To celebrate his 80th birthday, Kurt Masur led “his” Gewandhaus Orchestra in a special gala concert in June 2007. For his birthday concert, Masur, currently principal conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orchestre National de France…

EuroArts continues their series of outstanding releases of Leonard Bernstein’s (1918-1990) recorded legacy. Leonard Bernstein at Tanglewood – the exceptional musical personality and his favourite festival. Bernstein began his career as a conductor in…

The cycle Má vlast (My Fatherland) is Smetana’s glorious declaration of his love for his homeland, and who else could be better qualified to conduct this icon of Czech national music than Rafael Kubelik whose career has been interwoven with the Czech…

What a courageous concert programme! When Eugene Ormandy conducted “his” Philadelphia Orchestra in this concert recorded live in 1977 he chose music that showed off the orchestra’s hallmark, the “Ormandy sound” - mellow, full toned, opulent…

Ton Koopman is one of the most sought-after experts and interpreters in the field of early music and Viennese Classicism and his achievements as a conductor, organist and harpsichordist are regarded as pioneering. Ton Koopman studied organ…

As a genre, the concerto grosso is virtually unique in its ability to capture the verve and elegance of baroque music. Its most outstanding exponent was Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713), whose principal concerti grossi are brought together in the…

One of the legendary liaisons of the 20th century between conductor and orchestra is that of Sir Georg Solti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Solti himself described it as a “love affair” and he influenced the orchestra with the elegance and…

Who would have thought it? An American orchestra performing in North Korea! Hundreds of millions watched this historic New York Philharmonic concert on television in February 2008 and for a few hours the cold war hostilities seemed to be forgotten…

A four DVD Box combines some of the most famous and best loved romantic music, works which, with their lyrical emotion, their colourful sonority and their stunning virtuosity – were, are and always will be essential to our musical heritage. This…

Waltraud Meier is “La Wagnerissima”, the queen of Wagner’s repertoire. In her very personal account “I follow a voice within me”, we enter her world and learn about her motivations, aspirations, and her joyful way of pursuing them. In addition to…