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A new work by Clarice Assad, featuring Principal Bassoon Daniel Matsukawa and Yannick Nézet-Séguin, comes sandwiched between impish Berio and complex Rachmaninov.

The conductor directs the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and Theatres of Voices in contrasting symphonies by Berio and Stravinsky.

In a week when the New York Phil announced Gustavo Dudamel as its next Music Director, a former candidate rekindles “what if?” thoughts. 

Listening to arrangements of Bach is like Dostoevsky’s challenge not to think about polar bears. It’s best to put the Bach out of your thoughts, even if “the cursed thing will come to mind every minute.”

The concert paired strong new works by Joan La Barbara, Nicole Lizée and Paola Prestini with compositions by Luciano Berio and George Crumb for a satisfying evening of adventurous works for voice.

The Czech Phil's woodwind are in superb form for a particularly optimistic concert featuring Berio's mercurial Rendering to give us a double dose of Schubert's unfinished symphonic work.

In a world for which Neharo't Neharo't had suddenly become painfully relevant once again: the man lamenting his love in the gentle ending could have been lamenting the Kurds.

Profound musical expression shrinks against the majesty of the setting, but ends up all the more profound, in the summer chamber music series.

Marianne Crebassa and Esa-Pekka Salonen take the audience on a dazzling musical journey from Rome to Asia.

An evening of Schubert in Washington DC, ending with Luciano Berio's "restoration" job, Rendering. 

Thrilling and spellbinding experimental music for harpsichord and electronics, performed by Mahan Esfahani. 

Semyon Bychkov’s Prom appearances are always fascinating experiences and this was no different, with the BBC Symphony Orchestra on tremendous form. 

D'Orazio proved in a program that included Berio's Sequenza VIII why he is a leading exponent of contemporary violin composition.

Vasily Petrenko conducts a darkly coloured Alpensinfonie in Liverpool, alongside music by Tchaikovsky and Canteloube

A fascinating recital from Hélène Grimaud at the Barbican balanced a first half sequence exploring works with an aquatic theme against some monumental Brahms. 

Markus Stenz conducts the Hallé in Mahler's First Symphony, with Simone Lamsma playing Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto.

Helene Grimaud's recital inside Disney Hall mucially captures and captivates nature's terrene elements with a balance of aqueous colouring and deeply grounded terra firma.

Ballet BC expands its vocabulary and tests its toes in new conversations.   

Mariss Jansons' festive, but poignant, farewell concert with the Royal Concergebouw Orchestra. Thomas Hampson contrasted folksongs by Mahler with Berio and Copland. Afterwards, while Jansons conducted Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra.

Zurich’s fine new Strings programme features the works of three renowned choreographers’ and also demonstrates the democratization of ballet.

Artist Douglas Gordon and pianist Hélène Grimaud literally flooded the Park Avenue Armory with tears become… streams become… 

We’ve already reached the penultimate week at the BBC Proms and Air Miles are clocking up apace with orchestras visiting from far afield. This evening saw the Singapore Symphony make its Proms debut, bringing in its hand-luggage a European première of a work by Chinese composer Zhou Long.

One Prom + two oddball 20th century symphonies = a strangely satisfying experience, especially when in the hands of a youth orchestra, evidently open to the technical challenges and quirkiness of this relatively rare concert material.

Marino Formenti only briefly introduced his eclectic whirlwind recital, “Liszt Inspections”, before calling out “Good luck!” and diving into one of the most attention-grabbing sequences of music that I’ve ever witnessed.

Ensemble ACJW performed works by Berio, Reich, and Bartók with conductor David Robertson and soprano Dawn Upshaw at Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall. This attractively programmed concert featured an admirable first half, though the Bartók left something to be desired.

On Friday, 25 October, the São Paulo Symphony presented an energetic and polished performance at the Southbank Centre. Part of the “The Rest is Noise Festival” focused on 20th century music, this programme took the turbulent 1960s as its theme.

Unusually for a classical concert, the Queen's Hall was decked out with cabaret tables. Seated at the front I had a unique perspective on audio elements such as blend and separation of instruments and such visual elements as musicians' cues (varying from direct eye contact to trusting peripheral vision) and the normally overlooked feature of footwork.Herbert Howells 1921 Rhapsodic Quintet Op.

If a single word can express disappointment without surprise, it would capture my feeling upon surveying the seats before this concert of 20th-century music at the Usher Hall. My heart went out to the musicians. However, upon seeing Ilan Volkov’s happy and positive demeanour and hearing the first notes, all such negativity dissolved, never to return.

