Juan Diego Flórez could savour the sweet glory of a star tenor to the full. He could concentrate on a handful of parade roles to play his trump cards: the brilliant top notes, the striking coloratura skill, the stylish art of phrasing. But the tenor looks beyond his own art and also pursues a social mission. Having founded the “Sinfonía por el Perú” in his home country, an educational project, he offers children from disadvantaged families a musical education. Together with conductor Roberto González-Monjas, Juan Diego Flórez and “his” orchestra perform a diverse programme that spans from Bel canto to Spanish Zarzuela. The fervour of the young classics sweeps the audience along, double basses are whirled, the strings do the wave and stand dancing from the desks. Euphoric! “Flórez and his youth orchestra: With ardour, diligence and tears” (Salzburger Nachrichten)
Salzburg Festival 2022: Christian Thielemann & Elina Garanca
“What a sound pleasure, what a playing culture! […] Bruckner’s ‘Ninth’ without burdens, without any heaviness. Symphony in Schubert’s sense, seductive, apollonian.” (Kronenzeitung) To mark the bicentenary of Anton Bruckner’s birth in 2024, Christian Thielemann, the Wiener Philharmoniker and Unitel record the first Bruckner cycle with a single conductor in the orchestra’s history. After a truly magnificent performance of the Seventh Symphony in 2021, the stellar conductor returns to the Salzburg Festival with the Ninth to finish the cycle. In the first part of the concert, Christian Thielemann joins forces with Latvian star mezzo-soprano Elina Garanca and the Konzertvereinigung Wiener Staatsopernchor for Brahms’ Alto Rhapsody. PROGRAM: Brahms: Alto Rhapsody for voice, male chorus and orchestra, Op. 53; Bruckner: Symphony No. 9 in D minor
Christian Thielemann conducts Bruckner & Strauss
“The Vienna Philharmonic, conductor Christian Thielemann and composer Anton Bruckner – this is a combination that music lovers can really enjoy.” (Kurier) Christian Thielemann has become known as an expert in late Romantic repertoire. In this concert, he conducts one of the least performed Bruckner Symphonies, the sixth, which will be heard, along with Richard Strauss’s melancholy, serene Four Last Songs with Camilla Nylund. The program is part of the first Bruckner cycle with Christian Thielemann and the Wiener Philharmoniker. PROGRAM: R. Strauss: Malven (arranged by Wolfgang Rihm), Vier letzte Lieder; A. Bruckner: Symphony No. 6 in A major, WAB 106
RCO: Mariss Jansons conducts Strauss and Tchaikovsky
Mariss Jansons conducts Richard Strauss’ famous tone poem “Tod und Verklärung” together with Tchaikovskys famous 5th symphony and a work by Dutch composer Johan Wagenaar, who died in 1942 and who’s music was considerably influenced by Richard Strauss. —– PROGRAM: Johan Wagenaar: The Taming of the Shrew / Richard Strauss: Tod und Verklärung / Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5
RCO: Giovanni Antonini conducts works by Bach, Haydn and Mozart
Italian conductor Giovanni Antonini, one of the leaders of the Italian period instruments movement, conducts the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra performing music by Bach, Haydn and Mozart. —– PROGRAM: Johann Sebastian Bach: Orchestral Suite No. 1 / Joseph Haydn: Cello Concerto No. 2 / Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Symphony No. 38
Mariss Jansons conducts Bruckner 9
As part of a fully fledged Bruckner festival, Mariss Jansons is conducting a series of Bruckner symphonies, each paired with a classical solo concerto – great music by great composers. The series gets under way with Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1, composed in 1795. The work is, in actual fact, Beethoven’s second contribution to the genre, in which he pushes the boundaries of the instrument. The featured soloist is Lars Vogt. One hundred years after Beethoven had written his Piano Concerto, Bruckner concluded his monumental symphonic œuvre with the unfinished Ninth Symphony, leaving behind three completed movements and sketches for a finale in 1896, the year in which he died. In his swansong – the starkly dissonant Adagio –, Bruckner explores the very boundaries of tonality. —— Program: Ludwig van Beethoven – Piano Concerto No. 1, Anton Bruckner – Symphony No. 9.
Mariss Jansons conducts Bruckner 4
In many ways, Haydn and Bruckner are polar opposites. Haydn was a natural talent, while Bruckner was a late bloomer; Haydn was a self-assured professional who wrote music for weddings and parties just as easily as he did for great noblemen, while Bruckner plodded along laboriously, often plagued by feelings of insecurity. Both produced outstanding music, however, as evidenced by Haydn’s energetic, sunny Cello Concerto, performed here by the leading Norwegian cellist Truls Mørk, and by Bruckner’s most well-balanced symphony, the ‘Romantic’. —— Program: Joseph HAYDN – Cello Concerto, Anton BRUCKNER – Symphony No.4 (‘Romantic’)
RCO: Honeck conducts Bruckner 8
Discover Anton Bruckner, architect of mighty symphonic buildings, in the monumental Eighth Symphony under the baton of Manfred Honeck. Bruckner’s Eighth is a mighty fortress and a thrilling ride from darkness into light. Its world is, by turns, complex, gracious, peaceful, and turbulent – Bruckner invites you in, takes you along, and never lets you go.