It is ‘his’ work: if it is Stravinsky’s ‘The Firebird’, then it has to be Charles Dutoit. It is his ‘signature piece’. He has been conducting this dazzling, irresistible fairy-tale ballet for decades; conducting it like nobody else, unfolding its musical fairy magic in inimitable style. And every ti…

Beginnings are always difficult. Johannes Brahms never had such a difficult time with a work as he did with his first piano concerto. He originally wanted to write a sonata for two pianos in 1854; but when he found that the music was crying out for orchestration, he tried to transform what he already had into a symphony. This also floundere…

Beginnings are always difficult. Johannes Brahms never had such a difficult time with a work as he did with his first piano concerto. He originally wanted to write a sonata for two pianos in 1854; but when he found that the music was crying out for orchestration, he tried to transform what he already had into a symphony. This also floundere…

Sometimes the stars just don’t align. This was certainly the case with Rachmaninoff’s ill-fated First Symphony, the work of a twenty-two-year-old. Its premiere on 15th March 1897 was a complete failure, ending in fiasco. The orchestra was poorly-prepared, and the conductor – renowned composer Alexander Glazunov – was…

Sometimes the stars just don’t align. This was certainly the case with Rachmaninoff’s ill-fated First Symphony, the work of a twenty-two-year-old. Its premiere on 15th March 1897 was a complete failure, ending in fiasco. The orchestra was poorly-prepared, and the conductor – renowned composer Alexander Glazunov – was…

Hard to believe: the Venetian Antonio Vivaldi composed almost 500 concertos, for a huge variety of solo instruments – 27 of them for cello and strings. An infinitely rich store of Baroque music – even if some, such as Igor Stravinsky, have mockingly said that Vivaldi wrote the same concerto 500 times. This cannot be the case, gi…

Nachtkonzert / Night Concert Jesuitenkirche Luzern | circa 10 pm (included in ticketprize, please bring ticket along) Choir Prague Philharmonic Choir Conduction Lukáš Vasilek   Antonín Dvořák In Nature’s Realm | 12 ’ Bohuslav Martinů (1890 ‒ 1959) Four Songs of the Virgin Mary | 11 ’ Petr Eben (1929 ‒ 2007) Cantico delle Creature | 5 ’…

  The second part of our Dvořák celebration is dedicated to a single work, the Requiem. A powerful, expansive choral work whose performance, under chief conductor Michael Sanderling, gains immensely by the participation of the world-renowned Prague Philharmonic Choir. It could hardly be more authentic. Despite Dvořák’s deep piety…

As you know, Julia Fischer is a brilliant violinist, an exceptional performer who can be entrusted with anything – even Britten’s violin concerto, which still rather lags behind the popular Romantic warhorses in the public’s favour. Wrongly so, as Julia Fischer proves with panache. She lovingly shapes Britten’s canti…

As you know, Julia Fischer is a brilliant violinist, an exceptional performer who can be entrusted with anything – even Britten’s violin concerto, which still rather lags behind the popular Romantic warhorses in the public’s favour. Wrongly so, as Julia Fischer proves with panache. She lovingly shapes Britten’s canti…