The marvellous Portuguese pianist Maria João Pires was joined by Pierre Boulez and the Berlin Philharmonic for the European Concert 2003. Since 1991, when the Berlin Philharmonic gave their first European Concert, this annual musical summit in…

Uwe Scholz, ballet director in Leipzig, was hailed as one of the most brilliant choreographic minds of his generation when he died in November 2004 at the early age of 45. His ballet “The Great Mass” is one of the most impressive works of this…

Recorded live at the Leipzig Opera in November 2005, this film of Verdi’s famous Un Ballo in Maschera, brings DVD viewers an lively musical evening. Riccardo Chailly, who made a critically acclaimed start in his position as General Music Director of…

In summer 2006, the incomparable Martha Argerich presented an all Schumann programme in honour of the great romantic composer’s anniversary year. Recorded live at the beginning of June 2006 at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, the programme comprised…

Max Raabe and his Palast Orchester give dance and film Music from the 1920s and 1930s a rousing revival. They specialise in recreating the sound of the 1920s and 1930s, performing songs by the Comedian Harmonists, Robert Stolz, Friedrich Hollaender…

The artists list on this DVD reads like a Who’s Who of the best international jazz musicians of all times. It features Art Blakey, John Coltrane, Herbie Hancock, Thelonious Monk and Sonny Rollins – musicians whose names have become synonymous with…

When Korean composer Unsuk Chin’s opera was first performed by the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, it caused a sensation among music critics worldwide. Based on Lewis Carroll’s famous and fascinatingly enigmatic novel Alice in Wonderland, it is a…

Martha Argerich has long been hailed as one of the greatest and most uniquely imaginative pianists. She is most admired for the pure joy of her music-making and her individual approach to each work, each situation and each audience. A wild child and…

Zubin Mehta, at the age of only twenty-six, became the youngest person ever to head a major American orchestra, and in sixteen years as music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic he elevated the orchestra to international top rank. These…

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…