Hello friends,

Welcome to this week's newsletter where we mark György Kurtág's 100th birthday (yesterday) with a fascinating interview with pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard. 

Streaming-wise, we head to the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples for a starry La Gioconda, and then to Vienna for a live stream of a controversial new production of Verdi's Luisa Miller (the singing is worth it though...)

Mark, Elisabeth and Jo

The Bachtrack Insiders

Personal picks from our site

Mark Pullinger Editor ​​​​​​
Manfred Honeck award 

I was delighted to read the news this week that Manfred Honeck is to receive the Kilenyi Medal of Honour from the Bruckner Society of America. Honeck is one of the great Bruckner conductors around today and it was fascinating to interview him about the composer two years ago, which included the immortal line, "Wiener Schnitzel is important to all Viennese but to live on Wiener Schnitzel alone is impossible!" (I may disagree with him...)

Elisabeth Schwarz Editor
Pub Quiz!

Here's a pub quiz question for you. Who composed the music to a song so popular that no fewer than six versions – sung by Tony Bennett (No. 1) and Bing Crosby (No. 17) among others – charted in the UK in 1955? Full points if you correctly guessed Alexander Borodin and a sticky toffee pudding on top if you knew the song title, Stranger in Paradise. The music was taken from the Polovtsian Dances in Borodin's opera Prince Igor for the musical Kismet. Here you can listen to both Tony Bennett and the original orchestral version.

Jo Johnson Head of Marketing 
John Dowland's quatercentenary

It has been 400 years since John Dowland died – or at least was buried, since the date of his actual death is unknown – at the age of 63 on 20th February 1626. His life is as fascinating as you would expect of a man navigating the tricky politics of Elizabethan England, and his music has captured the attention of many 20th- and 21st-century artists from Britten and Grainger to Elvis Costello and Sting. There's plenty of performances to enjoy during this season, including what looks to be a really interesting anniversary weekend at Wigmore Hall at the end of March.

Out and about

Our tips on what to see live in the UK this week

Romeo & Juliet
Bridgewater Hall, Manchester
21st February
One of ballet’s most beloved scores sits alongside music from Berg's decadent suite from Lulu and Cassandra Miller’s acclaimed Viola Concerto performed by Lawrence Power with the BBC Philharmonic under Ludovic Morlot.

Total Immersion: Icelandic Chill – Icelandic Soundworlds
Barbican Hall, London
22nd February
This concert concludes the BBC Symphony Orchestra's whole day of events focused on the music of Iceland. From Bára Gísladóttir's genre-bending double bass concerto Hringla (performed by the composer) to the poetic soundscapes of Daníel Bjarnason, everything in this concert is new to the UK.

Doric String Quartet
John Innes Centre, Norwich
22nd February
Norwich Chamber Music brings this quartet, known for its refined performances of the Classical repertoire, performed on specially-made original style bows, to Norwich for Mendelssohn, Janáček and Beethoven.

Photography credits:
Pierre-Laurent Aimard with György Kurtág © Balint Hrotko | PENTATONE;
Behzod Abduraimov © Nissor Abdourazakov;
La Gioconda © Luciano Romano, Luisa Miller © Susanne Hassler-Smith, Davóne Tines © Noah Morrison, L'italiana in Algeri © I Teatri di Reggio Emilia;
Die Frau ohne Schatten © Krzysztof Bieliński, Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo in Jean-Christophe Maillot's Cendrillon © Alice Blangero, Danielle de Niese (The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny) © Tristram Kenton