preview
From French wit to Icelandic sagas
For its second season under the leadership of principal conductor Yan Pascal Tortelier, the Iceland Symphony Orchestra offers a wonderfully balanced programme. As well as featuring some of the world’s leading soloists, Icelandic composers and performers are also championed.
Preview
An invitation to travel: Opéra de Dijon's 2017-18 Season
Following on from Central Europe, the East and North America, Dijon takes on the flavours of the Iberian world – Spain, Portugal and Latin America
preview
Netrebko headlines new La Scala season
Few opera singers capture the public imagination like Anna Netrebko. And there are few more glittering occasions in the opera calendar than the opening night of the season at the Teatro alla Scala.
preview
Carry on Cleo: ETO's Baroque autumn
When it is not digging up Donizetti rarities, English Touring Opera can often be found performing Baroque opera. Artistic Director James Conway has decided on a return to the Baroque for its autumn season.
PREVIEW
Blue Roses in Suntory Hall's Chamber Music Garden
Most classical music fans would associate Tokyo's Suntory Hall with its symphonic hall and its great acoustics, but in fact, the venue also has a beautiful wood-panelled chamber music hall named “Blue Rose”.
interview
Giovanni Antonini takes the reins at Wratislavia Cantans Festival
Giovanni Antonini's latest challenge is the Artistic Directorship of the Wratislavia Cantans Festival in Wrocław Poland, intending to raise its profile on the European scene.
Crystal Pite's Emergence as performed by Scottish Ballet
© Andy Ross
Costumes take centre stage in Theater Basel's Alcina
© Prisca Ketterer
Barbara Hannigan & Allan Clayton impress in Hamlet, superbly sung & acted Glyndebourne
© Richard Hubert Smith
Bright future for Aterballetto: Phoenix makes the perfect ending to their triple bill
© Nadir Bonazzi
The mortal lovers in Britten's Midsummer Night's Dream at Aldeburgh
© Hugo Glendinning
Lawrence Brownlee as Charlie Parker was on outstanding form in ENO's Yardbird at Hackney Empire
© Richard Hubert Smith
David Evans, Jesse Blumberg & Ryaan Ahmed in Le Carnaval de Venise Boston's Early Music Festival
© Kathy Whittman
Marianna Venekei's A Streetcar Named Desire premieres at the Hungarian National Ballet
© Szilvia Csibi
Crystal Pite's Emergence as performed by Scottish Ballet
© Andy Ross
Costumes take centre stage in Theater Basel's Alcina
© Prisca Ketterer
Barbara Hannigan & Allan Clayton impress in Hamlet, superbly sung & acted Glyndebourne
© Richard Hubert Smith
Bright future for Aterballetto: Phoenix makes the perfect ending to their triple bill
© Nadir Bonazzi
The mortal lovers in Britten's Midsummer Night's Dream at Aldeburgh
© Hugo Glendinning
Lawrence Brownlee as Charlie Parker was on outstanding form in ENO's Yardbird at Hackney Empire
© Richard Hubert Smith
David Evans, Jesse Blumberg & Ryaan Ahmed in Le Carnaval de Venise Boston's Early Music Festival
© Kathy Whittman
Marianna Venekei's A Streetcar Named Desire premieres at the Hungarian National Ballet
© Szilvia Csibi
Make Bachtrack your guide to the best classical music concerts, opera and dance performances worldwide. You can search for your favourite composer or performer or read some of the 200 reviews we publish each month across the world.
Upcoming eventsSee more...
LondonMahler
Mahler: Symphony no. 3 in D minor
London Symphony Orchestra; Daniel Harding; Anna Larsson; London Symphony Chorus
PragueUte Lemper: Paris, Paris!
PIaf, Brel, Piazzolla, Weill, Gainsbourg
Czech National Symphony Orchestra; Vince Mendoza; Ute Lemper
BasingstokeOrchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
Campra, Fischer, Bach, Rameau
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment; William Christie
WürzburgIsabelle Faust | Alexander Melnikov | Salagon Quartett
Mozart, Saint-Saëns, Chausson
Isabelle Faust; Alexander Melnikov; Salagon Quartet
Upcoming eventsSee more...
BerlinBoris GodunovNew production
Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov
Kirill Karabits; Richard Jones; Deutsche Oper Berlin; Miriam Buether; Nicky Gillibrand; Robert Watson; Ain Anger
ViennaPelléas and MélisandeNeue Produktion
Debussy: Pelléas et Mélisande
Alain Altinoglu; Marco Arturo Marelli; Vienna State Opera; Dagmar Niefind; Olga Bezsmertna; Adrian Eröd
AlresfordIl ritorno d’Ulisse in patria
Monteverdi: Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria (The Return of Ulysses to his Country), SV 325
Michael Chance; Tim Supple; The Grange Festival; Sumant Jayakrishnan; Paul Nilon; Anna Bonitatibus; Thomas Elwin
AmsterdamSalome
Strauss R.: Salome
Daniele Gatti; Ivo van Hove; Dutch National Opera; Jan Versweyveld; An D'Huys; Lance Ryan; Doris Soffel
ZürichDas Land des LächelnsNew production
Lehár: The Land of Smiles (Das Land des Lächelns), operetta
Fabio Luisi; Andreas Homoki; Zurich Opera; Wolfgang Gussmann; Julia Kleiter; Rebeca Olvera
Latest reviewsSee more...
