Claudio Abbado, who first conducted his new Lucerne Festival Orchestra in the summer of 2003, realised a dream with this exclusive ensemble. Handpicked orchestral musicians and exceptional soloists such as violinist Kolja Blacher, flutist Emmanuel…

"It would be hard to find anything greater, more significant or more moving anywhere in musical life today: total harmony of mind and heart, poetry and outcry, fear and consolation, knowing and feeling," declared the Berne paper 'Der Bund' after this…

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…

The Prague Ballet Gala is an extraordinary dance event that captivates audiences from around the world. Held at the magnificent Prague State Opera, this exclusive gala brings together the crème de la crème of the ballet world. Featuring leading…

Katia and Marielle Labèque received their first piano tuition at ages three and five and the sisters are famous for their unusual duo precision, their great musicality and the breadth of their repertoire. In this concert they perform with Il Giardino…

Eugene Ormandy’s unbroken forty-two-year association with the Philadelphia Orchestra was unique in history. Famous for its rich and powerful "Philly Sound”, the orchestra was described by Rachmaninov as “the greatest virtuoso orchestra in the world”…

Gioacchino Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle was written in 1863, "the last", the composer called it, of my "péchés de vieillesse" (sins of old age). For its first performance (1864) Rossini arranged the work with only two pianos and harmonium…

Famous violinist Itzhak Perlman and Eugene Ormandy, long-standing conductor of the Philadelphia orchestra recorded this fantastic Russian programme live at the Academy of Music Philadelphia in 1978 and 1979. Eugene Ormandy (1899-1985) was best known…

This DVD brings together two of the major figures of 20th-century music, Wilhelm Backhaus (1884-1969) and Karl Böhm (1894-1981), in a classical programme of Beethoven and Brahms. The recording of the Beethoven Piano Concerto, filmed in 1967, can…

This live performance – which drew superlative reactions from critics and audience alike – was Leonard Bernstein’s way of taking leave of Vienna only half a year before his death. Recorded at the Grosser Musikvereinssaal in spring 1990 in his last…