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The Best Bits
13th February 2026
Hello friends,
Welcome to this week's newsletter. James Gaffigan is a familiar figure on both sides of the Atlantic. Currently Music Director at Berlin's Komische Oper, he has recently been announced as the next MD at Houston Grand Opera. Read Kevin Ng's fascinating interview.
Streaming-wise, we go on virtual visits to Montpellier, Helsinki, Paris and Bergen, while our reviews section features three orchestras – the Toronto Symphony, Budapest Festival and Munich Philharmonic – on tour.
Mark, Elisabeth and Jo
SPONSORED
Hastings International Piano Competition
The biennial Hastings International Piano Competition is considered to be one of the top piano competitions in the world, as well as offering performance opportunities to young artists. Follow the 2026 competition in person or watch it online.
The Bachtrack Insiders
Personal picks from our site
Mark Pullinger Editor
Petrushka 🥞
Tuesday is Pancake Day... or Shrove Tuesday to call it by its proper title. While whipping up my pancakes, I'll listen to Stravinsky's ballet Petrushka, the setting of which is St Petersburg's Shrovetide Fair. Here's a film starring Andris Liepa in a recreation of the original 1911 production!
Elisabeth Schwarz Editor
Happy birthday, Joyce DiDonato 🎂
Mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato is one of the most inspiring artists of today, especially when it comes to her genre-breaking musical projects like Eden or In War and Peace. Her newest venture is Emily – No Prisoner Be, a theatrical song cycle by Kevin Puts based on (and featuring) the poetry of Emily Dickinson. Catch one of Joyce's forthcoming performances; we have events from Grafenegg, Austria, to Carnegie Hall, New York City.
Jo Johnson Head of Marketing
Triskaidekaphobics, look away now!
This newsletter is coming to you on Friday the 13th, always a worrisome day for the superstitious. If that's you, you're not alone: Arnold Schoenberg suffered from the fear of the number 13, even going so far as to replace all the 13th bar numbers in his works with 12a. As fate would have it, Schoenberg died on a Friday the 13th – in 1951 – at the age of 76, which adds up to 13... so maybe his fears were justified after all. Enjoy Mark's playlist of his works – ten of them, quite a lot featuring the number 12!
What's hot?
James Gaffigan goes transatlantic
With a contract at Berlin’s Komische Oper extended to 2030, conductor James Gaffigan is soon to take up the music directorship at Houston Grand Opera from 2027. He talks to Kevin Ng about how he does it all.
Out and about
Our tips on what to see live in the UK this week
The Great Wave
Theatre Royal, Glasgow
14th February
Composer Dai Fujikura and librettist Harry Ross' new opera is an extravagant story about artist Katsushika Hokusai and his famous woodblock print The Great Wave off Kanagawa. Scottish Opera performs the world premiere. Also at Edinburgh Festival Theatre on 19th & 21st Feb.
Don Quixote
Hippodrome, Birmingham
Until 21st February
Birmingham Royal Ballet revives Carlos Acosta's explosion of Spanish sunshine, spectacular dance and vivacious comedy.
A Little Bit in Love
Brighton Dome Concert Hall
14th February
The London Philharmonic Orchestra and soprano Danielle de Niese take you to Broadway: torch songs and love letters from Stephen Sondheim, Leonard Bernstein and Cole Porter, and hits from West Side Story, Kiss Me Kate and South Pacific.
Czech Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra on tour
Cadogan Hall, London & Sheffield City Hall
18th & 19th February
Conductor Daniel Raiskin brings the orchestra to the UK for two concerts beginning with a Czech gift from home, along with British violinist Jennifer Pike performing Bruch and Sibelius.
Live to your living room
The best streamed content to watch this week
Cavalleria rusticana / Pagliacci
Opéra Orchestre National Montpellier
Silvia Paoli directs opera's terrible twins, Cavalleria rusticana and Pagliacci, with tenor Azer Zada doubling up as Turiddu and Canio.
From 13th February
Helsinki
Daniel Lozakovich plays Tchaikovsky, Hannu Lintu conducts Taste of Metal
Live 13th February
Paris
Das Paradies und die Péri Daniela Kerck directs Schumann's fantastical oratorio
From 18th February
Bergen
Axel Kober conducts the Bergen Phil in Zemlinsky's Die Seejungfrau
Live 19th February
Two of the best...
...playlists to celebrate Valentine's Day
True love 💘
Hello, young lovers! Mark and Elisabeth offer all you hopeless romantics bouquets, chocolates and stars in their Valentine’s Day playlist.
Cynics, stalkers and obsessives 💔
Still waiting for the bouquet of flowers to be delivered this Valentine's Day? Then we prescribe a dose of our cynics playlist, which should cure you of all romantic thoughts...
In the news
This week's stories
Riddle Me This...
Whom have we hidden in the anagram below?
Critics' Corner
What our reviewers watched
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Photography credits:
James Gaffigan © Mikel Ponce;
Cavalleria rusticana / Pagliacci © Marc Ginot | Opéra Orchestre National Montpellier Occitanie, Daniel Lozakovich © Martin Raphaël Martiq, Le Paradis et la Péri © Julien Benhamou, Axel Kober © Susanne Diesner;
Der Kuss (The Kiss) by Gustav Klimt © Public domain, Separation by Edvard Munch © Public domain;
Matz Skoog © Matz Skoog's personal collection, György Kurtág © Liszt Academy / Andrea Felvégi;
Anna Prohaska and Patricia Kopatchinskaja © Allan Cabral, Maxim Vengerov, Iván Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra © Chris Lee, Lahav Shani and the Munich Philharmonic © Claudia Hoehne