A bronze-toned lion: Kaufmann debuts as Otello
After all the speculation, Jonas Kaufmann made his role debut as Otello at The Royal Opera – an impressive, if not unqualified, success.
Russian powerhouses from the Philharmonia
Denis Kozhukhin provided flowing intensity in Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto while Yuri Temirkanov crafted a polished Shostakovich 5 with the Philharmonia.
The epitome of Russianness: Boris Godunov at the Mariinsky
In Tarkovsky's venerable production, the Mariinsky orchestra and chorus are brilliant – but too brilliant for their soloists, including two replacement Borises for an indisposed Mikhail Petrenko.
Rewriting Rimsky: a dismal Sadko in Ghent
Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera is rarely performed outside Russia. Sadly, I doubt that Daniel Kramer’s staging for Opera Vlaanderen will win it many new friends.
A noisy rendition of The Guilty Mother
The opera can be summed up by a line sung by the Countess in Act 4: “You’re killing her with all this noise.”
interview
A bold joint venture by Kremer and Keller
Gidon Kremer and András Keller take their longstanding friendship to a new level as they join the ensembles they respectively lead -- Kremerata Baltica and Concerto Budapest -- into a dream orchestra for a tour of Asia. Where politics is floundering, could music show the way towards the benefits of international cooperation?
Pick of the bunch
June Hotlist
Welcome to your May Hot List, hand-picked by our editorial team from the wealth of listings (33 pages!) on Bachtrack's 'What's On' section.
Your listings should begin with your 'home' city – but only if you have set one as your most usual concert/opera-going city. You can also select other cities as your favourites, so that these should appear next on the list.
Film music feature
A Flight Through the Music of Joe Hisaishi
As part of our film and game music month, we go deep into the work of Joe Hisaishi, the composer behind Studio Ghibli's best-loved scores.
film music feature
John Williams and his early aesthetic
A brief examination of the partly forgotten musical seeds that led to Williams’ distinctive cinematic soundworld
film music feature
Franz Waxman's film and classical music
Franz Waxman is known for his film scores, yet he also composed classical music. In the year of the 50th anniversary of his death, we look back on his work.
film music interview
RSNO's Film Season Reaches New Audiences
In Edinburgh and Glasgow, the RSNO is bringing swathes of new audience into the concert hall to hear a live orchestra for the first time.
game music interview
Creative haggling with Christopher Tin
Christopher Tin has worked in a whole range of fields, producing works that span film, video games and epic song cycles. Just don't call him a “video game composer”.
FOCUS ON TRAVEL and FESTIVALS: Click here for more information and ideas
round up
Italian music festivals: As prolific as pasta!
Italy has such an abundance of la dolce vita musicale it can be overwhelming, especially in the long, languid summer months when music-lovers, culture-cognoscenti and garrulous gourmands alike can savour the best of what this extraordinary country has to offer.
Round up
Summer music and opera in France
In July and August, Parisians flee the city to the provinces, where stunning landscapes and hundreds of music festivals await them. We explore the rich diversity.
round up
Guide to Opera Festivals 2017
Opera with the stars or under the stars? Country house picnics or rare repertoire in smaller venues? Our 2017 opera festivals guide has something for everyone!
Postcard from Wrocław
The hardest task facing foreign visitors to the fascinating Polish city of Wrocław is how to pronounce it.
Luxury in Mallorca: Formentor Sunset Classics
Opera's current power couple carry off with excellence a mixed programme of opera in an outstandingly beautiful outdoor location.
Postcard from Amsterdam: unassuming riches
When you stroll through the Rijksmuseum, 17th-century burghers peer at you, self-assured and dressed soberly, mostly in black. The first impression these portraits of the superrich give is that their subjects did not much care for ostentatious display.
FESTIVAL PREVIEWS
Preview
BA…CHopin and his Europe international festival 2017
For nearly three weeks in August, renowned international performers and rising stars take to the stage to play the music of Bach and Chopin, and much, much more in this the thirteenth edition of the Chopin and his Europe International Festival, presented by the Fryderyk Chopin Institute in Warsaw.
feature
Theatrical feast: Hipermestra at Glyndebourne
This year's festival opens with the most lavish work of an exceptionally important composer. So why has it languished unperformed for so long?
Interview
Jonathan Crow takes the reins in Toronto
This year’s edition of the Toronto Summer Music (TSM) marks two milestones: along with a celebration of Canada’s Sesquicentennial, it will inaugurate Jonathan Crow’s tenure as new Artistic Director. Crow, 40, is an internationally acclaimed violinist who has served as concertmaster of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra since 2011.
Interview
Michael Chance on the new Grange Festival
Michael Chance tells us about planned improvements to the festival-going experience and tells us about the operas that will form part of the new festival.
preview
The Varied Sounds of the Dolomites
Taking place every summer in Trentino, the Sounds of the Dolomites festival combines music and nature like never before.
