... namely from the Douro to the Elbe: Peter Rundel is traveling to Hamburg for the 20th anniversary of his Remix Ensemble. The soloist ensemble for new music  is based at the Casa da Música Porto. At the Elbphilharmonie on 22 September, Hans Zender's compositional view of Beethoven's Diabelli Variations, 33 changes over 33 changes, is on the program, after which Herbert Schuch will then interpret Beethoven's Variations. And there will also be a musical celebration in Porto:...

We are very pleased to begin working with the cellist Marie-Elisabeth Hecker, whose playing has been described by DIE ZEIT as "heartbreakingly sad and somnambulistically beautiful". Her special intensity of expression can be experienced several times in the coming weeks, both with orchestra and in chamber music format:...

With the beginning of the current 2020/21 season, Michael Wendeberg has taken up his new post as chief conductor of the opera at the Bühnen Halle. He had already been the first Kapellmeister at the opera house since 2016. This season he will conduct the premieres of Janáčeks Jenůfa and Wagner's Tristan und Isolde....

Six years after its opening, the Konzerthaus Blaibach is confronting the difficult conditions under which concert life currently stands with a diverse musical series of 115 concerts. Through the end of November, Maximilian Hornung, Claire Huangci, Ilya Gringolts, Gabor Vosteen, Mahan Esfahani, das GrauSchumacher Piano Duo und Yeree Suh, among others, will be guests in the Bavarian Forest....

For the new album now released on the Ondine label with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Hannu Lintu, Anssi Karttunen has recorded a cello concerto by his close friend Peter Lieberson (1946-2011). The Six Realms for cello and orchestra takes its title from a central teaching of Buddhism, the six realms in the cycle of rebirth....

The Volksoper Stockholm (Folkoperan) has appointed Henrik Schaefer as its new Music Director starting the beginning of the 2021/22 season, where he most recently led Massenet's Don Quichotte with great success in 2018....

Mahan Esfahani's new CD received euphoric reviews immediately after its release: " This album of modern pieces for harpsichord will completely upend your idea of the instrument," The Telegraph wrote, and the BBC Record Review found: "it‘s brilliantly done". The album, entitled Musique?, released in July by Hyperion, was also enthusiastically reviewed by The New Yorker:...

Ryoko Aoki started her new streaming series in May with the performance of the work Voice of Wind, written by Federico Gardella as a prayer for an end to Covid-19. Performances of compositions by Noriko Baba and Bruno Dozza followed in June and July (available online for further viewing here).  During the worldwide suffering caused by the pandemic, Ryoko Aoki commissioned international composers to write pieces for Noh voice, which she now performs in live streaming concerts....