On 12 April, Meta4 will premiere Thomas Larcher’s new work Encapsulations for string quartet at the Vienna Konzerthaus and will perform Dvořák’s Piano Quintet alongside Olli Mustonen.

On 10 April, Anton Gerzenberg will perform Dieter Amman’s piano concerto Gran Toccata in the opening concert of the Weiwuying International Music Festival, joining the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra conducted by David Robertson.

Classical:NEXT, the largest international networking event in the classical music world, kicks off on April 8 in Budapest and will once again feature a showcase programme organised by karsten witt musik management.

On 4 and 5 April, Jenny Daviet, together with the Ensemble intercontemporain conducted by Pierre Bleuse, will present the Japanese premiere of George Benjamin’s chamber opera Into the Little Hill in Tokyo, and she will perform Kurtág's Scenes from a Novel.

On 1 April, Ryoko Aoki will premiere Fabián Panisello's Change in Cuenca, performing alongside the PluralEnsemble under the baton of the composer who, in his new composition, juxtaposes a contemporary assessment of climate change with historical Japanese nature poetry.

We are delighted to announce our collaboration with saxophonist Asya Fateyeva, who is captivating a growing international audience with her distinctive playing and innovative programme concepts.

Welcome, Jan Liebermann! We are thrilled to begin our collaboration with one of the most promising artists on the international organ scene.

Jan Liebermann’s debut album, featuring works by Marcel Dupré and Maurice Duruflé, among others, has now been released on the Regent Records label.

"A cool organiser of madness": On 1 February, Titus Engel conducted the highly successful world premiere of Olga Neuwirth's opera Monster's Paradise. Following six performances in Hamburg, he will make his debut at the Zurich Opera House on 8 March with the opera which is based on a libretto by Elfriede Jelinek and directed by Tobias Kratzer.

In February and March, Gaetano Lo Coco wowed audiences and critics at the Flemish Opera in Antwerp with his conducting of Verdi’s Nabucco in a production directed by Christiane Jatahy, with which he will also make his debut at the Grand Théâtre de la Ville de Luxembourg in May.

For the German magazine Fono Forum, Arnt Cobbers spoke to Andreas Grau and Götz Schumacher about cosmic music, their collaboration with composers such as Stockhausen and Kurtág, and interpretative freedom in both older and contemporary music.

In 2026, the music world will celebrate the 100th birthday of Friedrich Cerha and honour the composer, who died in 2023, with publications, concerts and even a world premiere; a special stamp will also be issued to mark the occasion.

Simone Menezes and her Ensemble K have recorded a chamber version of Gustav Holst's Planets Suite, which has now been released on CD under the title Cosmos.

Welcome, Christian Øland! We are delighted to begin our work for the young versatile Danish conductor, who took up two new chief positions this season.

Congratulations, Eliahu Inbal! On 16 February, the conductor celebrated his 90th birthday at the podium of the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra with Mahler's 8th Symphony, and in April and May he will conduct the Taipei Symphony Orchestra.

Just in time for Friedrich Cerha's 100th birthday, the Kairos label has released an album featuring his complete works for organ, recorded by Wolfgang Kogert.

We are delighted to announce our collaboration with conductor Simone Menezes, who builds bridges between different musical traditions and artistic disciplines with musical rigour and a discerning curatorial eye.

"Stylistic confidence and gripping expressiveness": The Kuss Quartet receives one of the coveted International Classical Music Awards (ICMA) for its first recording of two works by Ernst Gernot Klussmann.

Anton Gerzenberg's debut CD, Ravel Reflections, was launched on 5 December on the Prospero label.

Anssi Karttunen has recorded Betsy Jolas' complete works for cello and piano together with Nicolas Hodges – the double album has now been released on the bastille musique label.

‘He sings beyond competition’: The press pays tribute to the great tenor Christoph Prégardien on the occasion of his 70th birthday, which he celebrated on 18 January 2026 at the Konzerthaus Dortmund.

Holly Hyun Choe has given her inaugural concert as Principal Conductor of the Norwegian Radio Orchestra (KORK) on January 14 with Beethoven's Third Symphony.

On the occasion of the new recording of Stockhausen's epochal piano work Mantra, Götz Schumacher talks in an interview about the intensive relationship that has connected the GrauSchumacher Piano Duo with the work since its beginnings.

Following the performance of all six Mozart string quintets at the Heidelberg Spring Festival, Ilya Gringolts explained to us what attracts him to historical instruments and why the Gringolts Quartet will continue to play on gut strings more frequently in the future.

In an interview between her spring engagements in Lyon and Montreal, Jenny Daviet surprises us with her unexpected approach to roles and works and reveals her dreams for the future.

Under the baton of Titus Engel, the WDR Symphony Orchestra recorded Betsy Jolas' Musique d'hiver – the album has now been awarded the German Record Critics' Prize.

Now available to stream in full length: Toshio Howokawa's new opera Natasha premiered in August 2025 at the New National Theatre in Tokyo under the baton of Kazushi Ono and was enthusiastically received.

Johannes Klumpp and the Heidelberger Sinfoniker are awarded the OPUS KLASSIK for their complete recording of all Haydn symphonies, completed in autumn 2024. Our congratulations!

