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Commemorating Rotterdam’s rebirth with Mahler’s Resurrection

Commemorating Rotterdam’s rebirth with Mahler’s Resurrection

By Michael Klier, 11 April 2023

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.

11 Apr 2023

By Michael Klier

Brutality and serenity: Tengku Irfan on performing at Singapore International Piano Festival

By Peter Quantrill, 05 April 2023

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.

05 Apr 2023

Brutality and serenity: Tengku Irfan on performing in Singapore

Connections between continents: Dresden Festival’s Jan Vogler

Connections between continents: Dresden Festival’s Jan Vogler

By Laurence Vittes, 04 April 2023

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.

04 Apr 2023

By Laurence Vittes

Balancing act: Anna Hop juggles corps de ballet and choreography

By Graham Watts, 03 April 2023

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.

03 Apr 2023

Balancing act: Anna Hop juggles corps de ballet and choreography

By Graham Watts

Sarah Willis: Mozart, mambo and life in the Berlin Phil

By Mark Pullinger, 03 April 2023

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

03 Apr 2023

Sarah Willis: Mozart, mambo and life in the Berlin Phil

By Mark Pullinger

The Special Relationship: Rachmaninov and the Philadelphia Sound

By Cameron Kelsall, 01 April 2023

“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.

01 Apr 2023

Rachmaninov and the Philadelphia Sound

Darkness and light in Mendelssohn: Daniel Lozakovich

Darkness and light in Mendelssohn: Daniel Lozakovich

By Peter Quantrill, 23 March 2023

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

23 Mar 2023

How to run Europe’s largest digital opera house

How to run Europe’s largest digital opera house

By Isabella Steppan, 22 March 2023

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.

22 Mar 2023

By Isabella Steppan

Harnessing tradition, harvesting innovation: Matthias Naske on life as a Viennese Intendant

By Mark Pullinger, 21 March 2023

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.

21 Mar 2023

Matthias Naske on life as a Viennese Intendant

By Mark Pullinger

Unearthing a royal requiem in Singapore

By Stephen Pritchard, 16 March 2023

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.

16 Mar 2023

Unearthing a royal requiem in Singapore

By Stephen Pritchard

Jordi Savall: dissolving borders between nations

By Elodie Olson-Coons, 15 March 2023

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.

15 Mar 2023

Jordi Savall: dissolving borders between nations

By Elodie Olson-Coons

Cinderella man: Tom Pye on designing sets for Covent Garden

By Jonathan Gray, 13 March 2023

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.

13 Mar 2023

Cinderella Man: Tom Pye on designing sets for Covent Garden

By Jonathan Gray

The multiple personalities of Josephine Stephenson

By Tristan Labouret, 09 March 2023

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.

09 Mar 2023

The multiple personalities of Josephine Stephenson

By Tristan Labouret

Music boxes, walkie-talkies and the plantation machine: Hannah Kendall

By David Grundy, 06 March 2023

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.

06 Mar 2023

Music boxes, walkie-talkies and the plantation machine: Hannah Kendall

By David Grundy

The natural: Klaus Mäkelä

By Kevin W Ng, 02 March 2023

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

02 Mar 2023

The natural: Klaus Mäkelä

By Kevin W Ng

Hisako Kawamura is rediscovering music and rethinking concert programmes

By Leah Broad, 22 February 2023

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.

22 Feb 2023

Hisako Kawamura is rediscovering music and rethinking programming

By Leah Broad

Davóne Tines is confronting whiteness in classical music

By Kurt Gottschalk, 20 February 2023

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

20 Feb 2023

Davóne Tines is confronting whiteness in classical music

By Kurt Gottschalk

Love, death, and Castor et Pollux: György Vashegyi on Rameau

By Frank Kuznik, 18 February 2023

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

18 Feb 2023

Love, death, and Castor et Pollux: György Vashegyi on Rameau

By Frank Kuznik

Breaking the cage from the inside: Dutch National Opera’s Animal Farm

By Lawrence Dunn, 17 February 2023

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.

17 Feb 2023

Breaking the cage from the inside: Dutch National Opera’s Animal Farm

Darcey Bussell on why we still need classical ballet

Why we still need classical ballet: Darcey Bussell, Cynthia Harvey and Aaron S. Watkin in conversation

By Deborah Weiss, 10 February 2023

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.

10 Feb 2023

By Deborah Weiss

Everyday life as a ballerina: an interview with Deborah Weiss

By Lawrence Dunn, 10 February 2023

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.

10 Feb 2023

Everyday life as a ballerina: an interview with Deborah Weiss

How Brexit has changed working in Europe for British dancers

How Brexit has changed working in Europe for British dancers

By Deborah Weiss, 10 February 2023

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.

10 Feb 2023

By Deborah Weiss

Painting pictures at the keyboard: Nikolai Lugansky on Rachmaninov

By Mark Pullinger, 26 January 2023

The Russian pianist discusses the challenges in Rachmaninov's music, the imagery in the Études-tableaux and champions the lesser known concertos.

26 Jan 2023

Painting pictures at the keyboard: Nikolai Lugansky on Rachmaninov

By Mark Pullinger

The orchestra is changing: talking sustainability with the Bamberg Symphony

By Alexandra Richter, 24 January 2023

How can orchestras respond definitively to the climate emergency? The Bamberg Symphony is one orchestra which is working to seriously reduce its carbon emissions.

