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The Best Bits
5th December 2025
Hello friends,
Welcome to this week's newsletter, which should perhaps come with a toxic hazard warning! Our recommended stream is La Scala's prima, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (in which Boris dies by eating poisoned mushrooms). And while there's no evidence that Salieri actually poisoned Mozart – I'd like to think he did it by lacing a Mozartkugel 😉 – it's a myth about to be reignited as a new television dramatisation hits our screens later this month.
Mark, Elisabeth and Jo
SPONSORED
Christmas Night Opera Gala
If you're in New York this Christmas, why not invite yourself to an opera party? The unique gala concert at Carnegie Hall features opera stars Asmik Grigorian, Nadine Sierra, Sondra Radvanovsky, Thomas Hampson, Brian Jagde and Anita Monserrat, conducted by Francesco Lanzillotta. A true once-in-a-lifetime experience you don't want to miss out on.
The Bachtrack Insiders
Personal picks from our site
Mark Pullinger Editor
Hector Berlioz
Hector Berlioz was born 11th December 1803. This year we lost not one, but two great Berlioz scholars/conductors: Sir Roger Norrington and John Nelson. Both contributed articles to Bachtrack about the composer: Sir Roger on the Symphonie fantastique and Nelson on the Requiem.
Elisabeth Schwarz Editor
The Nutcracker: fun facts 🎄
Have you ever wondered what goes on backstage during The Nutcracker? We have some incredible facts and numbers to show how much work goes on in the wings to deliver the magic onstage, from 1 hour (the average time a ballerina needs to prepare a pair of pointe shoes) to 200 pounds (the weight of paper snow used on stage during San Francisco Ballet’s Waltz of the Snowflakes).
Jo Johnson Head of Marketing
New York Philharmonic 🎈
At 183 years old (founded 7th December 1842), the New York Philharmonic is poised at an interesting point in its history, with Gustavo Dudamel stepping into his new role of Music Director from September. Recent internal politics have also meant a change of Chief Executive, so with a complete new leadership, the world waits to see whether the orchestra will change fundamentally or not. Their current season with guest conductors in charge has plenty to keep everyone entertained until then.
What's hot?
Inventing the diva: ballet stars of the 19th century
The great ballerinas of the 19th century were perhaps the first modern celebrities. Rather than bare all, their images cultivated a mysterious, supernatural aura that made them seem unattainable. Elsa Giovanna Simonetti explores this nineteenth-century reality TV show.
Out and about
Our tips on what to see live in the UK this week
SPONSORED
Mosaic Seasons: Daniel and Timothy Lozakovich
Bechstein Hall, London
7th December
Violin superstar Daniel Lozakovich is joined by his younger brother Timothy for an hour-long recital of salon favourites in the intimate space of Bechstein Hall.
SPONSORED
Andrea Vanzo
Bristol, Manchester, London
7th-11th December
Pianist and composer Andrea Vanzo performs an evening of his own music, blending modern classical and pop under the album title "Intimacy".
L’Amour des trois oranges
Royal Northern College of Music Theatre, Manchester
7th-13th December
Two casts of talented students, accompanied by their colleagues in the orchestra and chorus, present Prokofiev's comic opera, bursting with wit and absurdity. Lee Reynolds conducts.
Ariodante
Royal Opera House, London
9th-21st December
Court conspiracy meets Baroque opera in Handel’s astonishing Ariodante, starring Emily D'Angelo and Jacquelyn Stucker. A new production by Jetske Mijnssen, making her Royal Opera debut.
Live to your living room
The best streamed content to watch this week
Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk
Teatro alla Scala, Milan
This year's season opener at La Scala is a new staging by Vasily Barkhatov of Shostakovich's murderous opera. Check times in your region and settle in for the delayed stream. And perhaps don't prepare a mushroom supper...
Vienna
Fancy living for 337 years? Peter Stein's staging of Janáček's Makropulos Case returns to Vienna
Live 6th December
Munich
Håkan Hardenberger joins Andris Nelsons and the BRSO for Nobody knows de trouble I see
Live 5th December
Paris
A stunning gala from earlier this year celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Palais Garnier
Available now
Three of the best...
...ways to commemorate Mozart (d 5th Dec 1791)
Amadeus: a tale of envy, poison, an unfinished Requiem
With a glossy new television serialisation of Peter Shaffer’s play about to screen on Sky Atlantic, just how mediocre a composer was Salieri and how did the myth that Salieri poisoned Mozart take hold?
Bachtrack top ten: Mozart places to visit
From Salzburg to Vienna via Prague and Brno, Danny Riley compiles an itinerary containing ten of the most significant places from the composer's life.
Mozart: Requiem in D minor
Mozart died before he could complete his Requiem Mass, which gives the work added poignancy. Here it is performed (in the Süßmayr completion) by musicAeterna and Teodor Currentzis.
Riddle Me This...
Whom have we hidden in the anagram below?
In the news
This week's stories
Critics' Corner
What our reviewers watched
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Photography credits:
Carlotta Grisi, Marie Taglioni, Lucile Grahn and Fanny Cerrito in Pas de Quatre (1845) © New York Public Library | Wikimedia Commons (public domain);
Daniel Lozakovich © Martin Raphaël Martiq;
Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District © Teatro alla Scala, Věc Makropulos © Wiener Staatsoper | Michael Pöhn, Andris Nelsons © Marco Borggreve, Palais Garnier © Hugo Xie | Unsplash;
Will Sharpe (Amadeus) © Sky;
Anna Handler © Christopher Heaney, King Charles III © Mark Allan;
Yuja Wang © Yevhen Gulenko, courtesy of The Cleveland Orchestra, Patricio Revé and Marianela Núñez © Carol Lancelloti, Joyce DiDonato © Phoebe Tuxford | NZSO