Ilya Gringolts' recording of Bach's sonatas for violin and harpsichord with Francesco Corti has now been released by Arcana as his label debut and was promptly awarded the Diapason d'or.

Toshio Hosokawa has received the prestigious BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award for the "extraordinary reach of his music, which tends a bridge between the Japanese tradition and contemporary Western aesthetics", according to the jury.

Recorded by the Ensemble Ascolta, the album Sounds, Archaeologies, now released on the KAIROS label, brings together compositions by Isabel Mundry that understand listening as an active, participatory process.

Titus Engel is appointed Conductor in Residence at the Deutsche Oper Berlin.

Alejo Pérez is appointed principal conductor of the Orquesta Estable del Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, where he will give his inaugural concert in May 2026.

A recording of Jacob Mühlrad's clarinet concerto SEMA with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Martin Fröst and featuring soloist Magnus Holmander was released in November 2025 on the Warner Classics label.

In June 2025, Philippe Manoury's 'Thinkspiel' Die letzten Tage der Menschheit, based on Karl Kraus' monumental drama The Last Days of Mankind, premiered at the Cologne Opera under the direction of Peter Rundel and received enthusiastic reviews.

Carlotta Dalia's album Segovia pays tribute to the pioneer of classical guitar playing and recorded on his own historical guitar.

In April and May 2025, the Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar presented Mieczysław Weinberg's opera The Passenger in a new production staged by Jossi Wieler and Sergio Morabito under the musical direction of Roland Kluttig. We spoke to the conductor about his special relationship with Soviet music and the significance of Weinberg's opera for the memory of Nazi atrocities.

We congratulate Titus Engel on winning the Swiss Music Prize 2025.

Jeremias Schwarzer's album featuring four concertos for recorder by Samir Odeh-Tamimi, Liza Lim, Dai Fujikura and Iris ter Schiphorst, recorded with four top-class orchestras and released in spring 2025, has been awarded the German Record Critics' Prize .

Congratulations to Samir Odeh-Tamimi and the JACK Quartet: they each receive one of the coveted Italian Premio Abbiati critics' prizes 2025.

Holly Hyun Choe is appointed Directrice musicale of the Orchestre national de Cannes.

Edition Peters, part of Wise Music Group, has announced the signing of composer, drummer, and visionary musical innovator Lukas Ligeti to its roster.

The German magazine Focus devoted an extensive portrait to Jacob Mühlrad on the occasion of his highly acclaimed musical setting for the venerable Nobel Banquet.

Vito Žuraj's first full-length opera Blühen (Blossoming), named Premiere of the Year by Opernwelt magazine in 2023, was revived at Oper Frankfurt in October 2025 under the musical direction of Michael Wendeberg. In our interview, Vito Žuraj talks about his collaboration with librettist Händl Klaus, director Brigitte Fassbaender and the Ensemble Modern.

In May 2025, the GrauSchumacher Piano Duo premiered Ming Tsao's second adaptation of Stockhausen's complex and open score Plus Minus, which has now been released on the Neos label.

Five questions for the JACK Quartet: For the Musikkollegium Winterthur magazine, the musicians gave humorous and revealing insights into their musical and literary passions.

Toshio Hosokawa's one-act opera Futari Shizuka with Ryoko Aoki in the title role and his acclaimed flute concerto Ceremony have been released on CD, recorded by the Residentie Orkest under Jun Märkl for the Naxos label.

Congratulations to Peter Rundel: the recording of Hèctor Parra's opera Les Bienveillantes, premiered under his direction at Opera Vlaanderen in 2019 and released on three CDs in 2024, has been awarded the prestigious Grand Prix international du disque by the Académie Charles Cros.

The 2025 Grawemeyer Music Composition Award goes to Christian Mason for his ensemble work Invisible Threads.

There are good reasons to celebrate in Porto: the Remix Ensemble is celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2025. The ensemble's artistic director Peter Rundel looks back at its beginnings.

The sea of sound: Before Toshio Hosokawa's new opera Natasha premieres at the New National Theatre in Tokyo on 11 August 2025 under the direction of Kazushi Ono, we are publishing an excerpt from the composer's work notes.

In February, two very different albums with orchestra and big band were released, both recorded under the musical direction of Titus Engel: The orchestra and big band of the Deutsche Oper Berlin celebrate Duke Ellington, and the Basel Sinfonietta and the NDR Bigband present a new work by Michael Wertmüller.

Johannes Maria Staud receives the Tyrolean State Prize for Art 2025.

On the occasion of the world premiere of Samir Odeh-Tamimi's composition Roaïkron at the Biennale Musica in Venice in autumn 2024, Italian musicologist Gianluigi Mattietti spoke to the composer about his new piece and about his life stages in Israel, Greece and Germany, which are reflected in his music.

In an extensive interview for the World Federation of International Music Competitions, Hyung-ki Joo spoke about the humorous side of classical composers, about his collaborations with personalities such as Gidon Kremer, Asmik Grigorian and, early in his career, Yehudi Menuhin, and about his plans as the new Artistic Director of the Menuhin Competition.