A world-class summit: the Symphoniker Hamburg’s final concert of the season, conducted by Principal Conductor Sylvain Cambreling, merges with this year’s Martha Argerich Festival to form a dazzling highlight of the programme.
The evening is all about dialogue – between instruments, eras and world-renowned stars: Brahms’ Double Concerto is a work of reconciliation, in which Gil Shaham and Dai Miyata weave their voices together into an intense, emotional dialogue. With her unmistakable blend of temperament, depth and spontaneous joy in making music, the legendary Martha Argerich breathes new life into Beethoven’s First Piano Concerto. To conclude, in his Concerto for Orchestra, Bartók allows each instrumental section to take centre stage – a virtuoso display of rhythm, musical exuberance and orchestral brilliance.
Andris Nelsons and the Wiener Philharmoniker confront the uncompromising power of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 6, the composer’s darkest and most enigmatic symphonic statement. With gripping intensity and architectural control, Nelsons traces the work’s inexorable march from martial determination to catastrophic collapse. The famous hammer blows in the finale strike with devastating force, while moments of lyrical repose are shaped with haunting restraint. This performance reveals Mahler’s Sixth as a tragic drama of fate and resistance, uncompromising in its emotional impact. Recorded at the Salzburg Festival, the concert forms part of the Wiener Philharmoniker’s Mahler cycle with Andris Nelsons. “Mahler’s ?tragedy’ as a cathartic experience in Salzburg. Standing ovations for the Wiener Philharmoniker under Andris Nelsons” (Die Presse)
Hayato Sumino‘s historic sold-out performance at the K-Arena Yokohama on November 29, 2025, which earned a Guinness World Record for the most tickets sold for an indoor piano recital (18,564 tickets), featured a diverse, curated program bridging classical, original compositions, and experimental arrangements by Bach, Beethoven, Saint-Saëns, Cage and Kapustin.
Experience a musical highlight of the pre-christmas season in the heart of Vienna: the advent concert of the Wiener Symphoniker with chief conductor Petr Popelka in the beautiful St. Stephen’s Cathedral. In 2025, the focus will be on a “Bohemian Christmas” – with touching works by Antonín Dvorák, Bedrich Smetana, Josef Suk and others. You can look forward to special moments such as the enchanting “lullaby” from the opera Hubicka (“the kiss”), masterfully interpreted by Katerina Knežíková. Other top-class soloists of the evening: Stepánka Pucálková, Pavel Cernoch and Adam Plachetka. The crowning finale: the joint “O du fröhliche” – the unforgettable end to an evening full of magic and anticipation of christmas.
Salzburg Festival, for many regarded as the world’s most renowned music festival, is by tradition a high-profile event. The 2009 Salzburg Festival opening concert with the Wiener Philharmoniker under Nikolaus Harnoncourt honors the conductor on his 80th birthday and it’s an homage to the Viennese dance.
Schubert’s Great C Major Symphony is a “stirring war painting” Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
“There is a special philharmonic sound under Nikolaus Harnoncourt, and the Wiener Philharmoniker sound as they should in the best-possible case: velvety smooth and incredibly compelling” Salzburger Nachrichten
TUTTO VERDI – this edition to mark the Verdi bicentenary sets standards by which all similar projects will be judged. It includes all twenty-six operas by the greatest Italian stage composer, together with his immortal Requiem, all of them in definitive performances. “This is how Verdi should be played” – Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on TUTTO VERDI
Verdi wrote his Messa da Requiem in 1873-74 for Alessandro Manzoni. a poet whom he much admired. Like Brahms’s German Requiem, Verdi’s Mass for the Dead is not intended for liturgical use but for the concert hall. ln addition to its profound spirituality, this masterpiece brings together the finest qualities from Verdi’s operas: endless melodic lines and captivating musico-dramatic effects.
Mezzo-soprano Lea Desandre and Ensemble Jupiter under the direction of lutenist Thomas Dunford present an all-Vivaldi programme of ravishing contrasts — fiery operatic arias, tender sacred pages, and brilliant concertos. Desandre brings her luminous agility to some of Vivaldi’s most dramatic vocal writing, from the vengeful fury of ‘Armatae face’ to the hushed intimacy of ‘Cum dederit’, while cellists Nicolas Altstaedt and Bruno Philippe add their own voices in concertos that sing with equal eloquence. Dunford’s lute shimmers at the centre of the ensemble, threading together a portrait of Vivaldi at his most vivid and inventive. PROGRAM: Vivaldi: ‘Vedrò con mio diletto’ from the opera Il Giustino RV 717; ‘Armatae face et anguibus’ from the oratorio Juditha triumphans devicta Holofernes barbarie RV 644; Cello Concerto in A minor RV 419; ‘Cum dederit’ from Nisi Dominus for alto, viola d’amore and strings RV 608 and more
Augustin Hadelich, renowned as one of the foremost violinists of his generation, takes the stage of the Salzburg Festival with conductor Christian Thielemann, as part of the Wiener Philharmoniker’s Brahms Cycle. The concert begins with Brahms’s Violin Concerto in D major, a masterpiece that combines lyrical warmth with a symphonic scale, requiring a delicate balance of poetic intimacy and heroic command. These are qualities that Hadelich possesses in rare abundance, allowing him to interpret the piece with exceptional depth and sensitivity. Brahms’s monumental First Symphony in C minor represents Brahms’s hard-won triumph over the daunting legacy of Beethoven, skillfully transitioning from a mood of brooding darkness to a radiant, hymn-like finale that is celebrated for its unforgettable expressive depth and emotional resonance. PROGRAM: Brahms: Violin Concerto in D major; Brahms: Symphony No. 1 in C minor
ang Lang, one of the most celebrated pianists of our time, joins forces with the Wiener Philharmoniker under the baton of Tugan Sokhiev for an evening of extraordinary orchestral colour and virtuosity. The programme opens with Ravel’s effervescent Piano Concerto in G major — a work whose jazz-inflected brilliance and lyrical slow movement offer the ideal canvas for Lang Lang’s dazzling technique and poetic sensitivity. After the interval, Sokhiev leads the Wiener Philharmoniker through two masterpieces of orchestral imagination: Debussy’s shimmering triptych La Mer, with its luminous evocations of the sea in all its moods, followed by Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet suite — assembled by Sokhiev himself — whose dramatic sweep and heartbreaking tenderness bring Shakespeare’s tragedy vividly to life in sound. PROGRAM: Ravel: Piano Concerto in G majo; Debussy: La Mer; Prokofiev: Suite from Romeo and Juliet
He is currently revolutioning the classical music world with his brilliant playing and progressive, cross-genre approach to music: as a phenomenon at the piano, Hayato Sumino has been appointed as 2026 Artist in Residence Rheingau Musik Festival. He kicks off his residency as a soloist in Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto, performing in the impressive Friedrich von Thiersch Hall of the Wiesbaden Kurhaus. Joining him on stage will be the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra and its principal conductor Alain Altinoglu. In addition to Rachmaninoff, the programme also includes Borodin’s spirited Polovtsian Dances and Elgar’s mysterious Enigma Variations, which transport the audience to a late Romantic era full of sumptuous melodies and orchestral passion. PROGRAM Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No 2; Elgar: Enigma Variations; Borodin: Polovtsian Dances
