![]() | Poetry and DramaOn 18 February, the Belgian orchestra Le Concert Olympique, lead by conductor and Beethoven biographer Jan Caeyers, will perform three important works by the famous German composer in the Chamber Music Hall of the Berlin Philharmonie: the Coriolan Overture, the Fourth Piano Concerto in G Major and the Fifth Symphony. Alexander Melnikov will take on the piano part.... |
![]() | Passion on TourChristoph Prégardien will embark on a concert tour with the Nederlands Bachvereniging from 23 February to 1 March, conducting sacred works by Felix Mendelssohn, Heinrich Schütz and Johann Sebastian Bach.... |
![]() | Ill-Fated CreaturesOn 21 February, Titus Engel will conduct the world premiere of Michael Wertmüller's opera Diodati Infinite at the Theater Basel. The libretto, which thematically revolves around the search for freedom and individuality in an unbalanced world, was written by the playwright Dea Loher. The work will be performed over seven further performances, through 8 April.... |
![]() | New Position for Steven SloaneConductor Steven Sloane has been appointed as new Music Director of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra (JSO) from the 2020/21 season. Already starting in 2019/20, he will conduct three concert programs, and he will also plan the upcoming seasons.... |
![]() | Three Pieces for the 35thOn 16 February, the Scharoun Ensemble will premiere Mark Andre’s Three Pieces forEnsemble at the Berliner Philharmonie. The commissioned work of the Berliner Philharmonic Foundation and the Elbphilharmonie will be performed again on 23 February in Hamburg. It is dedicated to the Scharoun Ensemble.... |
![]() | Classic and the 20th CenturyMaximilian Hornung will play the cello part in two concertos with the Munich Chamber Orchestra on 16 February in Donaueschingen: Joseph Haydn's 1st Cello Concerto in C major and Vaja Azarashvili's Concerto for Cello and String Orchestra, written in 1978.... |
![]() | New in ParisAlejo Pérez will conduct the world premiere of Graziane Finzi's Fantaisie Concerto for viola and orchestra at the Présences Festival on 15 February. The soloist will be Marc Desmons. Under Alejo’s direction, the Orchestre Philharmonique and the Chœur de Radio France will also perform works by Wolfgang Rihm and Luciano Berio.... |
![]() | A Competition's New Dynamic DuoTogether with Oliver Wille, Antje Weithaas takes over the artistic direction of the International Joseph Joachim Violin Competition Hannover. The Lower Saxony Foundation has appointed the two violinists as successors to Krzysztof Wegrzyn, who founded the competition in 1991 and has fostered since then its international appeal.... |
![]() | The Piano AnswersChristoph Prégardien's new album Auf Flügeln des Gesangs [On Wings of Song], released by Challenge Classics, is generating much enthusiasm among critics. BR Klassik, for example, called the recording – made in collaboration with the Cypriot-French star pianist Cyprien Katsaris – "an immense pleasure".... |
Alejo Pérez with Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France @ Présences
15.02. Maison de la Radio Paris
Maximilian Hornung with the Münchner Kammerorchester in Grünwald
15.02. August-Everding-Saal Grünwald
Ilya Gringolts and Ensemble Resonanz @ Hauptkirche St. Katharinen, Hamburg, Germany
15.02. Main Church St. Katharinen
Antje Weithaas with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra in Örebro
16.02. Örebro Konserthus
Michael Wendeberg mit dem JSO Sachsen-Anhalt
16.02. Theater an der Illmenau, Uelzen
Tabea Zimmermann and Thomas Hoppe: Recital in Passau
16.02. Redoute Passau
Dmitry Liss & Philharmonie Zuidnederland
16.02. Theater aan het Vrijthof, Maastricht
Maximilian Hornung with the Münchner Kammerorchester in Donaueschingen
16.02. Donauhallen, Donaueschingen
Claire Huangci at Holzhausenschlösschen Frankfurt a.M.
