Orchestras once played Bach as well as Bruckner. Only specialised ensembles showed that note and performance signs have changed their meaning quite a bit over the centuries. So far, so theoretical: in practice, Handel's "Il Trionfo" awaits us, a…

After over four decades together, the Emerson String Quartet disbands in the Fall of 2023 and plays in concert halls across the US and Europe for the very last time. We accompany the Quartet in Prague for a performance with music by the German…

Located between the sea and the mountains, right in the centre of the city of Barcelona, stands the Sagrada Família. It has been an emblematic building from the very beginning; an expiatory temple created by thousands of people and the work of…

Since their first performance together in the 2010 Paris production of Werther, they’ve often appeared side-by-side in various stage productions. And as in this concert, the works of Verdi have played a key role. When they appeared as rivals in “La…

What a strange idea Mondonville had! Based on a cruel fable by La Fontaine with a tragic ending, he wrote a charming opera libretto with a happy ending, and composed a delightful pastoral. In the prologue, Dame Clémence Isaure, the mythical founder…

This performance of Bach's monumental Mass in B minor is recorded live at Thomaskirche Leipzig. The masterpiece is a dazzling example of the exuberance of the late German baroque and it is produced for the first time with the new Thomaskantor Andreas…

The orchestra performs in Prague for the very first time. "Under the direction of its conductor and founder François-Xavier Roth, Les Siècles is one of the most remarkable and progressive ensembles today," says Josef Třeštík, director of programming…

Following the success of King Arthur, which was presented at major European festivals, Vox Luminis is discovering Henry Purcell's "The Fairy Queen", a semi-opera in five acts written for the Dorset Garden in 1692. The dramatic plot of the work is…

Live from the Summer Festival Baden-Baden 2022. Hidden behind Schumann's Piano Concerto is a love story. The work’s main melody represents Schumann's wife Clara. And quite literally: in the Schumann home, Clara was called "Chiara" in Italian. If we…

Humour us by answering the following question: how many Black classical performers do you know off the top of your head? The Chineke! Foundation is trying to break through the privilege gap leading to this lop-sidedness: since 2015 the British…