Schedule

Christian Zacharias (piano), Frank Peter Zimmermann (violin), Tabea Zimmerman (viola) and Tilmann Wick (Cello) perform Mozart’s Piano Quartet No. 1 (K.478) at the Ludwigsburg Festival in 1988. Mozart received a commission for three quartets in 1785 from publisher Franz Anton Hoffmeister. Hoffmeister thought the first quartet (K. 478) was too difficult and the public would not like it. He released Mozart from the obligation of completing the three quartets. However, nine months later, Mozart composed this second quartet anyway.

Patrick Debrabandere conducts the Vox Mago choir in a performance of The Dettingen Te Deum (HWV 283), a canticle composed by George Frideric Handel, in 1743. On June 27, 1743, the British army and its allies, under the command of King George II and Lord Stair, won a victory at the Battle of Dettingen, over the French army. On the King's return, a day of public thanksgiving was appointed, and Handel was commissioned to write a Te Deum. Soloists are Bart Uvyn (alto), Denzil Delaere (tenor), Helena Maes (soprano), and Joris Stroobants (bas). The Vox Mago is made up of a group of enthusiastic and dynamic singers. The perfromance is recorded at the Onze-Lieve-Vrouw Presentatiekerk in Gent in 2018.

Yoichiro Chiba (Japan, 1997) performs J.S. Bach’s Partita No. 2 in C minor, BWV 826, and Franz Liszt’s Sonata in B minor, S. 178, during the semi-finals of the 2021 Piano Edition of the Concours musical international de Montréal (CMIM). This performance was recorded at Yumeria Hall in Tokyo, Japan.

Television plays a crucial role in popularizing classical music. Not only has it preserved precious moments of music making, but it also helps shape the future of music. The Vienna-based IMZ International Music + Media Centre, a global association for all those involved in any aspect of classical and contemporary music, world music, jazz, and dance, celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2015. To commemorate this, renowned film maker Reiner E. Moritz produced the documentary 'Music in the air' to shed light on the history of classical music on television. The film dives into television's archives to demonstrate what the medium has done for the dissemination of music. It features rare footage of Arturo Toscanini conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra in one of the first televised concerts, and captivating fragments from Leonard Bernstein’s Young People Concerts. Moreover, the film contains excerpts of great performances from the past, including those by Glenn Gould, Herbert von Karajan, Igor Stravinsky, and Pierre Boulez.

Regarded as one of the finest interpreters of Romantic repertoire, Francesco Attesti (*1975) gave his first recital at age 11 and by the time he was 23, had earned the highest honours in piano from Florence’s Conservatorio Luigi Cherubini. In this recording of his 2016 Deeply Mozart concert tour, Attesti performs Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s piano concertos KV 449 and KV 488 with the Italian OIDA Orchestra and conductor Paolo Belloli.

In a 2019 performance from the Muziekgebouw in Eindhoven, Hartmut Haenchen conducts the philharmonie zuidnederland for this performance of Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 7. The German-born conductor, who became a Dutch citizen through naturalisation, was chief conductor at the Dutch National Opera, the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra before he was finally knighted for his services to the Dutch music landscape. The majestic opening theme of the first movement of Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 7 foreshadows a momentous work, lasting over 20 minutes. The doubt and turmoil felt throughout the Adagio, the second movement, are supposedly Bruckner's response to the news of the death of his idol, Richard Wagner. Bruckner's use of Wagner tubas and double bass tubas creates an even more solemn and grandiose air within the Adagio. Trumpet signals refer to crowing cockerels as they interrupt the grim and clamorous Scherzo. In the Finale, Bruckner employs a persistent rhythmic pulse that starts softly yet builds up towards the explosive final bars.

Between March and May 2020, Schinkel Pavillon Berlin opened its unexpectedly vacated exhibition space for a concert series in isolation titled Concerts in Quarantine. As part of this series, pianist Jonathan Ware and soprano Elsa Dreisig share the stage in performances of Edvard Grieg's Solveig's Song, Claude Debussy's Trois Chansons de Bilitis, Maurice Ravel's Oiseaux tristes (for solo piano), Enrique Granados's La Maja y el Ruiseñor, Sergei Rachmaninoff's Vocalise, and Alban Berg's Sieben frühe Lieder.