24 Jan 2023

Bamberg Symphony sets sights on sustainability

By Alexandra Richter

“Music is the most living art form”: interview with Pablo Heras-Casado

By Isabella Steppan, 11 January 2023

Isabella Steppan talks to the Spanish conductor about his plans in Vienna and Bayreuth, as well as items left on his personal bucket list.

11 Jan 2023

“Music is the most living art form”: interview with Pablo Heras-Casado

By Isabella Steppan

Arvo Pärt: music for humanity

By Lawrence Dunn, 06 January 2023

In our statistics for 2022, Arvo Pärt is the most performed living composer. What might account for the enduring appeal of this highly personal and spiritual music?

06 Jan 2023

Arvo Pärt: music for humanity

Orchestras on-demand: the online world of Symphony.live

Orchestras on-demand: the online world of Symphony.live

By Peter Quantrill, 15 December 2022

How co-founder Rob Overman and Symphony.live are trying to create the Netflix of orchestral performance.

15 Dec 2022

Tomáš Netopil: traversing 140 years of Czech music

Tomáš Netopil: traversing 140 years of Czech music

By Gianmarco Segato, 13 December 2022

Conductor Tomáš Netopil discusses his love of Czech music, and his upcoming program with the Czech Philharmonic in January, featuring an unusual work of Janáček’s and a world premiere from Miloš Orson Štědroň.

13 Dec 2022

By Gianmarco Segato

In the eye of the storm: Welsh National Opera’s Aidan Lang

By David Karlin, 25 November 2022

In the latest Arts Council England funding allocations, WNO’s funding has been cut by a third. Their General Director discusses what's happened and how to survive it.

25 Nov 2022

In the eye of the storm: Welsh National Opera’s Aidan Lang

From streaming to total immersion: Idagio’s Till Janczukowicz

From streaming to total immersion: Idagio’s Till Janczukowicz

By David Karlin, 25 November 2022

The founder and CEO of classical platform Idagio talks streaming, immersive experiences and about getting a better deal for artists.

25 Nov 2022

“It should belong to all of us”: Detlev Glanert’s Prague Symphony

“It should belong to all of us”: Detlev Glanert’s Prague Symphony

By David Grundy, 16 November 2022

The German composer discusses the long awaited world premiere of his new work Prague Symphony with the Czech Philharmonic, which sets fragments of Franz Kafka for two singers and orchestra.

16 Nov 2022

By David Grundy

The competition revealing the unsung wealth of Polish music

By Peter Quantrill, 09 November 2022

The International Polish Music Competition returns to Rzeszów in 2023. From the spicy Roman Palester, to the fiery Grażyna Bacewicz, the competition uncovers a wealth of hidden gems in Polish chamber music.

09 Nov 2022

The competition revealing the unsung wealth of Polish music

Lahav Shani: Digging deep in Rotterdam

Lahav Shani: Digging deep in Rotterdam

By Cameron Kelsall, 08 November 2022

In 2018 Israeli conductor and pianist Lahav Shani was appointed chief conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic at the age of 27 – becoming one of the youngest chief conductors anywhere in the world. He discusses the orchestra’s musical adaptability, precision, and ability to dig deep.

08 Nov 2022

Splendour and gold: Regents Opera prepares for new Ring cycle

Splendour and gold: Regents Opera prepares for new Ring cycle

By Stephen Pritchard, 07 November 2022

From 2022-24, the opulent gold and marble of the Grand Temple, Freemasons’ Hall in London will host Regents Opera’s new production of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen – for a chamber ensemble of eighteen players.

07 Nov 2022

By Stephen Pritchard

Vimbayi Kaziboni: Music to change your life

By Lawrence Dunn, 02 November 2022

Bachtrack catches up with Zimbabwean-American conductor Vimbayi Kaziboni as he visits Manchester to conduct the BBC Philharmonic – in a project exploring interactions between the orchestra and artificial intelligence.

02 Nov 2022

Vimbayi Kaziboni: Music to change your life

Jörg Widmann: my music develops a life of its own

Jörg Widmann: my music develops a life of its own

By Michael Klier, 21 October 2022

The composer tells us about Arche, his oratorio built on a massive scale, which receives its second ever performance at Amsterdam's Concertgebouw on 12th November.

21 Oct 2022

By Michael Klier

And the Indianapolis Violin winner is: Sirena Huang

By Cameron Kelsall, 18 October 2022

A violinist since the age of four, Huang tells us about her journey to the Indianapolis final and the ironclad preparation discipline that led to her win.

18 Oct 2022

And the Indianapolis Violin winner is: Sirena Huang

Finding curiosity: DNO Opera Studio's Rosemary Joshua

Finding curiosity and abandon: DNO Opera Studio's Rosemary Joshua

By David Karlin, 12 October 2022

The star soprano describes the journey of change for young singers passing through Amsterdam's artist development programme.

12 Oct 2022

Online opera for the hardcore: the Liceu's Valentí Oviedo

Online opera for the hardcore: the Liceu's Valentí Oviedo

By David Karlin, 11 October 2022

The General Manager of Barcelona's opera house tells us about their new digital offering Liceu+LIVE, which launches worldwide on 5th November.

11 Oct 2022