Media announcement of interest below. A heads up that Sunday's post will be a review of tonight's (Friday's) Prom. Leeds Song has announced its 2026–27 concert season, bringing together some of Britain’s most distinguished artists alongside an exciting new generation of singers

Erna Berger, Irmgard Seefried, Julius Patzak, Alexander Kipnis - what an exalted line-up! As it was for Fritz Busch's performance of Haydn's Die Schöpfung in 1934 (oratorio excerpts bookend the release). This is a celebration of Fritz Busch (1890-1951) - fitting, perhaps, after our Glyndebourne coverage

This is the traditional VPO concert at Schönbrunn, conducted in 2026 by Lorenzo Viotti and with bass-baritone Bryn Terfel as guest. It took place on June 19, 2026. As the title of the accompanying booklet essay suggests, the programme is wide-ranging: "Devils, Gods, anti-heroes, and a

Tchaikovsky's Piano Trio is a vast work as chamber pieces go, end-weghted to a vast set of variations. Dedicated to the composer's close friend the pianist Nikolai Rubinstein, the work carries a great weight on its shoulders. This performance was released on Vox (founded in

Gustavo III was written for the Teatro San Carlo in Naples. Gustavo III by Eugene Scribe was the chosen subject (1833), a play about the assassination of the King of Sweden in 1792 by noblemen led by Jacob Anckarström. But the theatre's censors didn't half censor

A great disc, but perhaps the dervishes should dervish more

Ariadne auf Lewes: Strauss’ opera returns to Glyndebourne, transformed. Soloists; London Philharmonic Orchestra / Robin Ticciati (conductor). Glyndebourne Opera House, 19.07.2026 Production: Director, Costume Designer - Laurent Pelly Set Designer - Massimo Tronacanetti Lighting Designer - Marco Giusti Cast (Prologue): Music Master - Michael kraus Major-Domo - William Relton Lackey - Oliver Williams Officer

In a week which included Richard Strauss' Ariadne from Glyndebourne, it feels only right to reach for this from the pile: excerpts from Richard Strauss’s comic opera Die schweigsame Frau (The Silent Woman), pre-produced as studio recordings for a television programme in November 1960. The cast was

The booklet fo his Scala Music release is French only, but there's an important opening paragraph by Michail Maiasky: The name "Hermitage" may seem paradoxical for a duo: Doesn't the hermit want to go away into a desert (eremos [the Greek ford for solitary]

We've met Philip Moore (born 1943) a couple of times on Classical Explorer previously: A Fugal Flourish on "Personent Hodie" on Christmas Bells, and one of his 21 settings of the Evening Service on Andrew Nethsingha's and St John's Cambridge's

Here's a symphony that lives up to its name: the outburst that opens Respighi's Sinfonia drammatico (1913-15, P. 102) is a late-Romantic explosion, and al the music seems to want to do thenceforth is get back to that extreme of emotion. Think Richard Strauss/

To my count, this is the eighth post on Classical Explorer featuring playing by Emanuel Despax: he is worth the focus, for sure, a rare meeting of musical sensitivity and high technique. ThePiano Quintet in C-Minor, Op. 40 by Louise Farrenc receives its first recording here. Farrenc's

After an all-Czech Wimbledon Ladies' Final, a very much all-Czech symphonic release: Ondřej, Jiří, Jakub and Tomáš conspire to give is a very special disc of live performances. Ondřej Kukal (born 1964) is a graduate of the Prague Conservatoire and the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague.

MANCHESTER CAMERATA, LED BY MUSIC DIRECTOR GÁBOR TAKÁCS-NAGY, UNVEILS 2026-27 SEASON OF CONCERTS ACROSS GREATER MANCHESTER AND LONDON ALONGSIDE   GROUNDBREAKING COMMUNITY AND HEALTHCARE WORK * AMC Gospel Choir, pianist Ethan Loch, Kantos Chamber Choir, composer Rushil Ranjan and soprano Ying Fang announced as Artistic Partners for 2026-2029 * Second

“Fine old days”: Boerio (probably)'s 1673 comic intermezzo We are in the world of the commedia dell'arte here. In the early 1670s, soon after Venetian opera became established in Naples, a series of comic figures began to inhabit opera. Here, a Neapolitan, a Calabrian, and a