Violinist Daniel Hope and pianist Simon Crawford-Phillips will perform the U.K. premiere of Jake Heggie’s Fantasy Suite 1803, a work inspired by Beethoven’s 1803 residency at the Theater an der Wien. Also on the Nov. 27 program are an Impromptu by Enescu and Dvořák’s Sonatina, Op. 100. https://www.wigmore-hall.org.uk/whats-on/202311271300
Rachel Podger will be both soloist and director for the London premiere of Chad Kelly’s new arrangement of Bach’s Goldberg Variations for chamber orchestra. The new instrumentation was inspired by the many ways Bach’s Musical Offering has been reimagined. Brecon Baroque presents the work on Dec. 3 at the London Chamber Music Society. https://www.londonchambermusic.org.uk/concert/brecon-baroque-and-rachel-podger-violin-director/
Making her London Philharmonic debut on Dec. 6, conductor Tianyi Lu, winner of the 2020 Sir Georg Solti Conductors’ Competition, takes on a classic: Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherezade. Pianist Tom Borrow will be on hand to play Beethoven’s Fifth Piano Concerto, the Emperor. https://lpo.org.uk/event/scheherazade/
Robin Ticciati, chief conductor of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, makes his conducting debut with the Berlin Philharmonic Dec. 7-9, tackling Mahler’s Fourth Symphony with soprano Elsa Benoit. The program opens with Dvořák’s The Noon Witch followed by Ondřej Adámek’s Sinuous Voices. https://www.berliner-philharmoniker.de/en/concerts/calendar/details/55039/
Under director Teodor Currentzis, the SWR Symphonieorchester will premiere a new work by Cremean composer Alexey Retinsky on Dec. 12 at the Elbphilharmonie. The program also includes recent works by Philippe Manoury, Mark Andre, and Jay Schwartz, closing with the Adagio from Mahler’s 10th Symphony. https://www.elbphilharmonie.de/en/whats-on/swr-symphonieorchester-teodor-currentzis/20223
Offenbach’s hilarious Les brigands will be presented in a new semi-staged concert version, Dec. 17-30 at the Komische Oper Berlin. This 1869 work was in part a parody of Schiller’s serious play The Robbers. Max Hopp, who has become known as an Offenbach specialist, directs. https://www.komische-oper-berlin.de/en/what/a-z/les-brigands/
Japanese pianist Yu Kosuge will play the world premiere of a new piano sonata by Dai Fujikura, a composer whose work she has championed in the past. The performance at Wigmore Hall on Dec. 19 will open with Mendelssohn’s Fantasy in F sharp minor Op. 28, called the Sonate ecossaise, and close with Beethoven’s Waldstein […]
In a duo recital at Wigmore Hall on Dec. 30, violinist Tamsin Waley-Cohen and pianist George Xiaoyuan Fu will play the U.K. premiere of Swan Song by American composer David Ludwig. The new work will be bookended by two classics of the violin sonata repertoire: Mozart’s K. 454 and Beethoven’s Op. 47, the Kreutzer. https://www.wigmore-hall.org.uk/whats-on/202312301930