17.02. Holzhausenschlösschen, Frankfurt
Dmitry Liss & Philharmonie Zuidnederland
17.02. Muziekgebouw Frits Philips Eindhoven
Michael Wendeberg with the JSO Sachsen-Anhalt
17.02. Georg-Friedrich-Händel Halle
Tabea Zimmermann and Thomas Hoppe: Recital in Rügheim
17.02. Schüttbau Tagungs- und Kulturzentrum Rügheim
Maximilian Hornung: Trio with Sarah Christian and Fabian Müller at "Bonner Zwischentöne"
17.02. Evangelische Trinitatiskirche Bonn
Ilya Gringolts and Ensemble Resonanz at the Palatin Wiesloch
17.02. Palatin Wiesloch
Christoph Prégardien sings Schubert and Mahler with Kölner Kammerorchester
17.02. Philharmonie Cologne
Steven Sloane and Fazil Say with Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen
18.02. Glocke Bremen
Le Concert Olympique at the Chamber Music Hall of the Berliner Philharmonie
18.02. Berliner Philharmonie
19.02. Free Academy of the Arts in Hamburg
Marc Soustrot@Royal Swedish Opera: "Dialogue des Carmélites"
19.02. Royal Swedish Opera, Stockholm
Jeroen Berwaerts with the St. Petersburg State Academic Capella orchestra
19.02. St Petersburg State Academic Capella
Maximilian Hornung: Trio with Sarah Christian and Fabian Müller in Cologne
19.02. Deutschlandfunk Kammermusiksaal, Cologne
Steven Sloane will take up the position of Music Director of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra at the beginning of the 2020/21 season. From October 2019 he will be Music Director Designate, leading the orchestra in three symphony concerts and begin with artistic planning. Karsten Witt took this appointment as an opportunity to take a look into the future – as well as the past....
He has taken to the stage as Charles V, as Walter Benjamin, as Prince of Homburg, and as Friedrich Hölderlin. Now, in the role of Martin Luther, Dietrich Henschel adds another heavyweight to this eclectic list of key figures from political and intellectual history. In May 2019, the baritone will take on the role of the Protestant reformer in the premiere of Bo Holten's opera Schlagt sie tot! at the Malmö Opera....
From the beginning of the 2018/19 season Bas Wiegers takes over the position of Principal Guest Conductor of Klangforum Wien from Sylvain Cambreling. For the ensemble’s 2018/19 programme, the conductor contributed an essay entitled “Some thoughts about diversity and character,” a shortened version of which we reproduce here with kind permission of Klangforum Wien. The full version is available to read in the ensemble’s blog....
The Israeli composer and conductor Noam Sheriff shaped the music life of Israel more than almost any other person. He died on 25th August at the age of 83. Shortly before the burial in Tel Aviv, the conductor Steven Sloane spoke to Karsten Witt about his memories of the great artist and mentor to following generations of Israeli conductors for many decades....
„I get very nervous when I am making records (...) when the stage is set for the final recording and I realise that this will remain for good, my hands get tense.“ No, this isn’t Claire Huangci, who recently recorded Sergei Rachmaninov’s complete piano preludes for Berlin Classics, but rather the Russian composer himself who admitted to nerves. One of the greatest pianists of his time, Rachmaninov made landmark recordings of both his own works and music by other composers, but always had a certain mistrust of sound recordings.Nearly a hundred years later, committing any works to disc still presents its own exciting challenges. This is especially true in the case of the preludes, which are not only technically difficult, but since many of the individual works are relatively unknown, the whole cycle has been rarely recorded in its entirety. Claire Huangci confirms this: “There are a couple of favourites which everybody knows, and everybody plays. These few preludes, which Rachmaninov recorded himself, overshadow the rest of the cycle. I find this a great pity – for me, there isn’t a single prelude that is a little sub-par. Every piece is simply so unique and a small masterpiece in its own right.”...
On 1 July a world premiere at the Opera Stuttgart is hoping to be ground-breaking in the true sense of the world: Toshio Hosokawa’s Erdbeben. Träume (“Earthquake. Dreams”) is based on Heinrich von Kleist’s novella The Earthquake in Chile. Marcel Beyer, winner of the Kleist Prize in 2014 and Büchner Prize in 2016, transforms this parable about the instability of humanity in the face of threatening situations into a libretto in which the corruptibility of the masses also plays an important role. This inspired Toshio Hosokawa to create a leading role for the Staatsopernchor Stuttgart, nine-time winners of the “Opera Choir of the Year”. Intendant Jossi Wieler will bring Toshio Hosokawa’s work to the stage with director Sergio Morabito and stage design by Anna Viebrock, and with this production bids farewell to the city, as too does long-standing music director Sylvain Cambreling, who leads the premiere on the eve of his 70th birthday....