As music director of the Folkoperan Stockholm, Henrik Schaefer starts the new season by bringing the house fresh ideas – and not just through the original romantic sound he wants to achieve there.

With Deine Freunde aus der Ferne (Your Friends from afar), Toshio Hosokawa has created a musical fairy tale based on an old Japanese story. It will be premiered on 4 December at the Philharmonie Luxembourg as part of Rainy Days.

Johannes Maria Staud's work Listen, Revolution (We're buddies, see-), premiered in November at Wien Modern, will be given its German premiere by Ensemble Modern on 3 December.

Antje Weithaas is the current artiste associée of the Orchestre de chambre de Paris and will conduct works by Fanny and Felix Mendelssohn as well as Franz Schubert in a play-conduct concert on 26 November.

The festival weit! neue musik weingarten is dedicating a comprehensive showcase to Toshio Hosokawa at the end of November. Among the performers are renowned trumpeter Jeroen Berwaerts, sho virtuoso Mayumi Miyata, the Arditti Quartet, Ensemble Musikfabrik, and the Munich Chamber Orchestra.

The Hamburg Gänsemarkt Opera only existed until 1738? Yes and no, because now it is coming back to life, and tenor Simon Bode is with us as Melito in the production Patient Socrates.

On 12 November, the CAvi label released Sarah Wegener's new CD with songs by
Richard Strauss, recorded together with pianist Götz Payer.

The first international orchestra to guest in two wonderful new halls: karsten witt musik management brought the London Philharmonic Orchestra under Robin Ticciati to Ankara and Istanbul.

Tabea Zimmermann's tour with the Budapest Festival Orchestra under Iván Fischer will take her to Luxembourg, Hamburg, and Paris, starting on 16 November and concluding at the end of the month with three concerts at Budapest's Müpa.

“After a very difficult year, I wanted to offer the listeners an album full of positivity, lightness and beauty in a desire to return to a serene life“, violist Adrien La Marca explains about his new duo album Chanson Bohème.

Starting October 31, Titus Engel conducts the new production of Carl Nielsen's comic opera Maskerade at the Frankfurt Opera.

Minna Pensola and Antti Tikkanen take over the artistic direction of the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival.

On Vito Žuraj's new CD Alavò, three large orchestras and renowned soloists interpret three works from the past five years.

The complete recording of Christophe Bertrand's instrumental works with the GrauSchumacher Piano Duo, Peter Rundel, and Brad Lubman was awarded the German Record Critics' Award 2021.

With Johann Sebastian Bach's seven toccatas, Claire Huangci presents herself as an equally versatile and virtuosic interpreter of baroque repertoire.

For his music building bridges between cultures, Toshio Hosokawa has been awarded the Goethe Medal.

Congratulations to Tabea Zimmermann: She is on the longlist for the German Record Critics Award.

As promised by its title, the new CD of Trio Mediaeval provides comfort: Solacium combines lullabies, hymns, and chorales from the Nordic countries with newly composed works.

On September 13, Alejo Pérez conducted the premiere of Prokofiev's War and Peace at the Grand Théâtre de Genève. In an interview, he explains what connects him with this opera and with Russian repertoire altogether.

Valentin Uryupin steps into the role of chief conductor of Moscow’s Novaya Opera Theatre at the start of the 2021/22 season.

In 2019 Dietrich Henschel shone as Martin Luther in Bo Holten's opera Schlagt sie tot! which premiered in Malmö. Now he can also be heard in the role of the Reformer on CD.

Just before Bas Wiegers conducted his first concerts in front of a live audience in May, he sat down for an interview to reflect on the preceding Corona year.

Journalist Barry Davis (The Jerusalem Post) accompanied the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra's tour of Germany and drew an enthusiastic account of the first concert tour after the lockdown.

Enthusiastic reviews: On 4 July, a much anticipated work by composer Samir Odeh-Tamimi received its world premiere at the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence.

Ilya Gringolts' solo-CD Ciaccona features music of today and draws inspiration from Johann Sebastian Bach.

For his recording of Bach's six partitas, Mahan Esfahani examined various copies and printed editions of the works.

