News

The Venezuelan maestro spoke exclusively to Classic FM about how classical music can inspire and transform the lives of young people – and why governments should harness that power.

Perched on the edge of Lake Lugano, with the San Salvatore peak just in the background, Lugano’s LAC is preposterously scenic. Now in its eighth season, the LAC concert hall has quickly established itself as a major centre for chamber and orchestral performance, attracting an array of distinguished soloists and guest ensembles to Ticino.

The power, rhythmic complexity and virtuosity of Stravinsky’s 1913 work raised the bar for orchestral music. To perform it requires high-wire concentration. And to perform it from memory…? Aurora Orchestra’s conductor on recapturing the thrill of a piece once deemed unplayable

Howard Shore’s otherworldly music for ‘The Lord of the Rings’ has been voted the nation’s favourite film score in the Classic FM Movie Music Hall of Fame 2023.

The festival’s concert staging with Donald Runnicles conducting the Deutsche Oper brought Wagner’s score to life, with Clay Hilley in command of the lead role’s technical challenges

Three violinists and a cellist from Theresia Orchestra will join period ensemble Il Giardino Armonico on a European tour in September 2023

Big is beautiful. The Boston Symphony Orchestra, the grandest of international orchestras at this year’s BBC Proms, certainly went large in the first concert of their European tour, bringing a heavyweight programme in their luggage and packing the stage with the largest string section I’ve seen in action for a while – ten double basses on duty!

The Czech Philharmonic began life as the resident orchestra of the Prague National Theatre: this coming season will mark the 130th anniversary of its 1894 founding.

Renata Scotto speaks to Alan Blyth for Gramophone's August 1978 issue

Cellist, pedagogue, and arts administrator Merry Peckham will assume the post as of January 2024

The Italian singer was regarded by some opera aficionados as an heir to the legacy of Maria Callas

Founded in 1935, the non-profit will wind down operations this fall.

It’s Sunday morning and the bells of the Franziskaner Kirche and the Stiftskirche St Peter call the faithful to prayer.

Anne-Sophie Mutter and Bruno Delepelaire were among the winners at Germany's most prestigious classical music awards

The Teatro Metropolitano of Medellin is set to present a production of Donizetti’s “L’Elisir d’Amore.”

Prolific conductor and composer whose work spanned film, ballet, television and oratorio

Released on Albany Records, the disc features works by Samuel Barber, Kenji Bunch, Lukas Foss, and Clancy Newman

Political authorities in Prague are considering banning a concert by Anna Netrebko set to take place in the city in October.

Sydney Youth Orchestra has appointed Stanley Dodds as Chief Conductor, starting in December.

Drive an hour and a half from Budapest and you will reach an inland paradise on the shores of Lake Balaton. Veszprém is this year’s European Capital of Culture, an initiative that offers an opportunity to introduce lesser-known regions to other European states.

David Patrick Stearns talks to leading pianists, singers and composers shaping the art song tradition for today

One of the darkest chapters in human history arrives on the big screen in ‘Oppenheimer’, and a suspenseful string-infused soundtrack sucks its audience straight into the action.

Maria Callas embodies the drama, the passion and, ultimately, the tragedy that makes opera what it is

Alongside the Australian Music Center, music rights management group APRA AMCOS has revealed finalists in 11 categories for its Art Music Awards

Why the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra deserves your vote for the 2023 Orchestra of the Year Award

The Italian conductor Giuseppe Mengoli received First Prize of €30,000

Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Philadelphia Orchestra are very much at home with the Russian composer, while the Gesualdo Six mine the full expressive power of Byrd’s clandestine works

We explore the history of one of the best-selling singles of all time, most famously recorded by Andrea Bocelli.

Music students are speaking out about their experiences during their studies, many for the first time

The Bayerische Staatsoper has announced Christopher Heil as its new Chorus director.

The countdown is on for Opera Australia’s futuristic East-meets-West Ring cycle. Postponed twice due to Covid, the epic Wagnerian creation – featuring sixteen hours of music over four nights – will finally open at Brisbane’s QPAC theatre in December this year.

We have been informed of the passing just before midnight of the marvellous tenor Graham Clark. Graham, who was 81, had been struggling with cancer in recent months.

Martin Rajna has been appointed to the position of principal conductor of the Hungarian State Opera for the upcoming 2023-2024 season.

Why the Orchestre de Paris deserves your vote for the 2023 Orchestra of the Year Award

A Sunday Times reporter has been given the estate agent’s tour of the house in my vicinity where the Soltis once lived.

We're coming at you live from the Bowdoin International Music Festival, one of the world’s premier music institutes.

