Vladimir Ashkenazy closed the 1984/85 season in London with a recital at the Royal Festival Hall that was regarded by many of those present as a new peak in his musicmaking. If that perception is correct, it is a remarkable achievement in a career…

This festive concert from the Gethsemanekirche in Berlin marks the 60th anniversary of the RIAS Kammerchor. Under the baton of the new chief conductor Hans-Christoph Rademann, the RIAS Kammerchor and the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin are performing…

The essence of Verdi’s Requiem can be found in the words Libera me - “Free me”. The great composer employs every means at his disposal to portray man as prisoner of himself, with both his fear of death and yearning for salvation. Recording Dates: 14…

“Swan Lake” by Peter I. Tchaikovsky is the most famous ballet of all time. Since its world premiere in 1877 at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow there have been countless interpretations of this romantic dance fairy tale. The epitome of these remains…

1970 was the 200th anniversary of Ludwig van Beethoven’s birth and, to mark the occasion, Daniel Barenboim and Christopher Nupen collaborated on a thirteen-part series about the man and his music. Close friends at the time, Barenboim as artist and…

Daniel Barenboim plays Franz Liszt: Wagner and Verdi Opera transcriptions

Barenboim plays Liszt (Wanderjahre Schweiz)

Created by Crystal Pite and Jonathon Young, the award-winning Betroffenheit is a boundary-stretching hybrid of theatre and dance that explores the psychological states of trauma, grief and addiction. Combining tap, salsa, spoken word, song and…

A parable on the laws of art - Based on Ilse Aichinger's short story A man wakes up. He is bound. The bonds leave him room to move. He performs in a circus. A woman tries to match his movements in the bonds; she fails to seduce him. The bound man…

Dietrich Buxtehude (1637-1707) is considered today one of the founding fathers of the 17th century German school, whose influence on composers such as Johann Sebastian Bach, his spiritual son, cannot be overestimated. Not only was he an indisputable…