International Concerts

All non-UK concert reviews

The Takács Quartet at the reopened Frick: lines of continuity

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United StatesUnited States Spring Music Festival – Beethoven, Janáček, Brahms: Takács Quartet (Edward Dusinberre, Harumi Rhodes [violins], Richard O’Neill [viola], András Fejér [cello]), Jeremy Denk (piano). Stephen A. Schwarzman Auditorium, Frick Collection, New York, 1.5.2025. (ES-S)

The Takács Quartet © George Koelle

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Chicago Symphony Orchestra shines under Mäkelä’s baton in Brahms, Boulez and Dvořák

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United StatesUnited States Brahms, Boulez, Dvořák: Daniil Trifonov (piano), Chicago Symphony Orchestra / Klaus Mäkelä (conductor). Orchestra Hall, Chicago, 2.5.2025. (ZC)

Klaus Mäkelä conducts pianist Daniil Trifonov and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra © Todd Rosenberg Photography

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The Jerusalem Quartet brings their Shostakovich cycle to a visionary close in Cleveland

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United StatesUnited States Shostakovich Cycle [2]: Jerusalem Quartet (Alexander Pavlovsky, Sergei Bresler [violins], Ori Kam [viola], Kyril Zlotnikov [cello]). Gartner Auditorium, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, 30.4.2025. (MSJ)

The Jerusalem Quartet plays Shostakovich as part of the cycle in Cleveland © Ronald Werman/CCMS

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Klaus Mäkelä leads the Chicago Symphony in a vivid Mahler’s Third Symphony

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United StatesUnited States Mahler, Symphony No.3 in D minor: Wiebke Lehmkuhl (contralto), Uniting Voices of Chicago, Chicago Symphony Chorus, Chicago Symphony Orchestra / Klaus Mäkelä (conductor). Symphony Center, Chicago, 25.4.2025. (JLZ)

Klaus Mäkelä conducting Wiebke Lehmkuhl (contralto) and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra © Todd Rosenberg Photography

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Brief invitation to long farewell: a journey of transformation with The Met Orchestra Chamber Ensemble

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United StatesUnited States Chabrier, Adès, Mahler: Susanna Phillips (soprano), Michelle DeYoung (mezzo-soprano), Ben Bliss (tenor), The Met Orchestra Chamber Ensemble / Yannick Nézet-Séguin (conductor). Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, New York, 28.4.2025. (ES-S)

Pianist Bryan Wagorn, soprano Susanna Phillips and bassoonist William Short © Jennifer Taylor

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Aziz Shokhakimov’s Stravinsky allows the Strasbourg Philharmonic to show its virtuoso colours

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FranceFrance Debussy (orch. Büsser), Mozart, Stravinsky: Jan Lisiecki (piano), Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg / Aziz Shokhakimov (conductor). Salle Érasme, Palais de la musique et des Congrès, Strasbourg, France, 25.2.2025. (CC)

Aziz Shokhakimov conducts pianist Jan Lisiecki and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg

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Eleonora Buratto was an outstanding Cio-Cio-San in Berlin Philharmonic’s exceptional Madama Butterfly

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GermanyGermany Puccini, Madama Butterfly (concert performance): Soloists, Rundfunkchor Berlin (chief conductor: Gijs Leenaars), Berliner Philharmoniker / Kirill Petrenko (conductor). Broadcast live from the Berlin Philharmonie (directed by Michael Beyer) on the Digital Concert Hall, 27.4.2025. (JPr)

Kirill Petrenko conducts Jonathan Tetelman (Pinkerton), Eleonora Buratto (Cio-Cio-San) and the Berlin Philharmonic © Berlin Philharmonic

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