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“I detest imitation, I detest hackneyed devices.” Prokofiev was one of the most important Russian composers, writing in a variety of forms and happy to challenge conventions. 

The ARD International Music Competition holds a yearly Winners Festival for its laureates. Violinist Alexandra Tirsu and horn player Yun Zeng speak about the transformative experience of participating.

A pioneering composer of music for electronic instruments in the 1930s, Johanna Beyer also wrote singular chamber and large ensemble music. A portrait concert will be presented at LAC Lugano in May.

This May, the Rotterdam Philharmonic perform Mahler’s Symphony no. 2 on tour throughout the Netherlands and Germany, in commemoration of the destructive bombing the city suffered in 1940.

This year’s festival features a rare Handel opera, led by director and countertenor Max Emanuel Cenčić, an unusual production of Monteverdi’s L'Orfeo, and a veritable feast of recitals.

We compare six audio streaming services you might choose for classical music: Idagio, Presto Music, Apple Music Classical, Spotify, Tidal and Amazon Music Unlimited.

Youthful Malaysian-born pianist talks to us ahead of appearing at Singapore International Piano Festival, with a fiendish recital featuring Schumann, Villa-Lobos and Cheng Jin Koh.

Cellist and Intendant of the Dresden Music Festival tells us about the festival’s new commissions, performing on stage, and connecting together musicians from around the world.

Anna Hop has already become a choreographer of some note, but combines it with a full-time job as a member of Polish National Ballet’s corps de ballet.

The British horn player talks about her musical life in Berlin, Kirill Petrenko and her Cuban adventures.

Possibly the greatest pianist of the 20th century and one of its greatest composers too, Sergei Rachmaninov left a relatively small catalogue – only 45 published works – yet many of them appear frequently in concert programmes. 

“Years ago, I composed for the great Chaliapin. Now he is dead, and so I compose for a new kind of artist, the Philadelphia Orchestra.” Cameron Kelsall explores the relationship between Sergei Rachmaninov and the orchestra he composed for in exile. 

The demonic Dies irae motif haunts many of Rachmaninov’s compositions – but what meaning did this Catholic hymn have for the Russian composer?

Many of Rachmaninov's works were written for himself to play at the piano, but he was also a considerable composer for the voice, covering everything from intimate songs to operas and liturgical choral music. 

Twenty talented young conductors descend on London to participate in the Donatella Flick LSO Conducting Competition 2023, one of the most prestigious in the world.

Beginning with an unusual Puccini/Ravel double bill, and with two new productions and an array of revivals, New National Theatre Tokyo’s season 2023–24 has much to offer.

With ten new productions and a ballet world premiere, the 2023–24 season at Zurich is the opera gastronome’s delight.

Jorma Panula may not be a household name, but he matters enormously in the career development of many conductors. We speak to several of Panula’s Finnish students in order to learn more.

Youthful violinist Daniel Lozakovich explains his personal approach to Felix Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto, its tragedy and intimacy – and breaking out of routines.

ARTE presents productions from 23 opera houses and festivals from 14 countries – all freely streamed throughout Europe. ARTE’s project manager Veronka Köver explains this huge digital undertaking.

As Matthias Naske prepares to celebrate a decade in charge at the Wiener Konzerthaus, he reflects on the challenges presented by the pandemic and on curating diverse programming for the city. 

With guest conductors and soloists from the around the world, and a wide range of programming, Rotterdam Philharmonic’s 2023–24 season is as cosmopolitan as their home city.

Written for a dying Polish king, Józef Kozłowski’s rare Requiem in E flat minor is to be given a new lease of life by Hans Graf and the Singapore Symphony.

Ahead of a performance of Les Nations in Lugano this April, maestro Jordi Savall discusses Couperin, cross-border cooperation, and music as a universal language.

Tom Pye has drawn inspiration from the magical fairytale illustrations of Edmund Dulac and Arthur Rackham with his new set designs for Frederick Ashton's Cinderella.

The BBC’s announcement of its decision to shutter the BBC Singers, and to aim for 20% redundancies in its English orchestras, has attracted criticism.

Composer and songwriter, choral singer and cellist, this artist of many faces tells us about her career and her first large scale opera, Three Lunar Seas, premiering in May in Avignon.

A playlist presenting a multiplicity of musics from eight women composers from around the world, with premieres in 2023.

“I've written only one masterpiece. Unfortunately it has no music in it.” To which work was the self-critical Maurice Ravel referring and where does it come in our playlist of the dapper Frenchman’s top ten?

Inspired by grime, Jean Michel Basquiat, and the legacies of colonialism, composer Hannah Kendall talks about how music is always about more than just music.

Composer of some 500 concertos and around 90 operas, there's much more to the “Red Priest”, Antonio Vivaldi, than the ubiquitous Four Seasons. 

Brought to you by The Mozart, Prague, here are our picks for the best the city has to offer in spring and summer 2023.

Wunderkind conductor Klaus Mäkelä explains his love for the Orchestre de Paris, for Rachmaninov, and how not to get emotionally drained conducting Shostakovich.

“Give me a laundry bill and I will set it to music.” Composition seemed to come easily to Rossini. He wrote around 40 operas in only 17 years... but then he suddenly stopped. Enjoy our top ten selection. 

The LSO has launched a welcome initiative to aid musicians to pursue postgraduate study – often the most expensive, and most decisive, part of young musicians’ training.

Previewing her commemorative concerts after winning the 2020 Suntory Music Award, Hisako Kawamura talks about performing some rarely heard gems from Rebecca Clarke and Amy Beach.

Classical music is long overdue for reconstruction. The groundbreaking bass-baritone Davóne Tines explains his engagement with this never-ending task.

Hungarian conductor and harpsichordist György Vashegyi speaks about his role in the Early Music movement, music in Hungary, and his abiding love for Rameau.

An exclusive photo gallery taking a behind-the-scenes look at Dutch National Opera’s ambitious new production of Animal Farm.

A new opera based on Orwell’s Animal Farm will shortly open at Dutch National Opera. Director Damiano Michieletto, librettist Ian Burton and composer Alexander Raskatov speak about this ambitious and fervent new project.

In 2023 the Savonlinna Opera Festival once again offers a unique, summertime operatic experience – situated in a medieval lakeside castle.

Birmingham Royal Ballet’s *Swan Lake* is on tour until April, bringing classic opulence to multiple venues across the country.

What is it about classical ballet that makes it so enduring? Darcey Bussell, Cynthia Harvey and Aaron S. Watkin give their views on the continuing importance of classical dance.

Bachtrack’s new Dance Editor has had a remarkable career as a dancer, working with everyone from Rudolf Nureyev, to Margot Fonteyn, to Alicia Markova.

British dancer Rebecca Haw runs an agency giving guidance to young dances auditioning for places in ballet companies. She describes the impact Brexit has had on British dancers.

Principal soloists from the Czech National Ballet appear as their characters from the ballet Onegin, in this exclusive photo series shot in Prague’s Mozart Hotel.

We are devastated to learn of the death of Matthew Rye, one of our regular Bachtrack writers.

Child prodigy, keen traveller, champion of Bach – Felix Mendelssohn packed a lot of music into his short life, music that teems with freshness and vigour.

Many of Schubert's “late” masterpieces – he died aged only 31 – are included in our editor’s selection of his top ten works. 

Cate Blanchett’s imperious performance has attracted praise and controversy. Yet in Germany, a woman chief conductor of Lydia Tár’s status seems distant.