Titus Engel will conduct Olivier Messiaen's Saint François d'Assise from 11 June, an opera that not only goes beyond the usual dimensions of the orchestra, but in the Stuttgart production by Anna-Sophie Mahler also includes the urban space and nature in a kind of pilgrimage.

On 9 June, the Ensemble intercontemporain conducted by Matthias Pintscher will premiere Mark Andre's new work Dasein 1 as part of the ManiFeste festival at the Centre Pompidou.

Holly Hyun Choe will conduct musical love stories with Arabic songs and with Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy's A Midsummer Night's Dream compositions at the Konzerthaus Berlin on 9 June.

To mark his farewell as chief conductor of Graz Opera and the Graz Philharmonic, Roland Kluttig will conduct two concert programmes in June with Mahler's Symphony No. 3 and Schumann's Faust Scenes.

Under the baton of Brad Lubman, the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne will perform Lukas Ligeti's Suite for Burkina Electric and Symphony Orchestra on 4 June as part of the Oluzayo Festival, curated by the composer.

Samir Odeh-Tamimi's composition Tachypnoe will be premiered on 3 June by the Kammerakademie Potsdam under Antonello Manacorda.

Steven Sloane conducted the German premiere of David Lang's opera Prisoner of the State in Bochum on May 17. After a tour to Rotterdam and Bruges, he will now conduct the work in Malmö on June 3 and 4.

From 4 to 24 June, Jonathan Stockhammer will conduct five performances of Janáček's opera The Cunning Little Vixen in Frankfurt.

With the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia under Sakari Oramo, Hyung-ki Joo will appear in three concerts in early June; his piano partner in Poulenc's Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra is Stefano Bollani.

Together with Anne-Sophie Mutter and Lambert Orkis, Maximilian Hornung will perform in ten concerts on a European tour through seven countries from 16 May to 4 June.

On 28 May, the 100th anniversary of György Ligeti's birth, the composer's music was heard in concert halls all over the world - in cities with which his life was closely linked, such as Budapest, Vienna, and Hamburg, as well as in faraway places like Tokyo and Mexico City.

Daishin Kashimoto has a lot going on in May and June: He will tour Japan with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. He will perform chamber music in Cyprus, Taiwan and Hong Kong. He will give the Swiss premiere of Toshio Hosokawa's Prayer in Lucerne. And - he has a new website.

Spirited and finely honed: Antje Weithaas' opening CD of her recording of all the Beethoven violin sonatas is receiving rave reviews.

"Drastic and clear" - "strong and accurate": Johannes Klumpp received enthusiastic reviews for his conducting of the two opera premieres From a House of the Dead and The Makropulos Affair on April 30 at the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden. The Janáček double bill was performed again in May; individually, the operas will be shown until July.

In April, Jonathan Stockhammer stepped in most successfully on the podium of the London Symphony Orchestra and conducted works by Debussy, Ravel and Adams - now the concert can also be seen online.

Johannes Klumpp conducts Richard Strauss' Rosenkavalier at the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden until June 16.

On François-Frédéric Guy's first Chopin album Secret Garden, the pianist lets a cross-section of Chopin's works blossom on two CDs.

Friedrich Cerha died on the morning of February 14, just a few days before his 97th birthday. We mourn the loss of a great artist, one of the most important composers of our time and an ever-attentive, critical contemporary.

The GrauSchumacher Piano Duo inspires with their recording of Brigitta Muntendorf's Trilogy for two pianos and as performers in her Theater des Nachhalls (Theatre of Echo) included on Blue-ray.

The PluralEnsemble has recorded important works by Fabián Panisello for a recently released portrait CD.

In the summer of 2023, the Salzburg Festival will demonstrate its close affinity with the music of György Ligeti through the concert series Time with Ligeti. Tabea Zimmermann and Pierre-Laurent Aimard, who play a key role in shaping the series, talk about their own relationship with the composer.

In addition to having recorded all of György Ligeti's works for choir a cappella, the SWR Vokalensemble is offering workshops on the composer's work as part of a major school project and is also touring his music in Germany, Hungary, the Czech Republic, France and Italy in May and June.

