SINCE 1999 A LIVE REVIEW SITE FOR OPERA, BALLET, CONCERTS, BROADCASTS, AND THEATRE
Shostakovich Festival Leipzig 2025
Shostakovich’s music has much in common with Beethoven and Mahler by sharing in their creativity the ideals of humanity, freedom and justice. It is no coincidence that Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony was composed like Shostakovich’s Seventh Symphony during a time when Vienna and Leningrad were under siege. It is for the shared values of human dignity entwined in their magnificently expressive scores that more and more people are drawn to their music.
Zach Carstensen profiles conductor Kahchun Wong
Anticipation crackles in the air, thick like summer lightning before the storm breaks. A hush descends, settling over an expectant audience. Every cough or rustling program feels like a desecration. At the podium, conductor Kahchun Wong stands at the edge of creation – shoulders squared, back straight, baton held aloft. A moment’s pause, pregnant with possibility, his hand dips, slow and deliberate, tracing the first stroke of a masterpiece: Beethoven’s Symphony No.9.
François-Xavier Roth, Musical Director of the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne, will conduct Die Soldaten the legendary opera by Bernd Alois Zimmermann, in Cologne, Hamburg, and Paris. He discusses this extraordinary yet still too little-known composer.
United Kingdom Tchaikovsky, Chopin, Pavel Haas, Berlioz: Christian Gerhaher (baritone), Gerold Huber (piano). Wigmore Hall, London, 20.1.2024. (CSa)
United States Prokofiev, Webern: The Cleveland Orchestra / Franz Welser-Möst (conductor). Carnegie Hall, New York, 21.1.2024. (RP)
Germany Wagner, Tristan und Isolde: Soloists, Sächsischer Staatsopernchor Dresden, Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden / Christian Thielemann (conductor). Semperoper Dresden, 21.1.2024. (DMD)
English Touring Opera presents new productions of Manon Lescaut and The Rake’s Progress for Spring 2024 tour (24 February – 28 May 2024)
United Kingdom Norman, Stravinsky, Sibelius: Vilde Frang (violin), BBC Symphony Orchestra / Sakari Oramo (conductor). Barbican Hall, London, 20.1.2024. (CS)
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