This documentary by Christoph Keller follows various participants and teachers participating in the International Summer Piano Academy.

The Valerius Ensemble, consisting of Eeva Koskinen (violin), René Geesing (cello) and Ingo Lulofs (piano) plays Rachmaninoff’s Trio élégiaque Nr. 1 and the Finale of Dvořák’s Piano Trio No.3, Op. 65. Rachmaninoff composed this Trio in 1892 at the age of 19. The work does not have an opus number and consists only of one movement, which is highly unusual for a Piano Trio. This concert was recorded at Muziekcentrum Enschede in the Netherlands on March 18, 2018.

Juan Manuel Cañizares is the soloist in a performance of Joaquín Rodrigo's (1901-1999) Concierto de Aranjuez. He is accompanied by the Berliner Philharmoniker led by maestro Sir Simon Rattle.

“Paradise on earth.” Luther’s words reflect the admiration that many generations of music fanatics have felt for Josquin Desprez. More than 500 years later his oeuvre has lost none of its technical mastery, poetry, and power of expression. Weser-Renaissance from Bremen is glad to act as Josquin’s champion with this full-blooded programme based around the Missa Ave maris stella plus a selection of Marian motets.

Enjoy a sparkling performance of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s famous Piano Concerto No. 1, by the incredible piano virtuoso Russian Daniil Trifonov, with Kent Nagano conducting the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, to prove once more how majestic and incredible classical music can be when it’s done right! The concert opens with the famous Air from Bach's Orchestral Suite No. 3. Also on the program are Berlioz' Le Corsaire and Bizet's Symphony in C major. Recorded at the Charles Bronfman Auditorium, Tel Aviv, in 2014.

Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 9 can be seen as a farewell to life. Even as Bruckner began working on it in 1887, his health had begun to fail. He expressed the hope that "God will grant me enough time to complete it," and worked on it assiduously over the next years. But by late 1894 he had completed only the first three movements. When he died on 11 October 1896, he left six different versions of the finale, all of them incomplete. Despite its incompleteness, the work is monumental and evokes the grandeur of a majestic cathedral. The details of this architectural colossus are worked out with astonishing transparency by Franz Welser-Möst and the Cleveland Orchestra. The orchestra’s powerfully contoured and sharply profiled interpretation was recorded live in late October 2007 at the magnificent "Golden Hall" of Vienna's fabled Musikverein where the work was given its premiere.

In this performance from the 25th anniversary edition of the Verbier Festival, Seong-Jin Cho pays tribute to Debussy on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the French composer’s death. Cho’s refined palette of color and superb technical mastery is perfectly suited for revealing the subtle harmonic invention of Images. Schumann’s Fantasiestücke, Op.12 are rarely featured in concert programs. This half-hour long cycle is a challenge for the performer who has to demonstrate an extreme versatility of moods ranging from the dark “Des Abends”, the angst-filled “In der Nacht” to the virtuous “Traumeswirren”. With Chopin’s Op.58, Cho shows his ability in the grand sonata form and his affinity for the composer that earned him the distinction by winning the First Prize of the 2015 Chopin competition. Recorded at the 2018 edition of the Verbier Festival in Switzerland.

In this beautiful concert from the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall of Moscow, two exceptional Russian soloists join forces. Violinist Vadim Repin, who at the age of 17 became the youngest winner of the violinist section of the Queen Elisabeth Music Competition 1987 in Brussels, is specialized in interpreting works of Russian composers. Together with renowned pianist Nikolay Lugansky, he brings to the stage a performance of prestige and virtuosity. The programme features Ravel's Sonata No. 2 for Violin and Piano in G-major. It 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.

Although the great Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi applied unsuccessfully to study at the Milan Conservatory, this renowned college of music was eventually named after him. Today, the ‘Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi’ counts numerous successful musicians among its alumni: from Giacomo Puccini, Alfredo Catalani, Claudio Abbado, Riccardo Chailly, Luigi Einaudi and Daniele Gatti, to Gianandrea Noseda. The acclaimed conductor Noseda (*1964) is one of the most important conductors of his generation. Recently, he taught a conducting masterclass at his alma mater for promising students from all over the world. For three days, Noseda joined forces with a hand-picked group of students to work on a varied concert programme. This documentary shows you these young, talented musicians rehearse compositions by Mozart, Tchaikovsky, and Stravinsky under the enthusiastic guidance of Maestro Gianandrea Noseda himself.

