To celebrate Lang Lang’s 30th birthday, ‘the hottest pianist on the classical music planet’, and iconic jazz pianist, Herbie Hancock, joined forces together for an extraordinary performance at the famous O2 WORLD in Berlin, Germany in June 2012. Lang Lang and Herbie Hancock performed a program including Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and Bernstein’s Tonight (from ‘Westside Story’) in arrangement for two pianos and orchestra, arrangements of classical hits like, Brahms’ Hungarian Dance No. 5 and Schubert´s Marche millitaire, where Lang Lang and Hancock were joined by the 50 children pianists. —— VERSION I (Total Length): Happy Birthday, Lang Lang! featuring Herbie Hancock – P. TCHAIKOVSKY: Piano Concerto No. 1 / F. CHOPIN: Étude Op. 25, No. 1 A-flat major op. 25 / L. BERNSTEIN: Tonight from ‘West Side Story’ / F. Schubert: Marche militaire / J. BRAHMS: Hungarian Dance No. 5 / G. GERSHWIN: Rhapsody in Blue / Prelude No. 1 / LU WEN CHEN: Reflections of the Moon on the Calm Lake / M. & P. HILL: Happy Birthday, Length: 96’ min —— VERSION 2: Lang Lang – Live in Berlin! featuring Herbie Hancock – P. TCHAIKOVSKY: Piano Concerto No. 1 / F. CHOPIN: Étude Op. 25, No. 1 A-flat major op. 25 / L. BERNSTEIN: Tonight from ‘West Side Story’ / G. GERSHWIN: Rhapsody in Blue / Prelude No. 1 / LU WEN CHEN: Reflections of the Moon on the Calm Lake, Length: 82’ min.
The Silk Road Ensemble with Yo-Yo Ma at Tanglewood Music Festival
Founded in 1998 by cellist Yo-Yo Ma, the Silk Road Project is an internationally minded nonprofit arts, cultural and educational organization that promotes innovation and learning through the arts. Its vision is to connect the world’s neighbourhoods by bringing together artists and audiences around the globe. The Silk Road Ensemble is a collective of musicians, composers and performing artists from more than 20 countries around the world. In sharing traditions from various cultures, the Ensemble develops and performs new music and multimedia pieces, exploring and expanding contemporary musical crossroads. The Silk Road Ensemble has recorded five albums and performed to critical acclaim throughout Asia, Europe and North America. The concert presented here took place at the Tanglewood Music Festival in Lenox, Massachusetts, in June 2012. Concert: 105′ // Documentary: 95′
RCO: Mäkelä conducts Ravel, Bartók, and Connesson
The Concertgebouw Orchestra, conductor Klaus Mäkelä and two of the orchestra’s soloists transport you to distant worlds. Fairy tales by Ravel and Bartók and two works by the contemporary sound wizard Guillaume Connesson: four pieces of music to take in visually. PROGRAM Ravel: Shéhérazade; Connesson: Les belles heures (oboe concerto, commission, Dutch premiere); Danses concertantes (flute concerto, commission, Dutch premiere); Bartók: music from ‘The Miraculous Mandarin’
RCO: Antonio Pappano & Joyce DiDonato
Antonio Pappano conducts two works in which love leads to lunacy: Berlioz’ Symphonie fantastique and Jake Heggie’s song cycle, Camille Claudel: Into the Fire, featuring mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato. Musical tales of boundless passion and madness come to life. Hector Berlioz explored his obsessive love in the Symphonie fantastique. Joyce DiDonato sings Into the Fire, Jake Heggie’s bittersweet song cycle about the French artist Camille Claudel, whose affair with her associate Auguste Rodin proved to be her undoing. Such a programme calls for a conductor who knows how to deliver drama in a perfectly measured way. Sir Antonio Pappano manages to lead the Concertgebouw Orchestra on this emotional roller coaster without going off the rails. PROGRAM Heggie: Camille Claudel – Into the Fire; Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique
The Passenger
Though composed as early as 1968, Mieczylaw Weinberg’s opera The Passenger received its first full staging only in 2010. The work – based on an 1962 novel by concentration-camp survivor Zofia Posmysz – was quickly recognised as one of the most important operas of the second half of the 20th century, and one whose themes are now as important as they’ve ever been. That first staging, by David Pountney, has gone on to receive classic status, and is here seen for the first time at Madrid’s Teatro Real, conducted by an artist who has been instrumental in the recent Weinberg revival, Mirga Gražinytè-Tyla.
