The new concert hall in Andermatt opens its doors to the New Generation Festival, launching in October
Following the grand opening of Switzerland’s newest concert hall amid the mountain scenery of Andermatt, the New Generation Festival launches three seasonal festivals commencing with a three-day Autumn Festival (24-26 October). Inaugurated by the Berliner Philharmoniker on 16 June, the hall has been described by the Luzerner Zeitung as possessing: “a stormy and rich sound, which overwhelmed up close in the front rows and achieved the urgency you wish for from every concert on the balcony.”
Read moreJohn Nelson conducts new recordings of Berlioz’s monumental Requiem and The Damnation of Faust
Following acclaimed performances in London and Strasbourg in Spring 2019, renowned American conductor and Berlioz expert John Nelson conducts new recordings of Berlioz’s monumental Requiem (20 September) and The Damnation of Faust (22 November) on Warners Erato. Nelson follows the success of his multi award-winning Les Troyens with these two new recordings.
Read moreCellist Raphael Wallfisch champions neglected composers: Bloch, Weinberg & Clarke
This autumn, internationally-renowned cellist Raphael Wallfisch unearths works by three underestimated 20th century composers. In the first of several appearances at the Wigmore Hall this season, Raphael Wallfisch recreates a fierce composition competition between Ernest Bloch and Rebecca Clarke, one hundred years to the day since it took place. Marking Ernest Bloch’s 140th Anniversary Year (1880-1959), Raphael Wallfisch also performs Bloch’s mighty Schelomo at the Royal Festival Hall with the Philharmonia Orchestra, and champions Weinberg’s Cello Concerto in Szczecin and Nancy.
Read moreThe Bach Choir and David Hill give world premiere of Roxanna Panufnik’s Four Choral Seasons
Celebrating the opening of their 2019-20 season, The Bach Choir and conductor David Hill present the world premiere of their latest commission: Roxanna Panufnik’s Four Choral Seasons. Joined by cellist Raphael Wallfisch, baritone Duncan Rock, and the Philharmonia Orchestra, The Bach Choir present an evocative programme that sets the natural cadences of the year against the constant ebbing and flowing of the sea.
Read moreRaphael Wallfisch marks the 60th anniversary of the death of composer Ernest Bloch with two London performances and a premiere recording
A series of performances in autumn 2019, the sixtieth anniversary of his death, will celebrate composer Ernest Bloch. Bloch is one of the most original composers of the 20th century, and his music, whilst sometimes intellectually challenging, remains accessible to a wide audience. Besides Schelomo, one of his best-known symphonic works, the composer also wrote Helvetia, America and Israel using traditional materials for each, as well as a piano concerto called Concerto Symphonique. His diverse works in many genres draw on traditional music of many peoples including Chinese, Native Americans, Swiss, American as well as Jewish.
Read moreOxford Philharmonic Orchestra launches a star-studded 2019/20 season including its debut at Carnegie Hall
Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra and Music Director Marios Papadopoulos announce their 2019/20 season, which sees the Orchestra make its US debut at New York’s Carnegie Hall. In 2020, the Orchestra embarks on a year-long comprehensive Beethoven celebration that brings the composer’s complete symphonies, concertos and major orchestral and chamber works to Oxford, with guest appearances from Maxim Vengerov, Mischa Maisky, Sergei Babayan, and many more.
Read moreMascarade Opera Studio puts sports psychology at the heart of its young singers’ programme
A new opera studio, Mascarade Opera Studio, launching in Florence in September 2020, will put sports psychology at the heart of its nine-month programme for emerging professional opera singers. Studio Director Dr Ralph Strehle, a performance coach at the National Opera Studio and Associate Head of Vocal Performance at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, will apply Premier League sports training techniques – motivation, concentration and pre-and post-performance routines – to its ground-breaking opera programme.
Read moreChristophe Rousset & Les Talens Lyriques announce a very European 2019-20 season: Les Nations
Christophe Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques announce their 2019-20 season exploring nationhood and what it meant – and means – to be European. Les Talens Lyriques’ new season is a sweepingly European venture that sees the ensemble take Bach to the Thomaskirche for the first time in June, the same month a new production of Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea directed by Stephen Langridge premieres at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées. Rousset and his group revel in the drama of four Handelian operas over the season, with staged productions of David McVicar’s Ariodante at the Wiener Staatsoper in November and Barrie Kosky’s Saul performed at the Théâtre du Châtelet in January – the first staged operatic production on the refurbished stage.
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