Joseph Haydn (1732-1809): Symphony No. 94 in G major "Surprise". Berliner Philharmoniker; conductor: Mariss Jansons. The European Concert has been a tradition of the Berliner Philharmoniker since 1991. The musicians commemorate the anniversary of the orchestra's founding on May 1st, 1882, playing in different European cities. This concert was recorded in the church "Hagia Eirene" in Istanbul, Turkey.

Baritone Bryan Murray (USA, 1989) performs ‘Ich ging mit Lust’, ‘Ablösung im Sommer’, and ‘Zu Straßburg auf der Schanz’ from Gustav Mahler’s Lieder und Gesänge aus der Jugenzeit; ‘Wo die schönen Trompeten blasen’, and ‘Wer hat dies Liedlein erdacht?’ from Mahler’s song cycle Des Knaben Wunderhorn; ‘Oh No, I Beg You, Forsake Me Not!’, ‘Morning’, ‘In the Silence of the Secret Night’, and ‘Do Not Sing, My Beauty’ from Sergei Rachmaninoff’s 6 Romances, Op. 4, and Lee Hoiby’s song cycle I Was There: Five Poems of Walt Whitman, Op. 49, during the final round of the Art Song division of the Concours musical international de Montréal 2022 (CMIM). This performance was recorded at the Bourgie Hall of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

Soprano Harriet Burns (United Kingdom, 1989) performs Joseph Haydn’s The Mermaid’s Song, Hob. XXVIa:25; ‘Le corbeau et le renard’ from André Caplet’s song cycle Trois Fables de Jean de la Fontaine; Lee Hoiby’s Jabberwocky; ‘Muttertändelei’ from Richard Strauss’s 3 Gesänge älterer deutscher Dichter, Op. 43; ‘Flickan kom ifrån sin älsklings möte’ from Wilhelm Stenhammar’s Idyll och epigram, Op. 4; Franz Schubert’s Das Zügenglöcklein, D. 871; ‘Lady Isobel and the Elf-Knight’ from Judith Weir’s Scotch Minstrelsy; ‘Ballad’ from James MacMillan’s Three Soutar Settings; ‘O byl to krásny, zlaty sen’ from Antonín Dvořák’s Four Songs, Op. 2; and ‘Waldmädchen’ from Hugo Wolf’s Eichendorff-Lieder, during the final round of the Art Song division of the Concours musical international de Montréal 2022 (CMIM). This performance was recorded at the Bourgie Hall of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

Soprano Meredith Wohlgemuth (USA, 1995) performs ‘Er ist’s’ from Hugo Wolf’s Morike-Lieder; ‘Hexenlied’ from Felix Mendelssohn’s 12 Gesänge, Op. 8; Richard Strauss’s Drei Lieder der Ophelia, Op. 67; Francis Poulenc’s Métamorphoses; Alfred Bachalet’s Chère nuit; ‘Meine Rose’ from Robert Schumann’s 6 Gedichte von N. Lenau und Requiem, Op. 90; ‘Wie Melodien’ from Johannes Brahms’s 5 Lieder, Op. 105; and ‘Del cabello más sutil’ and ‘Chiquitita la novia’ from Fernando Obradors’s Canciones Clásicas Españolas, during the final round of the Art Song division of the Concours musical international de Montréal 2022 (CMIM). This performance was recorded at the Bourgie Hall of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

La Piccola Orchestra Lumière and the Coro Filarmonico Trentino perform the piece 'Ikone' (2020) by Italian contemporary composer and cellist Nicola Segatta. Consisting of an orchestra with a big diversity of instruments (from strings to saz and drums), Segatta makes very interesting combinations ranging from Byzantine themes to world music and a touch of musical. This gives the work a big variety, which makes the listener feel like going on a musical journey around the world.