In a very limited field with an even more restricted jury, these are the results of the piano finals...

Announced by the BBC Radio 3, Royal College of Music, and the National Centre for Early Music, the UK-based quintet will hold the role from 2023-25

The grants provide opera companies with the opportunity to edit, adjust, and refine the works for new audiences.

Riccardo Muti will become the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s music director emeritus for life starting next season.

A founding member of Bang on a Can All-Stars, the bassist, improvisor and educator was 67

This will support Berkeley Symphony in its future growth as it heads into its 52nd season.

South Korean pianist Seokyoung Hong was awarded first place and a $15,000 cash prize

The Russians have announced a narrow field of participants in their high-prestige event. An overwhelming majority of contenders are Russian and Chinese.

The Sinfonieorchester Wuppertal has unveiled its 2023-24 season. Here is a look at the vocal performances.

Figures released at the close of the Met season to the Associated Press show a slight increase in ticket sales at the Metropolitan Opera – from 61 percent in the post-Covid return year to 66 percent in 2022-23.

Slovakian violist Šimon Truszka joins the quartet with immediate effect

The Metropolitan Opera has announced that The Robert K. Johnson Foundation will become the new sponsor of its Saturday Matinee Radio Broadcasts.

The Konzerthaus Berlin has announced its 2023-24 season. Here is a look at the vocal performances. Martin Lehmann conducts Bach’s “Weihnachts-Oratorium BWV 248 (Teile I-III)” with soloists Marie Luise Werneburg, Henriette Godde, Eric Stoklossa, and Julian Orlishausen.

In celebration of Jurassic Park’s 30th anniversary, here’s a dino-mite performance of John Williams’ glorious main theme, by the Colorado Symphony and their very good-humoured conductor, Christopher Dragon...

The Teatro dell’Opera di Roma has announced its 2023-24 season. The season opens with Botio’s “Mefistofele” with Simon Stone directing. Michele Mariotti conducts a cast that includes John Relyea, Maria Agresta, and Joshua Guerrero.

BBC Radio 3 has unveiled the latest list of young musicians to be welcomed onto its prestigious New Generation Artists scheme.

The Opéra National de Paris has announced that to celebrate the 10th anniversary of its “Opéra d’été” series, it will showcase 46 free screenings of past productions throughout nine departments and 17 villages in France.

The Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra (NOSPR) has named Marin Alsop as its new Artistic Director and Chief Conductor.

The Staatheater Nürnberg has announced its 2023-24 season. here is a look at the operatic and vocal selections.

It was with great sadness that we learned the news over the weekend of the death of Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho.

Opéra de Nice Côte d’Azur has announced its 2023-24 season.

In a surprise appointment, the Royal Opera House has let it be known that Speranza Scappucci is to become its principal guest conductor, the first to hold that title this century.

The Awards, which for the past 20 years have recognised classical and jazz composing, will now concentrate on classical composition, with new Jazz Awards launched in 2024

Alongside concerts by VOCES8 and Apollo5 will be special appearances by Rachel Podger, Ola Gjeilo, Jack Liebeck and Mary Bevan

Perched right on Marina Bay, Singapore’s Esplanade Theatres sparkle just as light bounces off the water. The Singapore Symphony Orchestra’s approach to concert programming would seem to mirror this lustrousness – not just in choice of repertoire, but in their drawing together some of the most charismatic guest artists from around the world.

Hendrik Storme started his position as artistic director at Antwerp’s De Singel at a challenging time – when the stage, like halls around the world, was closed due to the pandemic. It gave him time to think about the future of the fast-changing Belgian institution.

The Berlin Phil chief conductor will make his Scala debut next season in Harry Kupfer’s production of Der Rosenkavalier, it was announced today in Milan.

The centenary of György Ligeti’s birth is an occasion to reflect on the life of one of the 20th century’s most remarkable musicians. It was a life that did much to reflect the extreme conditions that artists had to face in the middle years of the century, especially those in Eastern Europe.

Gustavo Dudamel is stepping down as Music Director of the Paris Opera at the end of the current 2022/23 season, less than two years after starting the role, for personal reasons.

Music Director Teddy Abrams tells Classic FM about his musical partnership with the world’s great cellist, which was 10 million years in the making.

Music Director Teddy Abrams tells Classic FM about his musical partnership with the world’s great cellist, which was 10 million years in the making.

BBC Radio 3 has compiled a playlist featuring classical music from all 26 nations competing in the Eurovision 2023 Grand Final - and it's available on BBC Sounds

Three-time GRAMMY® Award-winning violinist Hilary Hahn has announced her latest album with Deutsche Grammophon

Christoph Poppen joins Hong Kong Sinfonietta for his first concert as newly appointed Music Director on 20 May.

