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Boasting major orchestras from Sweden, Iceland, France, Germany and the UK, this year’s Migros Culture Percentage Classics draws an appropriately international musical crowd to perform across Switzerland.

With over 300 performances of operas, ballets and concerts, the Hungarian State Opera and National Ballet are ever resourceful. We preview their expansive 2025–26 season. 

Laurence Equilbey’s choir, orchestra and many invited guests present a rich variety of offerings at the beautiful Auditorium of La Seine Musicale, just outside Paris at the south-western end of the Métro.

With a huge programme including many of the biggest names in classical music, one might easily drown in the Palau de la Música’s new season. We chart its waters...

Contemporary music theatre seems to be in a state of rude health, and we preview several new stage works soon to hit the boards this coming season at venues and opera houses around the world.

A network of around 50 classical music competitions, EMCY has also been mounting unusual performance projects, which respond to the challenges posed by Coronavirus and the war in Ukraine.

With a focus on Shostakovich, and many prestigious guest orchestras from around Europe, this year’s BBC Proms confirms orchestral music can make a big public statement.

In the forest, in a truck, above the clouds or at the waterside, a wine glass in hand, walking, singing, dancing or improvising: there's something here for every style and every taste.

The UK’s premier summer classical music festival offers the chance to get up close to some of the world’s finest orchestras – a transformative experience at any age.

Gareth Davies, Principal Flute of the London Symphony Orchestra, talks about the furious scramble to keep up with Colin Davis performing Berlioz’s great hallucinatory symphony.

NHK 交響楽団の首席ホルン奏者の今井仁志氏に、 マーラーの交響曲第 3 番について、曲との出会いや演奏の心構え、 自然への崇拝というテーマなどについて語っていただきました。

Hitoshi Imai, Principal Horn of the NHK Symphony Orchestra, talks about discovering and playing Mahler’s longest symphony, and its theme of reverence for nature.

With many of the world’s greatest ensembles and soloists appearing in over 95 concerts, across four weeks from August to September, it’s hard to know where to begin with Bucharest’s rich musical offering.

The concertmaster of Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra tells us about her love for Schubert’s famous symphony, which the orchestra plays on their UK tour in April.

2024年のクラシック音楽界にはどのような変化があっただろうか？　これまでの傾向は維持されただろうか、それとも下火になっただろうか？　48ヶ国、30,000を超える掲載件数にもとづき、Bachtrackはクラシック音楽界の有益な見取り図をお届けする。

What changes did the classical music world see in 2024? Are existing trends continuing, or slowing? With more than 30,000 listings across 48 countries, Bachtrack offers a valuable snapshot into the classical music world.

With concerts featuring Myung-whun Chung at the piano, Pinchas Zukerman leading from the podium, and inventive programming from Chief Conductor Andrea Battistoni, the Tokyo Philharmonic’s 2025 season straddles many divides.

The US Early Music ensemble Les Délices are embarking on a new season of concerts streaming online. Director Debra Nagy talks about the season, and her particular fascination with the music of Guillaume de Machaut.

The British composer and conductor talks about his 30-year career in China, and his latest stage work created in collaboration with children’s writer Hong Ying.

The director of Collegium 1704 talks about Zelenka, the greatest Czech Baroque composer, and his uniquely bold and distinctive approach composition – which still has the capacity to shock and overwhelm today.

The 2024–25 season features new productions of Turandot, Maria Stuarda, Macbeth and La Bayadère, as well as a host of titles in rep from Hungary and elsewhere.

Director Fabrice Murgia talks about Seasons, a new production for La Cité Bleue using music and film, creating portraits of imaginary residents of La Cité universitaire in Geneva.

In its ninth season, the Swiss city of Lugano sees a host of major soloists and ensembles congregate in its idyllic corner of Ticino, in the LAC’s world-class acoustic.

Barcelona’s dazzling modernista concert venue sees guest soloists and orchestras from across the world appear in this year’s season, with highlights almost too many to mention.

The Bulgarian capital is truly at the meeting point of world cultures, and the Sofia Philharmonic offers a heady mix of the world’s best classical soloists, as well as homegrown talent.

