist on the classic tale, features the international Imperial Ice Stars, including Albena Denkova and Maxim Staviski, former world champion ice dancers. Original score composed by Tim Duncan and Edward Barnwell.

Italian composer Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) composed nine books of madrigals in half a century, which helped transform the genre from the polyphonic, a cappella madrigals of the late Renaissance to the ‘concertato’ madrigals of the early Baroque, shifting the style’s focus to the ability of music to express emotions contained in a text. In 2011, British tenor Paul Agnew and renowned Baroque ensemble Les Arts Florissants started recording eight books of Monteverdi’s madrigals. In this program, Agnew leads Les Arts Florissants in the madrigals of Book III. Published in 1592, the book contains twenty madrigals for five voices. This performance was recorded at the Cité de la musique in Paris, France, in 2012.

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.

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.

J. S. Bach’s six Brandenburg Concerto’s belong to his best-known works. The composer wrote these concertos between 1711 and 1720 and dedicated them in 1721 to Christian Ludwig, Margrave of Brandenburg. In celebration of the pieces’ 300th anniversary, Czech harpsichordist and conductor Václav Luks and the renowned Baroque ensemble Collegium 1704 recorded all six Brandenburg Concertos on historical instruments in 2021. The concertos are based on the Italian concerto grosso form, in which a group of solo instruments is set against a large ensemble. Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos feature remarkable combinations of solo instruments and virtuoso solos. In this performance at the Hall of Mirrors in the Köthen Castle, Germany, Luks and his Collegium 1704 present Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 in G major, BWV 1049. This concerto features solos from two recorders and a violin. The recorders play a prominent role in the concerto’s second movement, while the violin dominates the fast first and third movements.

This unique production of Carl Maria von Weber’s ‘Der Freischütz’ was created to celebrate both the piece’s 200th premiere anniversary at Konzerthaus Berlin and the 200th anniversary of the famed concert hall itself. For this production, Catalan theatre group La Fura dels Baus – internationally acclaimed for its avant-garde opera – created a virtual forest in the Konzerthaus’ Great Hall, delivering a thrilling new interpretation of Von Weber’s Romantic opera. Stage director Carlus Padrissa calls this 2021 production a “journey to the roots of opera, where myth, history and the current reality of the forest meet”. Christoph Eschenbach conducts Konzerthausorchester Berlin and Rundfunkchor Berlin. Among the soloists are Jeanine De Bique (Agathe), Anna Prohaska (Ännchen), Benjamin Bruns (Max), Falk Struckmann (Kaspar), Franz Hawlata (Kuno), and Viktor Rud (Kilian). This performance was recorded on June 18, 2021.

Over the course of 19 days, the best youth orchestras in the world led by great conductors, and flanked by virtuoso soloists, guaranteed exciting and inspiring concert performances at the Young Euro Classical 2017. The festival is known to be the most important platform for international young orchestra musicians in the European classical music tradition, and for its development. This highlight version is a collection of infectiously energizing and outstanding performances by musicians from across the globe. Their repertoire includes renowned classical works as well as local composers. On the program: Verdi - La forza del destino, Beethoven - Meeresstille und glückliche Fahrt, Tchaikovsky - Piano Concerto No. 1, Tchaikovsky - Six Romances, Kohji - Georgian, Mingrelian Songs, Weinberg - Rhapsody on Moldavian Themes Op. 47 and Wong - As the Heart Soars.

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. This program features Quatuor Ébène performing Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 2 in G major, Op. 18, No. 2. This concert was recorded at Philharmonie de Paris on December 16, 2020.