Diapason d'or for Ilya Gringolts: on his new CD with the Finnish Baroque Orchestra he dazzles with music by Locatelli.

In the concert series Bühne frei, Claire Huangci performed works by Bach, Schubert, Beethoven, Gershwin and Gulda on hr-television. The concert and her interview with host Max Mutzke remain available in the ARD Mediathek.

Congratulations to Antje Weithaas and Maximilian Hornung on winning the BBC Music Magazine Award!

Simon Bode talks about his wanderlust for musical journeys.

Composers of various generations talk about their personal encounters with Friedrich Cerha’s monumental Spiegel cycle.

With his work Api-danza macabra, Vito Žuraj addresses the explosive topic of bee mortality. The WDR Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Cristian Măcelaru, premiered the commissioned composition this summer.

Eliahu Inbal's recording of Shostakovich's 11th Symphony is the first purely orchestral release by the fledgling SWR Symphony Orchestra.

Congratulations to Ming Tsao on his award as a Fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation for 2021!

Claire Huangci plays Franz Liszt's arrangement of Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony.

Marc Soustrot is the new chief conductor of the Real Orquesta Sinfónica de Sevilla.

Marie Heeschen and her ensemble Paper Kite are dedicated to the evocative music created during or as a result of the Thirty Years' War.

Outrage is not enough: Titus Engel talks to the FAZ about conducting Bartók's only opera and about cultural politics in Corona times.

The winner of the International Ernst von Siemens Music Prize 2020, Tabea Zimmermann, accepted the prize during the digital ceremony on 15 June 2021. A portrait by Patrick Hahn outlines her exceptional career.

The series of concerts celebrating Friedrich Cerha's 95th birthday culminated in August: the monumental Spiegel cycle was performed at the Salzburg Festival by the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra under Ingo Metzmacher. We celebrate the anniversary with a collection of portrait articles, current links, and his video interview for the Stadtjournal wien.at.

In June, Anssi Karttunen's recital Les cercles de Claude, recorded at Salle Cortot, was premiered via online stream. The concert in two parts is still available on Youtube.

Under the artistic direction of Jeremias Schwarzer, three venues in the northern Eifel will come together for the first time to form an interdisciplinary festival in May, June and September 2021.

Father and Son: Christoph and Julian Prégardien present their programme at the Philharmonie de Paris with orchestra and choreography, and in Brussels with pianist Michael Gees.

“Spontaneity is intimate, risky, and vital, and it requires a relationship with the audience,” says Rachel Fenlon in the winter issue of Art Song Canada.

Our three-part series of interviews marking Eliahu Inbal's 85th birthday kicks off with musings and memories about his musical roots.

On 19 February, Ryoko Aoki joined musicians from Ensemble Musikfabrik in the virtual space to perform Peter Eötvös' melodrama Secret Kiss.

Jan Caeyers' Beethoven biography is a resounding success, also in its English translation.

Bringing about new things: Ilya Gringolts' I&I Foundation

In 2019, Alejo Pérez conducted Sergei Prokofiev's operatic tragedy The Fiery Angel to great acclaim at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma. The production is now available on DVD.

We congratulate Titus Engel on being named Conductor of the Year 2020 by Opernwelt magazine!

In the second instalment of our series of interviews to mark Eliahu Inbal’s birthday, the conductor looks back on his apprenticeship years in Israel and Europe.

Before his career as a conductor, Michael Wendeberg was a member of the Ensemble Intercontemporain as a pianist and worked closely with Pierre Boulez. On the fifth anniversary of Boulez’ death, his complete recording of the composer's piano works were released.

Anssi Karttunen is against monotony. On his Instead List for Cello, he pairs a rarely played work worth listening to with every well know piece.

After months of silence, the four musicians of the Arditti Quartet, together with their audience, rediscovered a ritual—the live concert. Irvine Arditti reports about a small tour with great experiences.

Charles V, Walter Benjamin, Prince of Homburg, Friedrich Hölderlin, Martin Luther: Dietrich Henschel takes on history’s greats.

Our series of interviews celebrating Eliahu Inbal’s birthday concludes with the conductor’s memories of his recording successes, and reflections on orchestral sound and the interpretation of works.