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…

Celebrating Bedřich Smetana’s 200th anniversary 2024 Live signal available, 8 June 2024, 8:15 pm CET From the Festival Hall in Litomysl, Czech Republic Bedrich Smetana (2 March 1824 – 12 May 1884) is regarded as the founder of Czech music. His father…

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…

On a Sunday evening in August in the Berliner Waldbühne around 20,000 people with rain gear and blankets held thousands of colorful umbrellas while listening to Max Raabe and his Palast Orchester’s hits of the twenties and early-thirties. As the most…

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…

Johann Sebastian Bach's most famous Christmas work was recorded live at the Salle Henry Le Bœuf in the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels. Who would have thought, three centuries ago, that these cantatas, written by Bach for the services from…

Philippe Herreweghe, principal conductor of the Royal Flemish Philharmonic, has devoted himself for over ten years to fresh and invigorating readings of the (pre-) Romantic repertoire. Together with the Collegium Vocale, founded in 1970 by Herreweghe…

Live recorded at the exceptional setting of the Orangerie du Château de Versailles. Natalie Dessay and Michel Legrand take us on a journey through all the magic of the songs created by Michel Legrand. More creative than ever, Legrand returns to the…

Haendel composed only episodically for the church: the Dixit Dominus is a psalm written during his stay in Rome, based on the Venetian models with borrowed Gregorian singing. We are stroke by the wealth of the words we hear: emotion pierces the mind…

On Wednesday, October 16th, Dmitri Hvorostovsky's birthday, the Festival officially opens with a performance of Giuseppe Verdi's Messa da Requiem.