On Stage
The 2014 edition of the ResMusica Summer Festivals Guide
The 2014 edition of the ResMusica Summer Festivals Guide The third edition of the ResMusica Summer Festivals Guide offers a selection of 60 European festivals of classical music and dance . ...
Thaïs at Los Angeles with Domingo and Fournillier
Plácido Domingo offers American audiences his first Athanaël, already successfully honed in Europe, and about which there really is nothing to say or write…or very little. At 72, the General Director ...
Hartmut Haenchen conducts the Helsinki Philharmonic
Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 may be one of the most performed pieces of orchestral music, and the first 2-4 measures of this work could be the most recognized musical excerpt ...
Jukka-Pekka Saraste conducts the Finnish RSO in Dutilleux, Strauss, and Brahms
Jukka-Pekka Saraste is a familiar presence to Helsinki audiences, regularly conducting both the Helsinki Philharmonic and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. His interpretive style generally focuses on clarity, balance and ...
A journey with quater tones, and death: Hannu Lintu conducts the Tapiola Sinfonietta
For both musicians and audiences only familiar with the Western chromatic scale of 12 pitches, listening to music which employs quarter tones can be a disorienting experience. If a composer ...
The Beethoven Festival 2014 in Warsaw
Founder Elżbieta Penderecka chose Beethoven and the ideal of freedom as a theme for this new edition, using the anniversary of the Fidelio's composition as a backdrop. For almost two ...
The 2014 ICMA Gala in Warsaw
The 2014 ICMA Ceremony and Gala took place in Warsaw, during the Easter Beethoven Festival, one of the major cultural events of Central Europe. The Polish young orchestra (Sinfonia Juventus) ...
Rossini’s Otello at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées
Parisian intellectuals have the habit of booing the direction at all openings, as if it were their only reason for buying a ticket in the first place. To walk in ...
Transiberian Festival
Deep in the heart of the Siberian forests, Novosibirsk is the third most populated city of all Russia. Situated on the legendary Trans-Siberian railway, Novosibirsk, capital of Siberia, is a ...
A glossy Manon Lescaut in Baden-Baden
The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and its conductor Simon Rattle chose Puccini's Manon Lescaut to represent the lyrical side of their second passage in Baden-Baden's Easter Festival. Compared to last year's ...
Boris Godunov at home at the Bolshoi
If there is an iconic opera at the Bolshoi Theatre, which is within walking distance of the Kremlin, it is Boris Godunov. By its size and cost, an opera house ...Ville Matvejeff leads the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra in Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass
Orchestral concerts in Finland during the Easter season are generally dominated by performances of Bach's Passions. In this concert, the rising conducting talent Ville Matvejeff provided a refreshing alternative, leading the ...
Rising from the abyss: Leif Segerstam with the Turku Philharmonic
Three cities often come to mind when discussing the Finnish orchestral scene: Helsinki, Lahti, and Tampere. Turku is usually left out of the discussion, but the recent appointment of Leif ...Nikolai Alexeev conducts all-Shostakovich program with the Estonian National Symphony
According to the marketing materials for this concert, this program featured the “two faces” of Shostakovich. In the suite from Korzinkina’s Adventures we find Shostakovich at his most light-hearted and ...Michael Francis conducts the Helsinki Philharmonic in an all-British Program
Although performances of British music are not entirely rare in Helsinki, an entire evening dedicated to mid-20th century British orchestral music is quite remarkable. Michael Francis, the current chief conductor ...
The Sommets Musicaux Festival in Gstaad
The Sommets Musicaux festival, held in Gstaad, Switzerland, and dedicated to chamber music, was founded in 2001. It takes place during the winter season in this posh ski resort located ...
The XXth-century US at the Folle Journée de Nantes
The audience’s rejuvenation is a direct consequence of the program, which was built around four axes: the musical roots of the new continent (traditional songs and the European legacy, with ...
The Ring in Geneva : a crescendo in aesthetics
With its perfect narration of the legend, the depth of its direction, and an aesthetic sometimes deliberately distressed by a Brechtian desire to expose the seams, the beautiful Die Walküre ...
Oslo Philharmonic plays Mahler’s sixth symphony in Helsinki
Jukka-Pekka Saraste is a familiar presence in the Helsinki music scene, regularly guest conducting both the Helsinki Philharmonic and Finnish RSO. On this evening's concert, however, Saraste was not on ...
Gustavo Dudamel conducts Berlioz’s Requiem in Notre-Dame de Paris
A performance of Berlioz’s Requiem is always a special occasion, because of the number of people involved (almost four hundred), the space required for effective spatialization of the four different ...
Alexander Raskatov’s A Dog’s Heart in Lyon
In the interview he gave to ResMusica about his opera A Dog's Heart, Alexander Raskatov insisted on two things: its (pessimistic) message about our civilization's evolution, and its refusal—unusual in ...
Alexander Kniazev performs Miaskovsky’s Cello Concerto
The mid-twentieth century cello concerto is dominated by two great Russian works: the Sinfonia Concertante of Prokofiev and the first cello concerto of Shostakovich. Both works feature fiendishly difficult solo ...
Pehr Henrik Nordgren at 70
Pehr Henrik Nordgren (1944-2008) was a unique voice in Finnish music. Influenced by both Japanese and Finnish folk music, as well as Shostakovich, Nordgren never achieved the same international recognition ...
A sea journey with Leif Segerstam
With a population of just over 5 million, Finland can boast of having a disproportionately large number of orchestras with international reputations. This includes the orchestras of Tampere and Lahti, ...
Chamber Music Week in Elmau
Located in Bavaria near the Austrian border, the Castle of Elmau is well- known in the world of classical music. Since the 1950s, it has become a famous concert hall, ...
Lintu conducts Sibelius’ Symphonies 6 and 7
For the major Finnish orchestras, all the seven symphonies of Sibelius appear to be held in equal regard, as opposed to say nos. 2 and 5 which may be preferred ...
Kari Kriikku plays Saariaho’s clarinet concerto
For such a small country, Finland can easily boast having at least four living composers with major international careers: Saariaho, Magnus Lindberg, Salonen, and Aho. Of these, Saariaho is arguably ...
Grisey’s Les Espaces Acoustiques at the Cité de la Musique
A concert presenting the full cycle of Gérard Grisey’s Les Espaces Acoustiques is a rare event. The project had not been performed by the Ensemble Intercontemporain for a decade. The ...
