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
Elektra – staged by La Fura dels Baus
NorrlandsOperan and the Catalan theatre art collective La Fura dels Baus have created a unique monumental outdoor performance of Richard Strauss’s one-act opera Elektra. Cranes, mechanical giants with singers standing inside their chests, skips filled with blood – Elektra is NorrlandsOperan’s biggest and most complex production ever, including many special effects: “Suddenly, the front of the large containers opened up. Bloody water came gushing out in copious amounts. The water level on the graveyard rose and turned red.” (Kulturkorren)
Mahler Symphonies Nos. 9 & 10
Gustav Mahler spent 1909 and 1910 working on his final two symphonies. The Ninth has gone down in history as the culmination of his symphonic output and a prophetic anticipation of musical modernism. But owing to his declining health, he had to stop work on the Tenth after a few months and was unable to resume it before his death. Only the first movement,
included here, was orchestrated to a point where it can be performed without non-authorial additions. – The Mahler cycle by the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra under Paavo Järvi is appearing complete on DVD and Blu-ray on the C Major label and has already been internationally acclaimed as one of the most important Mahler projects of the new millennium.
“If I knew Mahler only from his music, I would say that he has a huge heart and a deep connection with the soul and humanity.” – PAAVO JÄRVI
Mahler Symphonies Nos. 5 & 6
Symphonies Nos. 5 + 6 will continue the release of the complete Mahler cycle with Paavo Järvi and the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, which since the 80s became a “powerful Mahler orchestra” (Frankfurter Rundschau)
Bonus: Introductions to Symphonies Nos. 5 + 6 with Paavo Järvi
Mahler Symphonies Nos. 7 & 8
In many ways Mahler’s Seventh and Eighth Symphonies are the most unusual works that the late Romantic composer ever wrote. The Seventh was the last in a series of middle-period pieces that were purely instrumental in character. Two movements headed “Nachtmusik“ (night music) and the remarkable writing for a guitar and a mandolin help to create a sequence
of darkly Romantic visions. And even within Mahler’s markedly eclectic output, the Eighth Symphony enjoys the status of an exotic outsider thanks not only to ist two-movement form combining an early medieval hymn and the final scene from Goethe’s Faust but also to the vast forces for which it is scored, earning it the title of “Symphony of a Thousand”.
“If I knew Mahler only from his music, I would say that he has a huge heart and a deep connection with the soul and humanity.” – PAAVO JÄRVI
Bizet Les pêcheurs de perles (The Pearl Fishers)
Mahler Symphonies Nos. 3 & 4 Paavo Järvi and the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra (HRSinfonie Orchester)
? Symphonies Nos. 3 + 4 will continue the release of the complete Mahler cycle with Paavo Järvi and the
Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, which since the 80s became a “powerful Mahler orchestra”
(Frankfurter Rundschau)
? Outstanding soloists: Waltraud Meier (Symphony No. 3), who sung at Bayreuth Festival, MET, Covent
Garden, La Scala etc. with conductors as Muti, ‚Abbado, Thielemann, Mehta etc.
Genia Kühmeier (Symphony No. 4), who sung at MET, Covent Garden, La Scala, Salzburg Festival, Vienna
State Opera, Los Angeles, San Francisco etc.
? Bonus: Introductions to Symphonies Nos 3 + 4 with Paavo Järvi
Mahler Symphony No. 3
? “… excellent prepared orchestra …“ “… Waltraud Meier, a worldwide celebrated singer …“ FAZ
? “… this is simply terrific.“ Frankfurter Rundschau
Mahler Symphony No. 4
? “Genia Kühmeier sang with a trancendental immaculacy tone.“ FAZ
? “Great orchestra, oustanding conductor.“ Bild Zeitung
Die Schuldigkeit des Ersten Gebotes (Mozart 22)
Mozart was eleven years old when he wrote “Apollo et Hyacinthus” K. 38 and “Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebots” (The Obligation to Observe the First Commandment) K. 35 in 1767. Their brevity and contemporaneity made it seem fitting to entrust them to one director for their stage interpretations within the Mozart 22 project. John Dew, known and admired for his rediscoveries of long-neglected works and his highly imaginative productions, has created a semi-ironic framework that ideally suits the two little pieces. They are given graceful musical accompaniment by the Symphony Orchestra of the Mozarteum University. “Apollo et Hyacinthus” is Mozart’s very first operatic venture and was commissioned soon after the successful performance of “Schuldigkeit”. “Apollo” is a Latin intermezzo that was intended as an insert between the prologue and the five-act school drama “Clementia Croesi”. Curiously, it already contains many of the themes that would recur in Mozart’s later operas: disguise, intrigue, transformation, self-discovery¿ The plot concerns Zephyrus’ love for Melia, who is about to marry Apollo. In his jealousy, Zephyrus gravely wounds Hyacinthus with a discus and, to have Apollo banished, accuses Apollo of murder. Apollo, how saw Zephyrus throw the discus, turns the true culprit into a wind. The dying Hyacinthus reveals the truth and Apollo consoles the mouring family by changing their son into a flower. “Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebots” is an allegorical drama in three parts that was first performed in the Archibishop’s residence in March 1767. Mozart composed the first part. The work is an offshoot of the 17th-century tradition of the Jesuit school drama in which the characters are purely symbolic. Here, the “lukewarm Christian” becomes the object of contention between two authorities. Worldliness tempts him with the pleasures of the senses; a trio formed by Justice, Mercy and Christian Spirit urges him to choose an active Christian life. Mozart included such subtle musical touches as a 3/4 dance rhythm and merry woodwinds deployed by Worldliness and an alto trombone that summons the hero to the Last Judgement – an instrumental color that will appear prominently in “Don Giovanni”¿
Plácido Domingo Gala – 50 Years at the Arena di Verona
What a pompous and exquisite gala to celebrate opera legend Plácido Domingo in the breathtaking Arena di Verona! 50 years ago the young Madrilenian singer Plácido Domingo gave his debut at the ancient open-air theatre: the beginning of a lasting and exceptional relationship. To mark the anniversary, Domingo presents a programme entirely dedicated to Verdi, performing three of his most complex and majestic baritone roles. No effort was spared to create an unforgettable evening in a unique atmosphere in the completely sold-out amphitheatre, which has been at the heart of Italian entertainment for almost 2,000 years. Whether as Babylonian king Nabucco, Scottish general Macbeth or as Doge Simon Boccanegra: Domingo’s versatility and aura is more than impressive, with “top phrasing and articulation, his baritone with full and sonorous intonation and a unique timbre – all this substantiates his exceptional position” (Das Opernglas). At the side of Domingo shines an excellent cast including Anna Pirozzi and Arturo Chacón-Cruz, supported by a perfectly rehearsed ballet under the baton of conductor Jordi Bernàcer who sovereignly leads the Orchestra of the Arena di Verona from scene to scene. A triumphal, almost historic moment for Domingo and the Arena di Verona!
Verdi, La Traviata
This production from the sumptuous Teatro San Carlo in Naples has two elements that make it different from all Traviatas prdocutions before: It is performed in the full length as Verdi wrote it. Phenomenal young conductor Michele Mariotti disregards the traditional cuts and plays entire work, which allows for better understanding of protagonists’ motivations. Italo-Turk stage director Ferzan Özpetek makes a minor change in the second act, with a major impact: Germont père was once a client of Violetta’s. This casts her relationship with Germont fils in a new light and adds more drama to the narrative. The stage design by Dante Ferretti, winner of three Academy Awards for The Aviator, Sweeney Todd and Hugo, is quoted as “a visually opulent yet strictly conservative affair” (Financial Times).