Due to Barenboim's health condition, he has had to step back from the "Beethoven for All" concert on May 12

Released on Deutsche Grammophon, the disc features repertoire inspired by the great violinists of the past

The Georgian violinist will step into the role for the 2023/24 season

Dutch violinist Hawijch Elders has won first prize and a €10,000 cash award

The adventure of a little girl who, with her dreams and strong faith, broke through The Iron Wall of the Soviet Union and became a world-renowned violinist

An accomplished solo recitalist and concerto performer, pianist Menahem Pressler will be best remembered as the co-founder of the hugely influential Beaux Arts Trio

23-year-old VC Young Artist Dmytro Udovychenko, from Ukraine, has been awarded First Prize at this year's violin edition

Released on Orchid Classics, the album features Troussov with the Orchestra of Teatro Lirico Giuseppe Verdi di Trieste and Nikša Bareza

“You can’t rely on virtuosity in Beethoven’s concerto; you have to reveal yourself,” says María Dueñas. And that can only be done through sound.”

The 8-week series will feature videos of Ma discussing the Bach Suites for solo cello, with participants invited to join the discussion

French pianist Colette Maze still practices between four and five hours a day, despite the fact that she has lived through two world wars and countless other historic events.

Renaud Capuçon’s exciting new Mozart project for Deutsche Grammophon comprises three albums and two STAGE+ performances, all to come before the end of the year.

Cellist Alban Gerhardt joins conductor Simone Young in Madrid for what promises to be a gripping series of concerts with Orquesta Nacional de España.

After very successful series of concerts in Australia with Sydney Symphony Orchestra and well received solo recital in Ukaria, Nicolas Altstaedt continues his tour in New Zealand.

Noa Wildschut makes her debut with Tonhalle Orchester Zürich on 26 and 27 April. Noa will performe Mozart’s Violin Concerto No.5, a piece that is close to her heart.

For the first time in its history the BBC Proms season will be opened and closed by female conductors, as the festival moves towards gender equality. The opening and closing nights will be led by Dalia Stasevska and Marin Alsop respectively, two of 10 women conducting concerts this year, three making their Proms debut.

Quatuor Ébène’s recent releases show an agile zig-zag across eras: Beethoven in 2019, Dutilleux and Schoenberg in 2021, and now back to Mozart with the K. 515 and K. 516 Quintets.

The subtitle of Quartet, historian Leah Broad’s book about four UK women composers, reads boldly: How Four Women Changed the Musical World.

A Colburn alumna, Meyers performs solo with leading orchestras worldwide and has contributed over 40 releases as a recording artist

The Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation will open the Bauhaus villa and its grounds for public viewing during several weekends in May

Hailed as “peerless today as a Rachmaninov interpreter” (The Guardian), pianist Daniil Trifonov has in recent years made milestone recordings of all four of the composer’s piano concertos and the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.

The virtuoso will appear in two orchestral programs plus an Artist Spotlight concert

Released on ARS Produktion, the disc explores the work of Jewish composers from the first decades of the twentieth century and features several world premiere arrangements

Discover Charlie Pikler's transcription of the well-known work

Released on Deutsche Grammophon, Wang performs with the Louisville Orchestra and conductor Teddy Abrams

The ensemble will be represented by new boutique artist management organization, Pink Noise Agency

Unsung presents cellist Sophie Kauer’s performances of works by Nadia Boulanger, Anatoly Lyadov, Felix Mendelssohn and Clara Schumann

The Chapel is the tenth film by Belgian director Dominique Deruddere. It tells the fictional story of 23-year-old virtuoso pianist Jennifer Rogiers, who takes part in the Queen Elisabeth Competition. Together with the eleven other finalists, she is traditionally secluded in the Music Chapel, without any contact with the outside world, in order to prepare her final performance.

A rare, nearly 300-year-old violin that has been in the collection of the late businessman Sau-Wing Lam and exhibited twice at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York will be auctioned at Tarisio next month, with an estimate in excess of US$10 million.

Nikolai Lugansky has recorded Rachmaninov's Études-Tableaux before, back in the January 1995 issue Bryce Morrison was impressed by the then 22-year-old pianist's 'glorious eloquence'.

Nova Orchester Wien invites you to a concert evening in the Vienna Konzerthaus with the great cellist Narek Hakhnazaryan.

The Concours Musical international de Montréal reveals its selection of the world’s most outstanding violinists of the new generation.