Salzburg Festival 2021: Barenboim & West-Eastern Divan Orchestra

Ever since its first performances in 2007, the concerts of Daniel Barenboim’s West-Eastern Divan Orchestra have been among the first to be sold out at the Salzburg Festival. In 2021, the orchestra presents a program including works by Beethoven, Brahms and Franck with Michael Barenboim and Kian Soltani, both members of the orchestra, as soloists. PROGRAM: Beethoven: Overture to the ballet “Die Geschöpfe des Prometheus”; Brahms: Concerto for violin, cello and orchestra; Franck: Symphony in D minor

Salzburg Festival 2020: Daniel Barenboim plays Beethoven

“The states of mind that are incomprehensible in words, as Beethoven set them in music tragically, sadly, comically, lonely, solemnly, cheerfully, wrathfully, pathetically, or parodistically in the Diabelli Variations, Daniel Barenboim conveys in manifold elegance” Salzburger Nachrichten. PROGRAM Beethoven: Sonata for Piano No. 31; 33 Variations on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli – “Diabelli Variations”

Salzburg Festival 2020: The Belcea Quartet

“As gripping as the Belcea Quartet performed this listening adventure, no question marks remained at the end” Salzburger Nachrichten. PROGRAM Beethoven; String Quartets Nos 7 & 9; Webern: Slow Movement for String Quartet

Salzburg Festival 2020: Barenboim conducts the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra

“Fluid, but without hectic, Barenboim let the endless melody blossom, strength and tenderness were no opposites. Emmanuel Pahud from the Berliner Philharmoniker played the flute […] and was not the only celebrity in the orchestra: in addition to Barenboim’s son Michael as concertmaster and Kian Soltani as solo cellist, the conductor and pianist Lahav Shani, the successor of Zubin Mehta at the head of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, was on the double bass” Die Presse. PROGRAM Wagner: Siegfried Idyll for Chamber Orchestra; Schönberg: Chamber Symphony No. 1, Op. 9; Boulez: Mémoriale (…explosante-fixe… Originel) for solo flute and eight instruments; Beethoven: Große Fuge, Op. 133 (Version by Daniel Barenboim, 2020)

Grafenegg: Anniversary Gala 2016: Beethoven No. 9

The Grafenegg Festival celebrates its 10 years’ anniversary! On this occasion, the Tonkünstler Orchestra, under the baton of Yutaka Sado, is joined by 22 alumni of the European Union Youth Orchestra and accompanied by top soloists Klaus Florian Vogt, René Pape, Camilla Nylund and Elena Zhidkova. The jubilee includes this year’s Composer in Residence Christian Jost’s two commissioned works Fanfare and An die Hoffnung as well as Beethoven’s Overture Coriolan. With Beethoven’s 9th Symphony the evening reaches ist climax. Due to the performance of “the excellent bass René Pape, the fabulous soprano Camilla Nylund and the great mezzo-soprano Elena Zhidkova along with the Wiener Singverein, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony turned out to be simply sensational. Jubilation!” (Kurier)

BBC Proms 2021: Nicola Benedetti and the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain

The much-anticipated annual Prom from the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain returned 2021 under the baton of one of the most exciting young conductors on the international scene, Jonathon Heyward. The NYO is joined by superstar violinist Nicola Benedetti, performing Prokofiev’s Second Violin Concerto, in a programme that includes specially commissioned music by Laura Jurd and the UK premiere of Jessie Montgomery’s Banner. The evening comes to a climax with Beethoven’s Third revolutionary Symphony, the Eroica, which is widely considered a landmark in the transition between the Classical and the Romantic era.PROGRAM: Laura Jurd: Chant; Prokofiev: Violin Concerto No. 2; Montgomery: Banner; Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 ‘Eroica‘

BBC Proms 2017: Mirga Gražinyte-Tyla conducts Beethoven, Stravinsky, Barry

Rising star conductor Mirga Gražinyte-Tyla returns with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra to the Royal Albert Hall, setting Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony against a world premiere by Gerald Barry. Leila Josefowicz excels as the soloist in Stravinsky’s Violin Concerto. Mirga Gražinyte-Tyla is the youngest female conductor to take over one of the world’s leading orchestras: Together with the CBSO, the Music Director from Lithuania – “on the podium a combination of flamboyance and steely poise” (Financial Times) – explores the theme of political and artistic freedom in their concert: Beethoven’s Overture “Leonore” No. 3 celebrates the triumph of truth over tyranny in music of radiant beauty while his Fifth rewrites the rules for the Classical symphony. Allan Clayton’s rendition of Canada, composed by Gerald Barry, completes the programme. “Irresistible!” (The Guardian) PROGRAM Beethoven: Overture ‘Leonore’ No. 3, Symphony No. 5; Stravinsky: Violin Concerto; Barry: Canada

BBC Proms 2017: First Night of the Proms

The BBC Symphony Orchestra and Igor Levit, conducted by Edward Gardner, follow the tried formula for the First Night of the Proms at London’s Royal Albert Hall, combining an exciting new work by a British artist, Tom Coult’s St John’s Dance, with a repertoire classic – Beethoven’s 3rd Piano Concerto – and a topical piece such as John Adams’s Harmonium, marking the composer’s 70th birthday. Igor Levit performs Beethoven “with rare grace and intimacy” (The Independent). For the grand finale, John Adams’s armonium receives “a glowing performance” (The Daily Telegraph) by ist gargantuan chorus: alongside the BBC SO under Edward Gardner, seven choirs, among them the

BBC Symphony Chorus and the BBC Proms Youth Choir, make up the choral forces, doing “a formidable job” in “this stratospherically high, rhythmically difficult, super-exposed

job.” (The Observer) PROGRAM Adams: Harmonium; Beethoven: Piano Concerto No.3; Coult: St John’s Dance

BBC Proms 2014: Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich

“This beautiful Prom marked the end of an era. David Zinman’s final concert as chief conductor of the Zurich Tonhalle was a superb example of his intelligent musicianship” (The Guardian). Program: RICHARD STRAUSS Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche, Op. 28 / ANTONIN DVORÁK Violin Concerto in A minor, Op. 53 / LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN

Symphony No. 6 “Pastoral”, Op. 68