With their “Janoska style” the four members of the Janoska Ensemble have developed a breathtakingly virtuosic and profoundly personal vision of music, which they interpret in a thoroughly modern way. Among unifying factors are their family ties and an inexhaustible inventiveness that allows them to explore a wide range of works from popular classics to compositions that they have written themselves and, finally, idiosyncratic arrangements of jazz, pop and world music. For Live in Bratislava the four Janoskas have chosen to present a picture of Vienna as a cultural melting pot, lacing it with irony and wit, and evincing a very real delight in music-making that time and again takes them beyond the confines of the Austrian capital. Virtuoso classics by Franz Waxman, Niccolò Paganini and Pablo de Sarasate are heard alongside a Viennese work by Fritz Kreisler and operetta themes by Johann Strauss combined with the strains of a csárdás and music from the Balkans, to say nothing of a number of flights of fancy across the Atlantic to the world of the tango and rumba and of jazz improvisations.
Jonas Kaufmann – My Italy
With this recording Jonas Kaufmann, Italy’s ‘adopted tenor-son’, pays tribute to a culture that has inspired countless immortal melodies for the tenor voice. This recording spans Italian pop, traditional and Neapolitan songs, a heartfelt tribute to Italian music including Caruso, Mattinata, Parla più piano (‘The Godfather’ theme), Core ‘ngrato, Volare & more! “Italian music has this unbelievable way of producing such immortal melodies – full of sun and warmth – that all day long you can’t get them out of your head!” JONAS KAUFMANN
Plácido Domingo: My Greatest Roles
In this feature-length documentary Plácido Domingo describes his favourite roles in opera – and in so doing tells his own life story more fully and poignantly than ever before. The programme is full of clips of his performances, and seasoned with contributions from colleagues such as Kiri te Kanawa, Luciano Pavarotti, and Zubin Mehta. This film sums up Domingo’s whole career as a tenor; now that he sings baritone roles it is a comprehensive overview of the entire tenor oeuvre of the man described by BBC Music Magazine as ‘the greatest singer of all time’. Our guide is the great man himself, in interviews edited from eight hours of conversation in which Domingo reveals more about his life, his thoughts about singing, opera and the world, and what drives him to achieve yet more goals than he has ever done on television before. As he says, “If I rest, I rust”. Most of all this film celebrates some of the finest tenor performances ever filmed, with extensive extracts of what he has selected as his eleven finest roles.
Tango under the Stars at the Hollywood Bowl
Gustavo Dudamel accents the colors, rhythms, and passion of music by leading composers from Argentina in this invigorating evening under the stars. Featuring music by Astor Piazolla, Alberto Ginastera and the world premiere of Lalo Schifrins “Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra”, played by Ángel Romero. PROGRAM: PIAZZOLLA: A selection of Tangos; SCHIFRIN: Concierto de la Amistad (world premiere); VILLA-LOBOS: „The Little Train of Caipria” from Bachianas Brasileiras No. 2.
Zubin Mehta for his 80th – The Gala Concert in Mumbai
On April 29, 2016, Zubin Mehta will celebrate his 80th birthday. On April 17, however, he will offer himself a birthday present of his own, together with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, which has appointed him Musical Director for Life. The event will take place in the new National Centre for the Performing Arts in Mehta’s birthplace, Mumbai, in India.
It will be a celebratory concert with works by three of Mehta’s favorite composers: The program will include Dvoráks “Carnival Overture”, Beethoven’s Concerto for Violin in D major, Op. 61 as well as Ravels’ “La Valse” and the second suite of “Daphnis & Chloé”. Pinchas Zukerman, one of Mehta’s closest colleagues – who has also always had a close connection to the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra – will be the soloist.
Swan Lake Reloaded – Tchaikovsky meets Streetdance
There are no sorcery or supernatural events in Fredrik Rydman´s interpretation of this Tchaikovsky classic. It is set in the present and Rothbart uses drugs to gain and keep control over his surroundings. The swans in Rydman’s production are prostitutes in white furs and high-heeled shiny hooker boot´s, all completely dependent on Rothbart’s protection and the heroine he supplies them with. In the struggle between good and evil the desire for drugs and love plays a central role. Can true love break the “spell” just like in the original? How does the story end this time? In this production Rydman not only uses the music of Tchaikovsky but also special composed work of a host of Swedish and international pop and rock writers. The show opened in Stockholm dec 2011 and has been on tour since February 2013. So far sold out seasons in Stockholm, Essen, Berlin, Vienna, Frankfurt, Munich, Zurich, Gothenburg, Hamburg, Paris, Geneva, Linz, Milano, Moscow and London.
PLACEBO live in London – MTV Unplugged
PLACEBO are one of the defining alternative rock bands of the past 20 years, with 12 million albums sold to date worldwide. The band’s self titled debut album helped pave the way for a strong shift in British music, acting as an antithesis to Britpop and inspiring a generation of bands to follow them. Placebo went on to claim their place in British music history with five top ten albums in the UK, collaborating with music legends including David Bowie, Robert Smith and Michael Stipe. In August 2015 PLACEBO performed a unique One-off show for MTV Unplugged at the London Studios in the UK.
Everywhere and Forever – Mahler’s Song of the Earth
In the summer of 1907 composer Gustav Mahler experienced a crisis of such magnitude that some thought he would never recover. His five-year-old daughter died of scarlet fever after 15 days, and a doctor diagnosed him with a congenital heart defect. Mustering his courage and tapping in to his genius, Mahler transformed his despair into a great piece of music. It was something entirely new: a “song-symphony” based on ancient Chinese verses. The film presents dramatizations of the poems, commentary by renowned experts, and excerpts from a brilliant performance featuring Metropolitan Opera stars Thomas Hampson and Paul Groves with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande conducted by Neeme Järvi. The documentary explores the biographical, cultural and philosophical context of The Song of the Earth, a masterpiece often singled out as the composer’s most personal musical statement.
Mosè
For the first time the opera “Moses” by Gioachino Rossini is on stage inside a Cathedral in a semi-scenic performance at the Duomo di Milano. The Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo di Milano, in the wake of a centuries-old tradition of dialogue with the contemporary, chooses the most advanced technology to open up to the world and the public with an immediacy never achieved until now, including lights and colors effects that characterize the scenes of the show, with an evocative videomapping technique. With the Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo di Milano Orchestra and Choir conducted by Francesco Quattrocchi, with the special presence of Ruggero Raimondi in the part of Mosè.
Yanni at the Pyramids
Yanni and his world renowned orchestra bring a new show to the Great Pyramids in Giza Egypt, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. The program represents a career journey for Yanni, from alpha to omega, Live at the Acropolis to Live at the Great Pyramids and features a career spanning selection of fan favorites, along with never before performed songs and new arrangements of his classic compositions.