From the 2018 Bayreuth Festival, the acclaimed new production by American director Yuval Sharon, “one of the most interesting arrivals on the musical landscape” (Opernwelt). The New York Times praised “the outstanding Piotr Beczala” as Lohengrin, “Anja Harteros [making] her impressive Bayreuth debut” as Elsa, and Ortrud “played with dominant presence by the incomparable Waltraud Meier”. The distinguished artists Neo Rauch and Rosa Loy created “breathtaking visuals”, and the whole performance was guided with “enthralling musicality” by conductor Christian Thielemann.
Bayreuth Festival 2017: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
The high-point of the 2017 Bayreuth Festival, Barrie Kosky’s “astonishingly entertaining and convincing” (Der Spiegel) new Meistersinger is “a triumph” (Berliner Morgenpost): “a production of enormous insight and great quality … that plumbs the depths of both the opera and its composer” (Opera News). The “exquisite cast” (Die Zeit) is headed by Michael Volle’s “eloquent” Hans Sachs (The New York Times). “Philippe Jordan’s supple conducting is moulded around Kosky’s staging… and the Bayreuth Orchestra and Chorus are superb” (The Guardian).
ECM Explorations: Shai Maestro in Paris
The ECM Explorations series evoke the diversity and abundance of a label with over a thousand records. Discovered in the early 2010s, pianist Shai Maestro’s musical language is rich in nuance and lyricism. For ECM, he has chiselled The Dream Thief (2022), a jewel recorded with Jorge Roeder (double bass) and Ofri Nehemya (drums). In occasion of this concert at the stunning Philharmonie de Paris, Shai Maestro shares the stage with Barak Mori at the bass and Francesco Ciniglio at the drums.
ECM Exploration: Arvo Pärt
Contemporary Estonian music beats at the heart of the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir’s repertoire. Arvo Pärt is its figurehead and inspirational soul. With him, Tönu Kaljuste’s ensemble questions the accuracy of its a cappella, the center of gravity of its voices, the dynamics of the choral fresco and the sparkle of the soloists’ bouquet. This selection of vocal pieces composed between 1989 and 2007 bears witness to the Estonian composer’s interest in medieval polyphony from the 1980s onwards, and his sensitivity to Christian spirituality. A benevolent call to introspection, meditation and contemplation.
ECM Exploration: Avishai Cohen Quartet in Paris
The Philharmonie de Paris celebrates ECM, the legendary record label founded by Manfred Eicher that explores diverse musical horizons, with elegance as its only compass. In gravitation since the late 1990s, trumpeter Avishai Cohen – not to be confused with his compatriot double bassist of the same name – practices a fervent music striving for purity. Formed with Yonathan Avishai (piano), Barak Mori (double bass) and Ziv Ravitz (drums), his acoustic jazz quartet presents Ashes to Gold, a superb album of evolving chiaroscuro released by ECM in 2024.
ECM Exploration: Anouar Brahem in Paris
Inspirational oud master Anouar Brahem is joined by three esteemed colleagues to present music from his new album, “After the Last Sky”, in this concert filmed live at the Philharmonie de Paris. Eight years after his previous project, “After the Last Sky” marks the first time that Brahem features a cello in his group music, with Anja Lechner – a cellist as well versed in classical music as in improvisation and in Brahem’s unique sound world – taking a leading role alongside pianist Django Bates and bassist Dave Holland.
Peltokoski conducts Wagner: The Ring – An orchestral adventure
Tarmo Peltokoski is at the helm of the Hong Kong Philharmonic for this concert featuring Henk de Vlieger’s “Orchestral Adventure” drawing together highlights of Wagner’s monumental Ring: a superb distillation of some of the most exciting, moving and thrilling music ever written, presented in concentrated orchestral form.
Andris Nelsons and Lucas & Arthur Jussen
In this concert from the state-of-the-art Konzerthaus Dortmund, Lucas and Arthur Jussen join the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig and Gewandhauskapellmeister Andris Nelsons for a rare performance of the brilliant concerto for two pianos and orchestra by the 14-year-old Felix Mendelssohn, himself Gewandhauskapellmeister from 1835 to 1847. To complete the programme, orchestra and conductor present first another rarity – the beautiful “Blumine” movement composed for the original version of Mahler’s
Symphony No. 1 – alongside Dvorák’s life-enhancing Symphony No. 8, a work in which the composer’s symphonic skill and melodic gifts mix to irresistible effect. PROGRAM Mahler: Blumine; Mendelssohn: Concerto for two Pianos; Dvorák: Symphony No. 8
Bayreuth Festival 2023: Parsifal
Any new production of Parsifal at the Bayreuth Festival – in the theatre for which Wagner conceived his “Bühnenweihfestspiel” – is a major operatic event. But US director Jay Scheib’s new staging for the 2023 Festival, which employs Augmented Reality, is likely to break new boundaries in terms of technological innovation – even for a theatre whose history is bound up with revolutionary theatrical ideas. Pablo Heras-Casado, making his Bayreuth debut, conducts a superb cast, with tenor Andreas Schager and mezzo Elina Garanca – also making a highly anticipated Bayreuth debut as Kundry – leading the line-up alongside Georg Zeppenfeld’s seasoned Gurnemanz.
Bayreuth Festival 2024: Tristan und Isolde
The annual new production at the Bayreuth Festival is always one of the most eagerly awaited events in the operatic calendar. And 2024 was no exception, as it’s the turn of Wagner’s great “opus metaphysicum”, Tristan und Isolde to be staged afresh at the festival the composer founded in 1876. A revolutionary work of music theatre, Tristan presents any director with a fascinating mixture of challenges and opportunities, which will be taken on by the innovative Icelandic director Thorleifur Örn Arnarsson, making his Bayreuth debut. The production’s musical director is Semyon Bychkov, who conducts a cast led by Camilla Nylund singing Isolde for the first time on the “Green Hill” and Bayreuth regular Andreas Schager as Tristan.