In 1827, a year before his death, Franz Schubert wrote one of his most important works: the Winterreise. In the song cycle the Austrian composer set the 24 poems of Wilhelm Müller to music and depicted the haunted soul and landscape of the state of…

Gioacchino Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle was written in 1863, "the last", the composer called it, of my "péchés de vieillesse" (sins of old age). For its first performance (1864) Rossini arranged the work with only two pianos and harmonium…

An artist with genuine star qualities: Opera Singer of 2005, Echo award winner of 2004 and 2005 – even tabloids wax enthusiastic about the Mexican tenor. That he’s called “Mr. Bean of the Opera World” is due to his amazing comedian qualities. The…

On January 27th, 2006 the Chinese piano-phenomenon Lang Lang celebrates the birthday of W.A. Mozart with a performance of the Piano Concerto No. 24 in the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing. The China Philharmonic Orchestra is conducted by Long…

The highlight of the Mozart Year 2006 in Prague takes place at the Estates Theatre. The Czech Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Manfred Honeck perform the most famous compositions by W.A. Mozart related to Prague: Overture to Don Giovanni…

The young musicians of the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra and their aspiring conductor Gustavo Dudamel invite the worldwide TV audience to an exceptional concert from the newly opened Concert Hall in Caracas. A rousing choice of Venezuelan and Latin…

The Lucerne Festival Orchestra and Claudio Abbado performed a Russian night at Lucerne. Tchaikovsky’s symphonic poem The Tempest is based on the famous play by Shakespeare and shares many similarities in musical structure with Tchaikowsky’s better…

To celebrate his 80th birthday, Kurt Masur led “his” Gewandhaus Orchestra in a special gala concert. For his birthday concert, Masur, currently principal conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orchestre National de France, chose a…

Guided by two children and several stars of the classical music scene, our film takes us to the picturesque location of Nürnberg. In St. Lorenz Church, Enoch zu Gutenberg conducts Christmas music and Christmas Carols. James Galway and friends perform…

On the tenth anniversary of Herbert von Karajan's death the Berliner Philharmoniker paid tribute to their late maestro in his home town of Salzburg. In a live shooting from the city's imposing Cathedral, Claudio Abbado conducted an all-Mozart…