Migros, one of Switzerland’s largest retailers, has been running a classical music concert series for more than 70 years, with low ticket prices designed to make music widely accessible.

We preview nine major new operas on stage this season in Europe, from composers including Unsuk Chin, Rebecca Saunders, Mark-Anthony Turnage, Philip Venables and Toshio Hosokawa.

Soprano Kateřina Kněžíková talks about embodying Dvořák’s water nymph who tragically yearns to become human – and her personal journey with this most famous of Czech operatic roles.

The second half of this year’s Proms season heats up with visits from the Czech Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris and Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra – along with operas by Bizet and Britten.

The remarkable Czech composer and conductor Vítězslava Kaprálová demonstrated astonishing musical gifts, creating stylish and surprising music in almost every genre, before a tragic early death at the age of 25.

One of Janáček’s greatest works, the Glagolitic Mass sets Old Church Slavonic in the composer’s inimitable melodic style. Organist Daniela Kosinová talks about this unique piece – and its fearsome organ solo.

Germany is truly a land saturated with orchestras and opera houses – and it has a vibrant and extensive festival scene to boot. This guide presents a handful of the country’s many standout musical offerings.

Stretching over 8 weeks, and with concerts in London and 6 cities across the UK, this year’s BBC Proms has a vast offering – including guest orchestras, premieres, and celebrations of Holst, Bruckner and Schoenberg.

Founded by Laurence Equilbey, cutting-edge period ensemble Insula orchestra is at the heart of La Seine Musicale’s classical season, which features guest ensembles and soloists from around the world.

A festive opera of pomp and pageantry, Smetana’s Libuše forms a central place in the Czech musical and national imagination. Soprano Mária Porubčinová talks about taking on the unique leading role.

Performances by English Touring Opera and the London Philharmonic Orchestra are the highlights of an autumn season at Saffron Hall with a distinctly theatrical vibe – alongside major Baroque and chamber offerings.

The Reims summer music festival returns this June, and includes appearances from the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Nikolai Lugansky, Julia Fischer, Ben Grosvenor and the Percussions de Strasbourg.

Dramaturg Aleš Březina explores Bohuslav Martinů’s unique operatic forey into the world of dreams, which combined avant garde surrealism with a wide array Czech musical influences.

Led by Andris Nelsons, together with the Gewandhaus Orchestra and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Shostakovich festival presents almost the composer’s entire output, from 15th May to 1st June 2025.

Zurich sees an impressive 11 new opera and 5 new dance productions in 2024–25, including two world premieres, marking the departure of intendant Andreas Homoki after 13 years at the house.

Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra’s chief conductor talks about a remarkable symphony by Armenian composer Avet Terterian: “one of the most amazing pieces of music that one could experience in the concert hall.”

In ten concerts over five days in May, the Swiss city of Schaffhausen hosts a panoply of approaches to the music of the Leipzig cantor – representing a cross-section of contemporary Bach performance.

Written while the composer was imprisoned in the Theresienstadt ghetto, Viktor Ullmann’s powerful opera imagines an end to death.

The leader of the Czech Philharmonic’s viola section gives us an inside view on performing perhaps the most famous work in all of Czech symphonic repertoire.

The chief conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra discusses his love and fascination for Elgar’s deeply personal work – and his experiences performing it for the first time.

In the spring the Saffron Walden venue plays host of soloists and a panoply of some of the finest orchestras and ensembles in the country – including the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Britten Sinfonia.

クラシック音楽界はどう変わっているのか。2023年掲載分31,000以上の公演の分析と過去10年にわたる傾向を検証する。

How is the classical music world changing? We analyse more than 31,000 listed events in 2023 – and examine trends stretching over the past decade.

Contemporary opera has bounced back from the disruptions of the pandemic with significant gusto. We look ahead to several major operatic world premieres in the 2023–24 season.

In Tokyo, a fleet of youthful soloists complement a range of big repertoire works – Rite of Spring, Turangalîla-Symphonie, Macbeth, Boléro – full of sex and violence and all things sensual.