Julius Asal plays Scriabin, Scarlatti and Brahms
Live from the Seoul Arts Center, pianist Julius Asal presents a recital juxtaposing repertoire from his acclaimed first album with one of the great piano sonatas of the Romantic repertoire. The first half sees him perform works by Scriabin and Scarlatti, woven together into a compelling musical whole through the inclusion of brief transitions created by Asal himself. For the second half, it’s the monumental Piano Sonata No. 3 by the 20-year-old Brahms. Cast in five movements it represents a powerful test of any performer’s technique, stamina as well as their sensitivity and musicianship – and promises to provide a rousing finale to this concert.
Il Volo in Agrigento
With million of fans all over the world, Il Volo, the Italian operatic pop trio, has achieved great international success. This special concert brings the trio in a exclusive location in the south of Italy: Il Volo performs in the Valle dei Templi, the UNESCO World Heritage Site and impressive monumental ensemble of Hellenic architecture in Sicily. An unmissable opportunity to hear the greatest hits that conquered the hearts of many, with the unique personalities of Piero Barone, Ignazio Boschetto and Gianluca Ginoble.
Notre-Dame: The Renaissance
Over five years following the devastating fire, France’s renowned Notre-Dame de Paris has once again opened its doors, marked by a glamorous concert to honor its restoration. The event featured performances both within and around the cathedral, along with a breathtaking light show highlighting the structure’s exquisite façade. The cathedral welcomed a diverse lineup of performers, such as Pharrell Williams, Angélique Kidjo, Lang Lang, Benjamin Bernheim, Marion Cotillard, Yo-Yo Ma, Khatia Buniatishvili, Pretty Yende, and Daniel Lozakovich. The concert was conducted by Gustavo Dudamel and featured the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France.
Bruce Liu Piano Recital
With a highly acclaimed performance, shooting star Bruce Liu thrilled as part of the 2024 Klavier-Festival Ruhr. The Chinese-Canadian pianist excelled in this concert evening with the full range of his stupendous playing technique, which he proved with an impressive performance of a stylistically wide-ranging series of works from Haydn, Chopin, and Beethoven to Prokofiev, touching on the variations of the Ukrainian Nicolai Kapustin, which are infused with a relaxed jazz feeling. Bruce Liu has made a name for himself by winning the Warsaw Chopin Competition in 2021, conquering his place in international music life. PROGRAM Haydn: Sonata No. 32; Chopin: Sonata No. 2, Op. 35; Kapustin: Variations Op. 41; Beethoven: Sonata No. 18, Op. 31/3 “The Hunt”; Prokofiev: Sonata No. 7
Peltokoski conducts Holst and Vaughan Williams
Tarmo Peltokoski, a favourite of audiences and musicians alike, is at the conductor’s podium to begin his final season as the LNSO’s Artistic Director and Principal Conductor. The accordion part of “Tango” by Arturas Maskats is played by the widely acclaimed bandoneonist Arturs Noviks. Gustav Holst is celebrating his 150th birthday in 2024, and therefore his most famous work, the symphonic suite “The Planets” is part of the program. Each movement of the seven-movement suite is dedicated to a different planet in the solar system and its astrological characteristics. In its final movement, “Neptune, The Magician”, the orchestra is joined by the singers of the Riga Project Choir, directed by Christopher Walsh-Sink. Their voices can also be heard in the performance of Ralph Vaughan-Williams’ Seventh or “Antarctic Symphony”, which has its roots in the music for the 1948 film “Scott of the Antarctic”. PROGRAM Holst: Planets; Vaughan Williams: Antarctic Symphony; Maskats: Tango