Last Thursday’s concert with the Oslo Philharmonic featured four pieces with little or no connection to each other, other than three of the pieces being either written by Spanish-speaking composers or actually being about Spain. Yet, apart from one piece, it all came together into a rather coherent whole.The concert began with Jacques Ibert’s Bacchanale.

To judge by the continued chatter, no-one noticed 100 metronomes on stage being set in motion, signalling the beginning of György Ligeti’s Poème symphonique (1962). Even when the lights were dimmed it only dawned on people slowly that the concert had actually already begun.

Contemporary classical music is happening in all manner of unexpected venues in London at the moment, from Peckham car parks to pubs. But it isn't just getting edgier – it's also getting more respectable, if last night's suave affair in the Royal Albert Hall's Elgar Room is anything to go by.

As I sat in Herbst Theater last night awaiting the appearance of clarinetist Richard Stoltzman and guitarist Eliot Fisk, my mind wandered to the analogy of food and wine. With an abundance of delectable cuisine and fine wine across the world, the combination of such pairings are endless.

Contemporary music ensembles can be rather nebulous entities, their repertoire often necessitating complete line-up changes between pieces and the "whole" of the ensemble rarely being needed at the same time.

For its season finale, Soundings: New Music at the Nasher presented violinist Anthony Marwood and pianist Aleksandar Madzar in a program advertised as “a dialogue of caprice and masterpiece.

By far the smallest audience yet for the Hallé’s Beethoven Symphonies cycle gathered for this eighth instalment, conducted by Edward Gardner, and the absentees missed an evening of supreme charm and playfulness.Luciano Berio’s Rendering is a ‘restoration’ (not a completion, as the composer was very clear), of sketches for Schubert’s Tenth Symphony.

Following Alina Ibragimova’s recent residency in the medieval Library of Chetham’s School during the Manchester International Festival, her programme of some of the most complex solo violin works has now transferred for a short spell at Wilton’s Music Hall as part of the Barbican’s summer Blaze festival.

Maverick improviser Matthew Bourne and London Sinfonietta’s reliable principal players created an extraordinary concert in this second of the Sinfonietta’s Written/UnWritten series.

The Scottish Chamber Orchestra’s concerts in St Andrews are usually full-house events in the University’s Younger Hall, with recent repertoire covering Mozart piano concertos and Haydn symphonies at some length. This evening’s programme promised something quite different: four works celebrating ‘words and music’, as part of the StAnza poetry festival.

Malgré l'annulation de dernière minute d'un musicien souffrant, les artistes du Rosendal Chamber Music Festival ont livré un programme bouleversant de bout en bout.

McFaddens ergreifend schöne Melodieführung und Melnikovs schimmernde Klavierfarben machten den Konzertabend zu einem unvergesslichen Hörerlebnis.

Matthias Pintscher dirigiert ein mitreißendes Sinnenspektakel, das dem Publikum den Atem raubt.

Pour le plus grand bonheur du public, l'Orchestre des Jeunes de la Méditerranée se réunit de nouveau au Grand Théâtre de Provence après une session 2020 complètement à distance.

Jonathan Nott leitet souverän durch Mahler und Berio mit Antoine Tamestit als Solo-Bratschist.

À Saint-Denis, le Mahler Chamber Orchestra propose des miniatures convaincantes de Mahler ou Berio. Clou du spectacle, une Eva Zaïcik royale, qui illumine tout autant les Kindertotenlieder que les Folksongs.

Une « Nuit du Piano » mémorable est venue couronner le week-end de clôture du Printemps des Arts de Monte-Carlo, avec trois pianistes passionnantes : Aline Piboule, Beatrice Berrut et Claire Désert.

Die Münchner Philharmoniker interpretieren unter der Leitung von Semyon Bychkov ein vielfältiges Programm mit experimentellen Klängen. 

Retour sur le concert des lauréats au Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord, avec les pianistes Maroussia Genet, Hyeonjun Jo et Miharu Ogura.

Proposer un programme composé exclusivement de compositions des XXème et XXIème siècles a de quoi faire mentir ceux qui réduiraient volontiers la musique savante à son seul classicisme.

Hélène Grimaud nous offre un programme dont l’unité réside dans le thème de l’eau, ainsi que la puissante Sonate No.2 de Brahms.