Midori’s recent interpretation of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin has earned her many accolades by audiences and the media worldwide. In August 2016, Midori performed these pieces, known as some of the most challenging for any violinist, for an audio-visual recording at the Castle of Köthen (Schloss Köthen) where Bach served…

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Music, especially Bach’s music, gave this artist the strength to survive unimaginable challenges. Zhu Xiao-Mei belongs to the “Lost Generation” that endured the worst excesses of Mao’s regime: several years of “re-education”, five years in a work camp, her family destroyed, endless deprivation and political intrigue… “Zhu Xiao-Mei: How Bach defeated Mao” is a portrait of…

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“Without inner fire, without physical energy, this profession would be unthinkable,” according to Riccardo Chailly, in whose style of conducting accuracy and elegance are unforgettably united with an inexhaustible temperament. This is clear in Music – A Journey for Life, the first film portrait of the Italian maestro, which accompanies him working with the Leipzig…

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Arte will broadcast the concert of the famous singer and songwriter Glen Hansard at Rudolstadt Festival 2016. It is Germany’s foremost festival of roots, folk and world music. Held in the central region of Thuringia, it’s also one of the top world music festivals in Europe. It takes place annually from the first Thursday in…

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“I would like to find poignant images that are adequate for the music and do justice to the gigantic work in a way that one can experience it differently and more profoundly.”   Christian Spuck, choreographer Giuseppe Verdi’s Messa da Requiem is not only a musical prayer, but also a vision of the afterlife and the…

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Music, especially Bach’s music, gave this artist the strength to survive unimaginable challenges. Zhu Xiao-Mei belongs to the “Lost Generation” that endured the worst excesses of Mao’s regime: several years of “re-education”, five years in a work camp, her family destroyed, endless deprivation and political intrigue… “Zhu Xiao-Mei: How Bach defeated Mao” is a portrait of…

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Being a female conductor means being an exception. Even today. When a woman stands on the podium she is, in most cases, somehow “the first”: the first to lead a world-class orchestra, the first to conduct the “Last Night of the Proms” in London, the first to win the German Conductor Prize. For decades, this…

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The Dresden Festival Orchestra is made up of exceptional international specialists of historical performance practice from some of Europe’s leading early music ensembles. Under the direction of Ivor Bolton, its principal conductor, the orchestra recaptures the original sounds of different epochs with a passion for discovery, precision and a fine sense of authentic interpretation. The…

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“I’m a pucca Indian. Mumbai is my home,” says Zubin Mehta about his birthplace. The Musical Director for Life of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra travelled to India with “his” inspiring 110-member orchestra and on April 17th and 18th, 2016 they celebrated Maestro Mehta’s 80th birthday with two fantastic concerts at the National Center of Performing…

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Even if the music world is often dominated by rivalry, examples of genuine friendships can certainly be found. Take Johannes Brahms and Antonín Dvořák: a pair whose friendship was free of self-interest. “That fellow has more ideas than all the rest of us. Even what he tosses into the trash could serve as a main…

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The Konzerthaus Berlin will screen the documentary “Speak the music – Robert Mann and the Mysteries of Chamber Music” on January 30 at 8 PM. More information here. In this compelling documentary Oscar-winning director Allan Miller gives us an intimate look at the musical life of violinist Robert Mann. Founding member and first violinist of…

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