In the historic Weimar Herder Church Sir John Eliot Gardiner finds the perfect setting for his recording of the Bach Christmas Oratorio. Against the backdrop of the dramatic altar and Lucas Granach paintings, the Monteverdi Choir and the English…

Herbert Blomstedt appears with the Gewandhaus Orchestra for the last time as the Gewandhaus Music Director in this recording. After seven successful years in Leipzig, the maestro performs a work in the Thomas Church that is especially dear to him…

The Great Mass is the spiritual keystone of a choreographic undertaking in which Uwe Scholz absorbs the structure of the liturgy of the mass. He adds to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's unfinished Great Mass in C minor other works by the same composer, such…

Since its founding over 500 years ago the Wiener Sängerknaben, a.k.a. Vienna Boys' Choir, has been a fixed attraction in musical life. A number of important musicians have been connected with the famous choir. Joseph Haydn, and Franz Schubert for…

In retrospect, the solo version of Stravinsky’s Sacre du Printemps (Sacre I) can be interpreted as a bleak, oppressive dance about his own life. The ballet is one of the late works by Uwe Scholz, one of the most important choreographers of the 20th…

The Nobel Prize Concert 2008 offers fantastic performers: Sir John Eliot Gardiner and his Monteverdi Choir, together with Eric Ericson Chamber Choir and the Scandinavian singers Miah Persson, soprano, Ann Hallenberg, alto, Helge Rönning, tenor, and…

On 9 October in 1989, 70,000 people staged a peaceful demonstration calling for more freedom and democracy in the GDR. Thanks to the claim “Peaceful Revolution”, initiated by Kurt Masur as one of six prominent citizens of Leipzig, everything…

Antonio Gades’ last choreographed work, Fuenteovejuna, is a signature piece of purity and precision of Spanish dance. Based on a true event that inspired Lope de Vega to write this classic play in 1619, Fuenteovejuna is about the people of a village…

Bodas de sangre (Blood Wedding), choreographed by Antonio Gades in 1974, depicts the story written by Federico Garcia Lorca of a bride who, on her wedding night, runs away with her former lover, now a married man with a child of his own. The furious…

The internationally renowned Danza Contemporanea de Cuba have for more than 50 years produced dancers of the highest level with a style evoking the sensual, mystical and raw heart of Cuban spirit. Nowadays, its active repertoire contains more than 70…