Nelsons conducts Gewandhausorchester Leipzig: Webern, Wagner and Stravinsky

When Andris Nelsons made his debut with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig in 2011, the conductor and the orchestra are said to have felt a magical connection, which only a few years later resulted in his appointment as the 21st principal conductor of the world-renowned orchestra, beginning in 2018. In 2016, one of his concerts with the Gewandhausorchester featured three works by three composers, each of whom revolutionized the musical traditions of their times. Anton Webern, Richard Wagner and Igor Stravinsky. PROGRAM: Webern: Six Pieces for Orchestra; Wagner: Wesendonck Lieder; Stravinsky: Le Sacre du Printemps

Midori plays Bach in Köthen: The Partitas and Sonatas for Solo Violin

Midori’s recent interpretation of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas for violin solo has earned her many accolades by audiences and the media worldwide. In August 2016, Midori performed these pieces, known as one of the most challenging for any violinist, for an audio-visual recording at the Castle of Köthen (Schloss Köthen), where Bach served as Court Chapel Master between 1717 an 1723. There, the precise, light but nevertheless emphatic playing by Midori unfurled a unique world of sound that maybe Bach himself had imagined while composing these polyphonic masterpieces. PROGRAM: J.S. Bach: Partitas and Sonatas for Solo Violin BWV 1001 – 1006

International Jerusalem Chamber Music Festival

Every year in summer some of the best musicians worldwide meet in Israel for The Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival founded by Elena Bashkirova. In 2016, the 19th Festival is dedicated to interrelated composers like Brahms/Schumann, Bartók/Kodály or Schubert/Beethoven and many more – played by artists like Sir András Schiff, Baiba Skride or Emmanuel Pahud.

Messa da Requiem – Verdi’s Requiem Choreographed by Christian Spuck

With the Messa da Requiem, Christian Spuck brought one of Verdi’s key works on performing stage in his first audiovisual recording since taking his position as Ballet Director at Opernhaus Zurich. In a large-scale co-production by the Ballet and Opera Zurich, Spuck ventured to portray a profound interpretation of Verdi’s funeral mass. He focuses on people who, in their vulnerability and helplessness, are in the search for comfort. Spuck is not at all concerned with a purely dance-like illustration of Verdi’s music, but instead in the contentual-scenic link of the dancers with the soloists and choristers. They act on stage together and take part in ritualized movements and sequences. With Fabio Luisi leading the Philharmonia Zurich, the Opera Choir, and the soloists Krassimira Stoyanova, Veronica Simeoni, Francesco Meli and Georg Zeppenfeld, there is a musical interpretation of some of the most acknowledged artists of our times.

Lucerne Festival 2016: Rattle conducts Berliner Philharmoniker

Even if the music world is often dominated by rivalry, examples of genuine friendships can certainly be found. Take Johannes Brahms and Antonín Dvorák: a pair whose friendship was free of self-interest. And sure enough, his first publication, the spirited Slavonic Dances, enjoyed a sensational success. The Berlin Philharmonic paid homage to this musical friendship by pairing Dvorák’s bravura Slavonic Dances with the Second Symphony of Brahms, also composed in 1877. And as an “appetizer” Sir Simon Rattle has commissioned a new work from his compatriot Julian Anderson. PROGRAM: Julian Anderson: Incantesimi for Orchestra; Dvorák: Slavonic Dances, Op. 46; Brahms: Symphony No. 2

Chailly conducts Mahler No. 1

Gustav Mahler was 28 when he wrote his First Symphony in Leipzig in 1888. For a long time, he was uncertain whether the work was a symphonic poem or a symphony and finally abandoned the first version and later also the work’s subtitle, Titan. A few years later, Mahler went on to revise the symphony into the four-movement work we know today, which was premiered in 1896. Riccardo Chailly and the Gewandhausorchester continue their Leipzig Mahler cycle by bringing Mahler’s First Symphony to life in a riveting performance, paying homage to the composer.

Nelsons conducts Mahler – Des Knaben Wunderhorn

With Gustav Mahler, laughter and tears are often closely connected. As performed by Matthias Goerne, Andris Nelsons, and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, the songs from Des Knaben Wunderhorn showed this at the Lucerne Summer Festival in 2015. The gaiety of Rheinlegendchen is placed here with the tale of starvation in Das irdische Leben, and the satirical Fischpredigt of St. Anthony is juxtaposed with the march of the fallen soldiers in Revelge. Baritone Goerne shapes these songs with “introspection and narrative clarity”, while Nelsons “proves to be a sensitive accompanist”, according to Neue Zürcher Zeitung.

Nelsons conducts Mahler No. 5

Almost no other orchestra has been so involved with Gustav Mahler and established such an outstanding Mahler sound as the Lucerne Festival Orchestra. This tradition was continued in the summer of 2015. In his concerts with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, the renowned 37-year-old Andris Nelsons conducted Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, a work whose emotional spectrum ranges from the opening movement’s funeral march, through the declaration of love in the famous Adagietto – which Nelsons interpreted as an “intense chamber music love song in the passionate dimensions of Tristan” (Neue Zürcher Zeitung) – to the jubilant hymn of the finale.

Wozzeck

Berg’s “Wozzeck” is an indispensable work in the repertoire of any opera house. In Zurich, critics and audience celebrated director Andreas Homoki, General Music Director Fabio Luisi and baritone Christian Gerhaher for their intriguing interpretation of this masterpiece of operatic history. “It is an astonishing debut…: For the first time, Christian Gerhaher sings one of the most important operatic roles of the 20th century. That in itself is a great experience. But this evening is fantastic even beyond Gerhaher’s brilliant performance as a singer and actor thanks to the striking and truly exceptional interacting of music, scene, and singing. This Zurich ‘Wozzeck’ is phenomenal.” Süddeutsche Zeitung