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

On 7 December, Titus Engel will make his debut at the Semperoper conducting the premiere of Immo Karaman's production of Hans Abrahamsen's The Snow Queen. The multi-layered opera will run there until January 8.

Welcome Julian Steckel! We start our collaboration with the exceptional cellist, who launched his impressive international career in 2010 as winner of the ARD International Music Competition, now performing with renowned orchestras and chamber music partners worldwide.

From December 13 to 21, Christoph Prégardien will conduct Bach's Christmas Oratorio on a tour with the baroque orchestra Il Gardellino and the chamber choir of the Palau de la Música Catalana, making stops in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Spain.

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

With works by Takemitsu, Ravel, Schubert and Brahms, Daishin Kashimoto will be performing in a trio with Eric Le Sage and Claudio Bohórquez on 14 December at the Zentrum Paul Klee in Bern and on 21 December in Wiesloch.

We are delighted to be working with the Kuss Quartet, which has been setting new standards for many years with its sophisticated conceptual programming.

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.

A new composition by Jacob Mühlrad, inspired by quantum physics, and other works by him were performed on 10 December at the festive Nobel Banquet following the Nobel Prize award ceremony.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

On 11 October, Antje Weithaas received the coveted OPUS KLASSIK Instrumentalist of the Year award at a concert in St. Elisabeth's Church in Berlin, where she also performed live as a soloist.

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.

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

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

Mariam Batsashvili's new solo album Influences with works by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Liszt was launched by Warner Classics on 16 May.

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 2026, the music world will celebrate Friedrich Cerha's 100th birthday. In view of this occasion, we would like to draw your attention to a selection of the most important works by the composer, who died in February 2023 - and to the website friedrich-cerha.com.

Out now: Carlotta Dalia's album Segovia, a 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.

Holly Hyun Choe becomes Principal Conductor of the Norwegian Radio Orchestra.

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, 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.

As soloist and conductor, Antje Weithaas has now recorded another joint album with the Camerata Bern - the CD with Dvořák's Violin Concerto and his String Serenade has now been released by CAvi-music.

Milica Djordjević becomes Professor of Composition at the Musikhochschule Lübeck.

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

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 now 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.

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.

Shiyeon Sung becomes Principal Guest Conductor of the Real Orquesta Sinfónica de Sevilla.

Milica Djordjević's portrait CD of orchestral works, released by BR-KLASSIK/musica viva, has received the prestigious Italian critics‘ prize Premio Abbiati del Disco and is included in the list of the best of the German Record Critics’ Award.

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.

Olli Mustonen talks about an early musical key experience, composers who have influenced him and the interplay between analytical thinking and intuition.

The album LAUTER! with the Ensemble Reflektor under the direction of its Principal Conductor Holly Hyun Choe, released at the end of November, presents works by Ethel Smyth, inti figgis-vizueta and Ying Wang.

"Don't touch" was what Carlotta Dalia heard as a child when it came to guitars. Luckily, she revolted against this order and now delights audiences with her playing on historical and modern guitars, even outside of sworn guitar circles.

‘Emotionally simply stunning": Two new CDs with the Bochum Symphony Orchestra under Steven Sloane were released at the end of the year - George Antheil's opera Venus in Africa and Vol. 2 of Franz Schreker's complete orchestral works, which inspired the online magazine Klassik Heute to a rave review.

Congratulations to Antje Weithaas: The complete recording of the ten Beethoven violin sonatas with Dénes Várjon is honoured with the German Record Critics' Award 2024.

Antje Weithaas' recording of the Violin Concerto No. 2 by Pēteris Vasks, which she recorded together with the Camerata Bern, was released at the end of September.

The Neue Meister label has released a new album by Josefine Opsahl, Cytropia, which focusses on the changing relationships between mankind, technology and nature.

Ming Tsao describes his special view of the European musical tradition, which is reflected in the pieces of a portrait concert on 1 March 2025 in Mannheim with the Ensemble Ascolta, the Mivos Quartet and the Duo Clavichord.