Krystian Zimerman in Vienna and Düsseldorf (October 2024)

The renowned, if not legendary, pianist Krystian Zimerman will be playing two concerts in Europe in October and we are delighted to be part of this special sound experience! On 5 October in the Düsseldorf Tonhalle and on 17 October in the Vienna Konzerthaus, he will present works by Chopin, Debussy, Brahms and Karol Szymanowski.

5 October Tonhalle Düsseldorf, more information here

Chopin: Nocturne Fis-Dur op. 15/2
Chopin: Nocturne Es-Dur op. 55/2
Chopin:
Nocturne E-Dur op. 62/2

Brahms: Sonate Nr. 2 fis-Moll op. 2

Debussy: Estampes

Karol Szymanowski: Wariacje na polski temat ludowy »Variationen über ein polnisches Volksthema« op. 1

 

17 October Konzerthaus Wien, more information here

Chopin: Nocturne Fis-Dur op. 15/2
Chopin: Nocturne Es-Dur op. 55/2
Chopin:
Nocturne E-Dur op. 62/2
Chopin:
Sonate b-moll op. 35

Debussy: Estampes

New recording with Omer Meir Wellber (October 2024)

On 4 October, a new recording with Omer Meir Wellber conducting the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and pianist Jonathan Biss will be released by Orchid Classic. The recording combines Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with Sally Beamish’s “City Stanzas”, which was inspired by Beethoven’s piano concerto but also by Jonathan Biss’ virtuoso playing.

Further information on the recording as well as texts by Jonathan Biss and Sally Beamish on the pieces can be found at Orchid Classics.

Composer Sally Beamish and conductor Omer Meir Wellber already know each other from the BBC video conversation series The Music Room, which was created by Wellber in 2020 and focused on Beethoven’s nine symphonies. All episodes can be watched here.

Erwin Schrott & PR² classic (September 2024)

We are delighted to announce that the renowned opera singer Erwin Schrott will be partnering with the PR agency PR² classic starting September 2, 2024. This exciting collaboration will enable us to present Erwin Schrott’s exceptional talents and projects in innovative ways, infused with fresh energy. We are enthusiastic about this partnership and look forward to many successful ventures together in the future.

Stay tuned for more updates!

erwinschrott.com

Kent Nagano opens the new season of the Hamburg State Opera (August 2024)

Conductor Kent Nagano’s open air concert marks the start of the the season in Hamburg on August 31 in Hamburg with an eclectic program: Orff’s Camina Burana, Debussy and Arvo Pärt.

In September, the Academy Concerts initiated by Kent Nagano will take place from September 6-15 and the first premiere of 2024/25 at the Hamburg State Opera, Carl Orff’s trilogy “Trionfi”, will be conducted by Kent Nagano on September 21.

The first Philharmonic Concerts under his direction will begin at the Elbphilharmonie on September 29 and 30.

 

staatsoper-hamburg.de

Extensive European tour of the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal in November 2024 (July 2024)

The OSM will tour with chief conductor Rafael Payare from  November 19 – 30, 2024, eight European cities: Hamburg, Berlin, Munich, Vienna, Amsterdam, Paris, Luxembourg and London. With soloist Daniil Trifonov (piano), the orchestra will present works by Beethoven, Berlioz, Schumann, Strauss and the Iranian-Canadian composer and pianist Iman Habibi. Conductor Rafael Payare, born in Venezuela in 1980, has been Chief Conductor of the OSM since fall 2022, succeeding conductor Kent Nagano. ,READ MORE

Max Volbers: New Single Release (July 2024)

Max Volbers first single from his new album “Foreign Masters” will be released on July 12.
The single Corelli – Sonate für Blockflöte und Basso Continuo “La Follia” can be heard and streamed on all digital platforms.
The young recorder player will release his new album with harpsichordist Alexander von Heißen on Berlin Classics on September 6, 2024.

Link: Corelli – Sonate für Blockflöte und Basso Continuo “La Follia”

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Kent Nagano receives the Brahms Prize 2024 (March 2024)

The Brahms-Gesellschaft Schleswig-Holstein is awarding this year’s Brahms Prize to the renowned conductor Kent Nagano. The California-born maestro has been celebrated worldwide for decades for his conducting achievements in both the symphonic oeuvre and the opera repertoire. In recent years in particular, as GMD of the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra, he has increasingly focussed on Johannes Brahms and opened up new perspectives on the work of the North German composer. […]

The award ceremony for the Brahms Prize, which is endowed with EUR 10,000, will take place on 29 September 2024 at 7.30 pm in St. Bartholomew’s Church in Wesselburen. Kent Nagano will be accompanied by the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra, which will perform works by Johannes Brahms and Richard Strauss under his baton and in his honour.

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Jan Vogler & Amanda Gorman on the Late Night Show with Stephen Colbert (February 2024)

Cellist Jan Vogler and award-winning lyricist Amanda Gorman were guests on Stephen Colbert’s US Late Night Show on February 27. The “duo” was invited as a live act and together they performed an excerpt from their joint concert program on the stage of the late night show.  Stephen Colbert’s show is one of the biggest and best-known late night shows in America, to which only a few classical musicians have ever been invited. In their performance, Amanda Gorman and Jan Vogler combined Gorman’s poems with the cello suites by Johann Sebastian Bach.

The premiere of this project took place on February 17 in the almost sold-out Carnegie Hall in New York. On Colbert’s show, they performed the encore of the Carnegie Hall concert again, which many described as the highlight of the performance.

Jan Vogler dreams of bringing the project with Amanda Gorman to Germany and to the Dresden Music Festival.

Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra live from Warsaw to be released on CD (February 2024)

The Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra was founded in 2022 by conductor Keri-Lynn Wilson in collaboration with the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture, the New York Metropolitan Opera and the Polish National Opera in Warsaw. The highlight of the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra’s 2023 European tour was an emotionally charged performance of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with Schiller’s great poem “Ode to Joy”, sung in Ukrainian. The Warsaw concert, captured on this recording, was the first time that the text of the symphony was presented in translation outside Ukraine. Further information from Deutsche Grammophon can be found here.

This project was also a special highlight of the past year for us at PR² classic! It also included the orchestra’s concert in Berlin on September 24, Ukraine’s Independence Day. You can find a report on this concert here.

Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra, Keri-Lynn Wilson
Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D minor op. 125

Vladyslav Buialskyi
Olga Kulchynska
Nicole Chirka
Dmytro Popov
The Choir of the Podlasie Opera and Philharmonic in Białystok

Kent Nagano’s concert engagements at the beginning of the year 2024 (January 2024)

Kent Nagano’s first concerts in 2024 will take him to Amsterdam for the Dutch premiere of Unsuk Chin’s Alaraph ‘Rite of the Heartbeat‘ in January, which can be listened to here, as well as to the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra with a world premiere of Bryce Dessner’s Piano Concerto and then to Berlin at the end of January with Mahler’s 7th Symphony to the Deutsche Symphonie-Orchester.

At the Hamburg State Opera, Kent Nagano conducts the performances of Peter Grimes in February and the resumption of Lady Macbeth in May, as well as several concerts with the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra in the Elbphilharmonie. In June, a special semi-staged production of Olivier Messiaen’s Saint Francois d’Assise will be performed three times at the Musikfest Hamburg.

In November 2023, an episode of the YouTube channel Living the Classical Life with Kent Nagano was released:

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