Vito Žuraj's first full-length opera Blühen was premiered in Frankfurt in January 2023 and received enthusiastic reviews. Before the world premiere, we spoke to the composer about his collaboration with librettist Händl Klaus, director Brigitte Fassbaender and the Ensemble Modern, which played under Michael Wendeberg.

On 2 February 2023, Samir Odeh-Tamimi's music theatre work Philoktet, based on the dramas by Sophocles, Heiner Müller and André Gide, was premiered at the Eclat Festival Stuttgart with the Neue Vocalsolisten and the Zafraan Ensemble.

In the first edition of our new kwmm podcast series "Encore," violinist Johanna Staemmler chats about the Armida Quartet's complete Mozart recordings while we listen to the interpretations together (in German).

Ming Tsao's Triode Variations, premiered in May by Ensemble Musikfabrik under Emilio Pomàrico, have now been released on CD; the Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart and the Kammerensemble Neue Musik Berlin have also recorded works by the composer for the album.

In 1975, Les Percussions de Strasbourg premiered Karlheinz Stockhausen's scenic composition Musik im Bauch. In January 2023, the ensemble presented the work in a visually and musically impressive new production by Simon Steen-Andersen in Hellerau.

On 20 January, Toshio Hosokawa was awarded the Berkeley Japan Prize 2023.

From 3 December Johannes Klumpp will conduct Franz Lehar's operetta The Merry Widow at the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden.

Holly Hyun Choe becomes Artiste associée des Orchestre de Chambre de Genève.

In May, Ensemble Musikfabrik premiered Ming Tsao's Triode Variations in Cologne. We caught up with the composer during a visit to his Berlin flat in the run-up to the performance.

Congratulations to the Armida Quartet: the final CD of the complete Mozart recordings is currently receiving critical acclaim, and the previously released Volume 4 even receives an Opus Klassik award.

Now on ARTE Concert: In a birthday concert for Kaija Saariaho, Anssi Karttunen performed with his improvising trio Tres Coyotes at the festival Musica in Strasbourg on September 17th.

"Outstanding through and through": On 26 August, Miriam Batsashvili's second album was released on the Warner Classics label, centred on Liszt's piano transcriptions from the opera, lied, and organ repertoire.

Johannes Maria Staud is awarded the Austrian Art Prize 2022.

The Armida Quartet has put together a comprehensive Mozart package in recent years: a concert series, a complete recording, and even an app - all with surprising perspectives on the composer.

The new CD by the Gringolts Quartet received outstanding reviews and was awarded a Diapason d'or.

The Armida Quartet becomes musical ambassador of the climate initiative Orchestras of Change.

In the November issue of the journal MusikTexte, Ming Tsao outlines ways towards a materialistic musical expression.

Premio Abbiati del Disco: The recording of Ondřej Adámek's compositions Where are you? and Follow me with Magdalena Kožená, Isabelle Faust and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Peter Rundel and Sir Simon Rattle has received the prestigious Italian critics' award.

Tabea Zimmermann is the new Artistic Partner of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra.

The Castalian String Quartet's debut CD, released at the end of April, has received rave reviews.

Shiyeon Sung is appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra.

Originally recorded for a film, this masterful interpretation of Mahler's Wunderhorn Lieder with baritone Dietrich Henschel and the Bochumer Symphoniker under Steven Sloane has now been released on CD.

In the FAZ, Ilya Gringolts is portrayed as a musician with enormous stylistic range and unwavering integrity.

From August 2022, the members of the string quartet Meta4 will take on an important artistic role at the Jyväskylä Sinfonia for two years.

Maximilian Hornung becomes artistic director of the Traunstein Summer Concerts

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.

As music director of the Folkoperan Stockholm, Henrik Schaefer started the season 2021/22 by bringing the house fresh ideas – and not just through the original romantic sound.

A Mozart with character, played to perfection: Rave reviews for the Armida Quartet's new CD.

Congratulations to Daishin Kashimoto: his CD with chamber music by Nino Rota received a Diapason d'or award of the year!

Congratulations to Titus Engel on his appointment as the new Principal Conductor of the Basel Sinfonietta!

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.

The season brochure for 2022/23

“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.

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