From an icy Italian winter to the heady, sensual warmth of a South American summer: violinist Joshua Bell leads the Academy of St Martin in the Fields on a musical journey through the sights and sounds of two continents and four very different seasons. Inspired by Vivaldi’s bestknown work, Piazzolla, Argentina’s 20th-century tango king, created his own response, complete with musical quotations. While Vivaldi’s virtuosic concertos celebrate contrast – the freshness of spring, with its sudden thunderstorms, versus the languid heat of summer – Piazzolla’s musical landscape remains more constant, always swaying to the pervasive rhythm of the tango. PROGRAM Vivaldi: The Four Seasons; Piazzolla: The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires
BBC Proms 2022: Leif Ove Andsnes & Mahler Chamber Orchestra
Leif Ove Andsnes directs the Mahler Chamber Orchestra from the keyboard in an all-Mozart programme including two contrasting piano concertos. “Leif Ove Andsnes and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra collaborated as creative equals, with pristine focus and quicksilver touch.” (The Guardian). PROGRAM Mozart: Overture to “Le nozze di Figaro”, Piano Concerto No. 20, K. 466, Piano Concerto No. 22, K. 482, Piano Concerto No. 23, K. 488 – II. Adagio
BBC Proms 2023: NYO Jazz – Dee Dee Bridgewater & Sean Jones
Featuring the best teenage performers from across the USA, Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Jazz Orchestra (NYO Jazz) performs a collection of jazz standards as well as contemporary works exploring jazz’s influence on hip-hop, R&B and pop music in this unmissable performance. The group plays under the direction of trumpetist Sean Jones and is joined by Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Dee Dee Bridgewater. “Astonishing – not just technically, but stylistically” (The Telegraph) “You could be pretty confident you were hearing some stars of tomorrow.” (The Times)
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 2018: Canellakis conducts Russian Classics
Conductor Karina Canellakis returned with the BBC Symphony Orchestra after her triumphant 2017 Proms debut. Two 20th-century Russian masterpieces led the bill – the exhilarating Symphonic Dances by Rachmaninov and Shostakovich’s much-loved First Cello Concerto, where Canellakis was joined by another young American star, soloist Alisa Weilerstein. The programme kicked off with Beethoven’s forceful Overture Coriolan, which Canellakis describes as a ‘punch in the face’, and a third young American, composer Andrew Norman, completed the programme with the UK premiere of his new work Spiral – “It could spice up any programme!” (The Guardian) PROGRAM Beethoven: Overture ‘Coriolan’; Shostakovich: Cello Concerto No 1; Norman: Spiral; Rachmaninov: Symphonic Dances
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
BBC Proms 2014: West-Eastern Divan Orchestra
Program: Mozart, Figaro Overture / Kareem Roustom, World premiere / Ayal Adler, World premiere / Ravel, Rapsodie espagnole, Alborada del gracioso, Pavane pour une infante défunte, Boléro
Bryn Terfel – Bad Boys
Bass-baritone Bryn Terfel is a towering figure in today’s musical world – both physically and artistically. Whether in the opera house or on the recital stage, he blends his powerful, versatile voice with commanding stage presence. Since bass-baritones are usually the “bad boys” in opera, the Welsh singer has put together a program that portrays a gallery of rogues and villains, the “demonic misfits and malcontents of this wonderful music” (Bryn Terfel). The concert features Terfel in a number of demonic roles, including two Satans (one by Gounod and one by Boito), a murderous barber (Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd), a swaggering drug dealer (Gershwin’s Sporting Life) and much more. He is accompanied in this program – recorded at Cardiff’s St. David’s Hall in his native Wales – by the Sinfonia Cymru under Gareth Jones.
András Schiff – The Goldberg Variations
Sir Andras Schiff brings Bach’s monumental work for solo keyboard to the Royal Albert Hall and delivers a spellbinding account of the Goldberg Variations. “Schiff’s playing was buoyant and dazzling in a performance that underlined the cogency and integrity of his approach to this monumental work” stated The Guardian. Alone at the piano in the vastness of the Royal Albert Hall was Andras Schiff, who made no concessions to the capacity crowd: this was all about Bach’s astonishing variations. Schiff’s “command and awareness of the smaller-scale architectures were just as impressive as his mastery of the whole 30-variation span“ wrote the Telegraph.
ROH: Lessons in Love and Violence
Lessons in Love and Violence, the new opera by composer George Benjamin and playwright Martin Crimp, two of Britain’s most celebrated artists, received a glowing reception from audiences and critics alike on its world premiere at the Royal Opera House in London. In a modern day setting it tells the powerful and thrilling story of King Edward II, whose romantic relationship with the Earl of Cornwall, Piers Gaveston, tears his country and his family apart. Barbara Hannigan is as “outstanding as ever”! (Financial Times)