... meets new architecture: Peter Rundel conducts the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin on two occasions as part of the Xenakis programme at the Elbphilharmonie. The concerts taking place on 30 November and 1 December will feature major works by the great sound architect as well as compositions by Olivier Messiaen and Jani Christou, and will also feature a number of outstanding soloists....

On 29 November the fifth Eurasia International Music Festival opens in Ekaterinburg with the Russian premiere of Hans Werner Henze's scenic oratorio Das Floß der Medusa. Together with Sarah Wegener (soprano), Holger Falk (baritone) and Vladimir Ognev (narrator), the Ural Philharmonic Orchestra and the Yekaterinburg Philharmonic Choir under Dmitry Liss will stage the work. The festival will present numerous musical highlights through 6 December....

On 28 November Tabea Zimmermann will perform together with pianist Javier Perianes at the Staatstheater Darmstadt. The two musicians will perform a programme of Spanish dances and folk songs as well as Schubert's Arpeggione Sonata in A minor D 821 and Brahms Sonata No. 2 in E flat major for viola and piano op. 120,2....

For the first time since her appointment as Chief Conductor and Artistic Director, Eva Ollikainen will conduct the Iceland Symphony Orchestra on 28 November. The 2011 Harpa Concert Hall in Reykjavik will feature works from three centuries, including Jean Françaix's Clarinet Concerto, premiered in 1968, with soloist Dimitri Þór Ashkenazy....

On 28 and 30 November, Jeroen Berwaerts will be performing with Håkan Hardenberger and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Daniel Harding in two concerts to mark the 40th anniversary of the Stockholm Berwaldhallen. Together they will perform Tobias Broström's trumpet concerto Nigredo: The Dark Night of the Soul at its Swedish premiere....

From 26 to 30 November, Yajie Zhang will be performing in one of the most famous breeches roles in opera history: As Cherubino in Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro, she will appear in three performances on the stage of the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing. The production, directed by Francesco Lanzillotta, was staged by Jose Luis Castro....

On 24 November, Marc Soustrot will conduct the MDR Symphony Orchestra and the MDR Radio Choir with Hector Berlioz’s Requiem, the Grande Messe des Morts, at the Leipzig Gewandhaus. Though making his debut with the orchestra as a conductor, he is well acquainted with the choir:...

Two premieres and two first performances of Toshio Hosokawa's works will take place in Japan in November: The Arditti Quartet will present Toshio Hosokawa's new string quartet Passage in Takasaki as part of its tour of Japan on 23 November, and the Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Yoichi Sugiyama, will present the orchestral work UZU at Suntory Hall in Tokyo on 28 November....

On November 22, Hans Zender would have turned 83 years old. After the composer's death on 22 October, the evening planned as a birthday concert in Munich's Herkulessaal commemorates the great music thinker: the BR Symphony Orchestra under Peter Rundel will perform 33 Veränderungen über 33 Veränderungen at the opening of the musica viva 33 series season....

After several performances at the Royal Opera House Muscat in Oman in October, Ravel's opera L'Enfant et les Sortilèges will be shown, again under the baton of Titus Engel, at the Opéra de Lyon from 14 to 19 November. The production, directed by Grégoire Pont, will feature soloists from the Opera Studio of the Opéra de Lyon, thus providing a platform for young singers....

A whole series of events is planned around the highly anticipated premiere of Chaya Czernowin's new opera Heart Chamber at the Deutsche Oper Berlin on 15 November. The work, staged by Claus Guth, is about the innermost emotions in the souls of two lovers. It features Patrizia Ciofi, Noa Frenkel, Dietrich Henschel and Terry Wey in the main roles, and will be staged on five evenings running through 6 December....

From 10 to 20 November, Antje Weithaas will be performing as the soloist with the Amsterdam Sinfonietta in an unusual touring project, for which she will also be the musical director. In collaboration with the music theatre group Orkater, the ensemble created a musical thriller about Beethoven and Janáčeks Kreutzerersonaten, which will be staged in seven Dutch cities....

Sergei Rachmaninov himself regarded it as one of his best works: the symphonic poem The Bells ("Kolokola") from 1913. The Ural Philharmonic Orchestra and the Yekaterinburg Philharmonic Choir, conducted by Dmitry Liss, as well as vocal soloists from the Mariinsky Theatre St. Petersburg, are now performing the work at the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Philharmonie Luxembourg and the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, among others. The tour begins with concerts in Graz on November 4 and 5....

Antje Weithaas' recording with the NDR Radiophilharmonie, under the direction of its chief conductor Andrew Manze, will be released on the cpo label on 16 September. In addition to Schumann's Violin Concerto, the violinist recorded Brahms' Double Concerto, whose cello part was played by Maximilian Hornung. The recording thus unites two outstanding soloists, as well as two composers who were closely interwoven:...

Mariam Batsashvili’s first album for Warner Classics was released on 30 August. In her Warner debut, the young Georgian pianist dedicates herself to her favourite composer Franz Liszt and illuminates an interesting chapter: Liszt's relationship to his contemporary Frédéric Chopin. Here the link to the album....