Sol Gabetta and the Chamber orchestra Basel perform Haydn’s Concert for violoncello and orchestra in C major in the magnificent St. Martin Baroque church in Rheinfelden. The second piece is Plainscapes for mixed choir, violin and violoncello…

In Spring 2009, the year of Joseph Haydn, Xavier de Maistre was invited to the Esterházy Castle in Eisenstadt, where the composer officiated nearly thirty years. After an introduction in which he plays a solo Fantasy on a Theme of Haydn by Marcel…

The Mariinsky Ballet is one of the world’s greatest ballet company with an astonishing heritage. Before emigrating to the West, George Balanchine studied in St Petersburg and was a member of the Mariinsky. However, Jewels dates from late in his…

David Fray’s sparkling talent is such that he is one of the few pianists of the new generation to have signed an exclusive recording contract recently with one of the current majors, Virgin Classics. In January 2008 he recorded a programme entirely…

The story of Caffé Taci, downtown Manhattan: the craziest place in the opera universe, with diamond dealers, losers, up-and-coming singers, opera stars like René Pape, an-85-year-old Russian pianist, aficionados, agents and bohemians. Life is a big…

Ludwig van Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony has the character of an appeal. From the very start, the four-note “fate” motif casts a spell on listeners. The German Beethoven expert Wulf Konold illustrates the ingenious variations of this motif on piano…

The Concerto for Orchestra by Bela Bartok is one of the most frequently performed works of the twentieth century. The French composer and conductor Pierre Boulez explains how he interpreted this composition with the Berlin Philharmonic. He also…

We live in the “renaissance of the piano”, as the New York Times put it in summer. A new generation has made the piano popular again: pianists with a passion for virtuosity and a willingness to expand their repertoire. In addition to the usual…

Mozarts »Zauberflöte« ist nicht nur eine der berühmtesten Opern, sondern zugleich ein aufregendes Märchen. Da gibt es einen tapferen Prinzen und eine schöne Prinzessin, ein furchtbares Ungeheuer, eine böse Zauberin, einen weisen Priester – und…

Die Entführung aus dem Serail (The Abduction from the Seraglio) one of Mozart’s five great repertoire operas, was a great success during Mozart’s lifetime and to this day has not lost any of its magic. In the Schwetzingen Entführung aus dem Serail…