Preview
Wealth of jewels at Toyko's Suntory Hall
Four of the world's great orchestras are all set to celebrate cornerstones of their repertoire in the fabled acoustic of the recently renovated Suntory Hall.
interview
Sir John Eliot Gardiner on Monteverdi
Read our wide-ranging interview about Monteverdi's operas, their cultural context, performing them today and why they remain as contemporary and fresh as when they were written four centuries ago.
interview
Baroque Inquisition: Rinaldo Alessandrini
The prolific recording artist and founder of Concerto Italiano answers our questions about Monteverdi and other music of the period.
Preview
Baroque and Early Music Festivals: the 2017 guide
Whether you're looking for Handel, Bach, Monteverdi, Telemann or mix of all of these; whether you like your Baroque music in a grand palace, an intimate chapel or a state-of-the-art concert hall, our 2017 roundup has something for you.
Celebrating women
Top Six Women Baroque Composers
Following the example of Rebecca Lentjes’ January feature “Top Ten Living Women Composers”, I have made my pick of women composers of the Baroque period in celebration of International Women’s Day.
Best of baroque
Photo gallery: Baroque theatres you should see
Feast your eyes on this marvellous collection of Europe's surviving baroque theatres.
NEW SEASON PREVIEWS
Pleasure in pain: Munich's new opera & ballet season
New productions, including a stellar Parsifal starring Kaufmann and Gerhaher, mix with the standard rich repertory pickings in the Bavarian capital
Deutsche Oper's new season
Deutsche Oper has a cornucopia in store for the new season. It promises some bold takes on the core repertoire, several enticing rarities, and a world première by the eminent German composer Aribert Reimann.
Bite-size opera: The Little Greats
How do you entice people to spend a night out at the opera? How do you grow new audiences? This autumn, Opera North may have a solution.
FOCUS ON OPERA
Interview
Stuart Skelton on tackling Tristan
The Australian Heldentenor shares his preparations for learning Tristan, his thoughts on opera productions and his passionate views about the current state of Opera Australia and ENO.
Interview
Ermonela Jaho on her heartbreaking soprano roles
Albanian soprano Ermonela Jaho is renowned for heartfelt performances as some of opera's most tortured soprano roles, especially Violetta in La traviata, the opera in which she sprang to fame in London when she jumped in for an indisposed Anna Netrebko.
Interview
“It’s not a Cinderella story”: Kristine Opolais
Latvian soprano Kristine Opolais shot to international fame in 2010 in Dvořák’s Rusalka at the Bavarian State Opera. She talks to us having recently performed the role in Mary Zimmerman’s much anticipated new production at The Met.
Interview
Crossing borders: Roberto Alagna
Ahead of Vienna's première of Il trovatore, the tenor who crosses borders between France and Italy, opera and popular song, spoke to us about the roles of Manrico and Cyrano, being a gypsy, a hero, returning to Italy, about family and more.
Interview
Creating opera roles: Stéphane Degout
With two new role creations in progress, baritone Stéphane Degout will be back this summer to the Aix Festival for the world première of Pinocchio. He talks to us about the process of creating new opera roles.
Interview
A childhood drama queen: Aleksandra Kurzak
Aleksandra Kurzak tells us about making ten role debuts in a year as her voice shifts from bel canto to the dramatic repertoire she has been dreaming about since childhood.
CONTEMPORARY MONTH HIGHLIGHTS
Retrospective
Remembering the legacy of Pauline Oliveros
“Music is a multi-dimensional, dynamic process unfolding as a relationship between an individual or a group of individuals, and sound vibrations.
Interview
“Not a political composer": John Adams
Taking time out from working on his new opera, Girls of the Golden West, which premières in San Francisco later this year, we spoke to John Adams about politics, Scheherazade.2 and where he sees the future for classical music.
Preview
From Crumb to Kaufmann: Holland Festival 2017 revealed
The Holland Festival has always celebrated and promoted new work and takes its 70th anniversary to both look forward, with plenty of world premières, but also to reflect on its past.
Preview
A guide to contemporary music festivals
There are plenty of occasions to hear Beethoven's symphonies or Mozart's operas throughout the year. But what about the 21st century repertoire? Contemporary music lovers often find it hard to quench their thirst for new music. Thankfully, some festivals specialise in contemporary music, giving to everyone the opportunity to drink their fill.
Retrospective
Keeping the Boulez spirit alive
Daniel Barenboim inaugurated last month the Barenboim-Said Academy in Berlin. The most interesting feature of the hall lies not in its flowing architecture, but rather in its name: the Pierre Boulez Saal. One year after the French composer death, what is his legacy?
Contemporary focus
Top 10 Living Women Composers
According to online showcase/podcast Listening to Ladies, during the 2015–2016 season, the top 89 symphony orchestras in the US dedicated only 2% of their programs to music composed by women.
Bachtrack announces Classical Music Statistics for 2016: The busiest conductors and orchestras, the most performed works, the most played living composers, most performed operas and ballet. Whatever you're looking for, check the Bachtrack statistics first HERE.