For the 2022/23 season, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin welcomed Cairo-born Fatma Said, a multi-award-winning soprano of international renown, as Artist in Residence. Said is known for the impressive diversity of her voice and repertoire: whether classical, jazz or traditional music, the young artist is well at home in many worlds. Her role as an intermediary between the musical cultures around the Mediterranean is particularly evident in the concert entitled “On the Way to Egypt”. The multi-faceted program, conducted by Alondra de la Parra, begins by looking from Egypt to the European compositional tradition and then from Western Europe to North Africa and Arabia.
RCO Opening Night 2023: Gianandrea Noseda – Dance and Rhythm
In this dazzling open-air concert, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra plays beloved classics and pleasant surprises. The season opening of the Concertgebouworkest will take place at the NDSM wharf in Amsterdam. Gianandrea Noseda conducts a festive program full of dance and rhythm, with famous pieces such as Ravel‘s Bolero and the Moldau by Smetana and some special surprises, including a world premiere.
LSO: Alexandre Bloch & Alice Sara Ott
A starburst of musical colour for the new year. Debussy’s Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune opened new worlds of sonic sensuality, while Lutoslawski’s Concerto for Orchestra launched dazzling sonic fireworks into the grey skies of postwar Poland. The LSO and conductor Alexandre Bloch present the two masterpieces to bookend a performance by pianist Alice Sara Ott – a regular guest of this orchestra, and a firm favourite of the Barbican audience. She plays the sunlit, jazz-flavoured G major Concerto by Maurice Ravel – and the concert ends with Ravel, too: his unforgettable evocation of a world dancing on the edge, La Valse. Music to thrill the ears and intoxicate the spirit. PROGRAM Debussy: Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune; Ravel: Piano Concerto in G, La valse; Lutoslawski: Concerto for Orchestra
New Year’s Eve Concert 1985
Is there such a thing as a Karajan “sound”? Beginning toward the end of his career, Herbert von Karajan began to attract criticism for having pushed his particular obsession clarity of an orchestra’s sound to the extreme. This New Year’s concert with the Berliner Philharmoniker is typical of his later interpretive approach: Karajan draws a particular sound out of the orchestra, but he and his musicians still take care to modulate that sound according to the repertoire they are playing. Their clear and precise performance of Weber’s brilliant Freischütz Overture is followed by their hypnotic string sound in Puccini and Leoncavallo’s two Intermezzi, culminating in the progressive and determined build-up of Ravel’s Boléro.
Karajan conducts Debussy & Ravel
Celebrated for his intimate knowledge of the symphonic contributions of German Romanticism’s great masters, Herbert von Karajan also explored the masterpieces of French composers with the Berliner Philharmoniker in great detail. His almost-obsessive quest for sonic perfection was particularly intriguing when applied to French Impressionism, like the classic works featured here. Debussy’s La Mer depicts the magnificent land- and seascapes associated with the ocean and draws inspiration from the visual artwork of Turner and Monet, and the Suite No.2 from Ravel’s ballet Daphnis et Chloé paints its subjects so clearly that the listener can almost see them. It was the composer himself who spoke of a “choreographic symphony” bringing the love story of the shepherd and his lover to life.
Hayato Sumino – Live from Suntory Hall, Tokyo
He is probably the most exciting representative of the current pianist scene: Hayato Sumino inspires with his phenomenal virtuosity and infectious joy of playing, his concert tours are sold out worldwide. In his unique style, Sumino combines classical technique with great talent for arrangement and improvisation, bringing a fresh and innovative approach to piano music. The 30-year-old Japanese musician is not only causing a stir with classical works. Under the name “Cateen”, he is also a YouTube star with 1.5 million subscribers with his own compositions and arrangements, and is inspiring a steadily growing online fan base for his art. Of his numerous competition successes and awards, the most recent is the Leonard Bernstein Award 2025 from the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival. This program is a recording of Hayato Sumino’s concert at Suntory Hall in Tokyo. With music ranging from J.S. Bach to Hans Zimmer and from Chopin to his own compositions, the exceptional artist once again demonstrates his impressive versatility and virtuosity.