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The Best Bits
18th September 2026
Hello friends,
Welcome to our newsletter, where new orchestral seasons are under way... and with it, conductors taking up new posts. Among this week's video streams, you can watch two of them in action: Lahav Shani with the Munich Philharmonic and Marie Jacquot with the WDR Symphony.
We're also highlighting a classic Royal Opera Madama Butterfly, starring the one-and-only Ermonela Jaho as Cio-Cio-San. Get your handkerchiefs ready...
Mark, Elisabeth and Jo
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Chromatica Orchestra
With a remit explicitly aimed at supporting young professionals, Chromatica Orchestra have just appointed their first Principal Conductor. Oliver Cope talks to Lawrence Dunn about his plans for London’s newest, youngest orchestra.
The Bachtrack Insiders
Personal picks from our site
Mark Pullinger Editor
Rossini: Petite Messe solennelle
I'm looking forward to hearing the Monteverdi Choir sing Rossini's Petite Messe solennelle this weekend. It's such an uplifting work – neither "petite" nor "solemn". The Monteverdis will be performing with an orchestra, but I'm rather partial to the original version, accompanied by two pianos and a (wheezy) harmonium, as heard in this performance from Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, conducted by Leonardo García-Alarcón. Just listen to that jaunty introduction and you'll be hooked...
Elisabeth Schwarz Editor
Anna Netrebko
For more than three decades, Anna Netrebko, born on 18th September, has been one of the most captivating singers on the opera stage. Today, her mature soprano impresses with a rich colour and an emotional depth – and she clearly loves slipping into character and owning the stage. Here, you can watch her as La Gioconda at Teatro di San Carlo with Jonas Kaufmann and Ludovic Tézier.
Jo Johnson Head of Marketing
Hallelujah!
Schools get a bad rap for how musical education has been demoted in recent times, so I was thrilled when my 7-year-olds came home this week singing the Hallelujah chorus from Handel's Messiah. "We learned about it in Music today," they said. "It's by someone called George. But not the one in our class." We didn't get too much further into the conversation, other than that it told the story of Christ and was written in the 1700s ("Was that the Stone Age, Mummy?"). I know it isn't Christmas or Easter, but if this has inspired you to delve a bit further into this multi-layered masterpiece, Jane Shuttleworth's guide is a must-read.
What's hot? 🔥
Joana Mallwitz
Happy birthday (23rd September) to Joana Mallwitz, currently on maternity leave (congratulations!) from the Konzerthausorchester Berlin. In 2024, we interviewed her about breathing new life into Kurt Weill.
Out and about
Our tips on what to see live in the UK this week
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Swan Lake
Hippodrome, Birmingham
Opens 23rd September
Prince Siegfried is out hunting one night when he happens upon a flock of graceful swans. When one of them turns into a beautiful woman, the Prince is utterly smitten – but Odette explains that she has fallen under an evil spell cast by Baron von Rothbart, which keeps her in swan form from dawn to dusk. Can Siegfried’s love break the spell? Find out in Birmingham Royal Ballet's exquisite production of a true ballet classic.
RSNO Season Opener: Mahler 6
Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow
19th September
Royal Scottish National Orchestra Music Director Thomas Søndergård conducts two towering masterpieces to open the season: Rachmaninov's Fourth Piano Concerto with Alexander Malofeev and Mahler's shattering Sixth Symphony.
Bluebeard's Castle + Oedipus Rex
Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff
Opens 20th September
A double bill of two extraordinary works of the 20th century opens the Welsh National Opera season, brought together in a shared world of ritual, mystery and psychological intensity.
Tosca
New Theatre, Oxford
24th & 26th September
Sir Bryn Terfel, Carmen Giannattasio and Saimir Pirgu star in the inaugural production by Oxford International Opera.
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New on Bachtrack
Interview Trust the process: conductor Edward Gardner on finding his element with the LPO
Read now
Interview Silent cinema, spoken in dance: Charlie Chaplin's City Lights as a new ballet
Read now
Interview Weaver of souls: Jae Man Joo on his new ballet Auguries of Innocence
Read now
Interview Impertinence! Making Baroque music the Latin American way
Read now
Live to your living room
The best streamed content to watch this week
Madama Butterfly
The Royal Opera
Ermonela Jaho gives a searing performance as Cio-Cio-San in The Royal Opera's much-loved production, conducted by Sir Antonio Pappano.
Available now
Helsinki
Elim Chan's varied programme with the Finnish RSO concludes with Petrushka
Live 18th September
Munich
Martha Argerich helps launch Lahav Shani as new Chief Conductor of the Munich Phil
Live 18th September
Cologne
Marie Jacquot's inaugural concert with the WDR Sinfonie-orchester
Live 18th September
In the news
This week's stories
Riddle Me This...
What have we hidden in the anagram below?
EARN BANKNOTE
Clue: soprano
Which work is hidden in the emoji story below?
🎻🌷☀️🍂❄️
Clue: An excellent earworm!
Critics' Corner
What our reviewers watched
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Photography credits:
Chromatica Orchestra © Monika Jakubowska;
Joana Mallwitz © Sima Dehgani;
Céline Gittens as Odette and Odile © Manvir Rai;
Madama Butterfly © ROH | Bill Cooper, Elim Chan © Simon Pauly, Martha Argerich © Adriano Heitman, Marie Jacquot © Julia Wesely;
Manfred Honeck © Todd Rosenberg, Enescu Competition prize winners © Alex Damian ;
Petr Sokolov and Nombulelo Yende (Mazeppa) © Xiomara Bender, Francesco Cortese, João Santana and Jack Bruce in John Neumeier’s A Cinderella Story © Kiran West, Fabio Luisi conducts the NHK Symphony Orchestra © NHKSO;
Johann Sebastian Bach © Public domain
