BBC Proms 2018: Paavo Järvi conducts a Nordic Night

A concert with a Nordic flavour from Paavo Järvi and the Estonian Festival Orchestra (making its Proms debut) pairs music by Grieg and Sibelius with Estonia’s own national composer, Arvo Pärt. Celebrated Georgian pianist Khatia Buniatishvili performs one of the great Romantic piano concertos. Beloved for ist generous melodies and dramatic gestures, Grieg’s concerto is matched for sonic drama by Sibelius’s stirring Fifth Symphony. Arvo Pärt’s eclectic Third Symphony, with ist echoes of Renaissance polyphony and Orthodox chant, opens the concert.“One of this season’s special Proms!” (The Guardian) PROGRAM Pärt: Symphony No 3; Grieg: Piano Concerto; Jean Sibelius: Symphony No 5

Khatia Buniatishvili – Mind in the Wilderness

Khatia Buniatishvili’s playing has been described as having ‘an aura of elegant solitude and even melancholy. It’s a perfect characterization of the pianist with such a wide palette of expression. Khatia Buniatishvili commands a natural musicality. ‘Force of nature’, ‘Spiritedness’, or ‘Infinite freedom’ are frequently mentioned attributes on her interpretation. Buniatishvili’s artistic approach to making music is undoubtedly associated with the Romantic tradition, always maintaining a fine balance between unhinged wildness and lyrical introspection. The repertoire comprises cheerful moments, melancholic passages and nocturne-like episodes: virtuously brought to life throughout a concert experience with a great quality of intimacy and generous ardour. —- Works by Bach, Tchaikovsky, Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Kancheli, Brahms, Ravel, Grieg, Händel, Liszt, Dvorák, Buniatishvili, Pärt, Ligeti.

Yuja Wang & Víkingur Ólafsson: Live in Berlin

Two classical superstars and two of the most remarkable pianists of their generation join forces: Yuja Wang and Víkingur Ólafsson come together at the Philharmonie in Berlin for what promises to be an unmissable meeting of musical minds. As part of an extended tour that sees them performing together for the first time, they present a programme built around two classics of the four-hand repertoire – Schubert’s haunting Fantasie in F Minor and the two-piano version of Rachmaninoff’s powerful Symphonic Dances – alongside John Adams’s 1996 masterpiece Hallelujah Junction and further works by Adams, John Cage, Conlon Nancarrow and Arvo Pärt.

BOVARY – A dance play by Christian Spuck

Christian Spuck’s first choreography as the new intendant of the Staatsballett Berlin is about the search for self-determination and showcases his choreographic signature: an interest in literary material, his love of darkly poetic imagery, as well as his ability to tell stories. “A triumph for the company, a brilliant moment of dance.” (Süddeutsche Zeitung)