Stingray Classica

Fidelio, Op. 72, is Ludwig van Beethoven's only opera. This 2018 opera film from the Swiss Theater St. Gallen is based on Jan Schmidt-Garre's highly acclaimed stage production of Beethoven's Fidelio.

After recording all 32 Ludwig van Beethoven piano sonatas to celebrate the composer's 250th birth anniversary, celebrated Italian pianist Riccardo Schwartz decided to record solo piano works by Robert Schumann. In this performance, Schwartz presents Schumann’s Piano Sonata No. 2 in G minor, Op. 22. The composer completed the work in 1838. Of Schumann’s three piano sonatas, Piano Sonata No. 2 is performed and recorded most frequently.

Mexican conductor Carlos Miguel Prieto leads the Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería in a performance of Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings. This performance was recorded at Auditorio Nacional in Mexico City, in 2021.

Pianist Gabriele Strata (Italy, 1999) joins the CMIM ensemble, consisting of three principal strings players of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, in a performance of the first movement, Sostenuto assai – Allegro ma non troppo, of Robert Schumann’s Piano Quartet in E-flat major, Op. 47. This performance took place during the chamber music round of the two-part semi-final of the Piano Edition of the Concours musical international de Montréal 2024 (CMIM). It was recorded at the Bourgie Hall of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

The soloists of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra present two septets in this entertaining 2020 concert, recorded at Lucerne Culture and Congress Center (KKL), Switzerland. The concert opens with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Divertimento No. 11 in D major, K. 251, also known as the ‘Nannerl-Septet’. This is followed by Ludwig van Beethoven’s Septet in E-flat major, Op. 20.

Baritone Matthias Goerne teams up with violinist Vilde Frang, cellist Nicolas Altstaedt, flutist Stathis Karapanos, and harpsichordist Michaela Hasselt in this program dedicated to the music of J. S. Bach. They perform baritone arias from Bach’s most beautiful cantatas, as well as solo pieces and duets. This performance was recorded at St. Mary’s Church in Wittenberg, Germany.

The Wild West meets the soulful sound of Italy. Fearless New York gangsters meet cowboys from the dusty prairie. And the magic of cinema meets the rich sound of a first-class symphony orchestra with this performance of soundtracks from Ennio Morricone, Nino Rota, Sonny Bono, and Bernard Herrmann.

The Vienna-based IMZ International Music + Media Centre, a global association for all those involved in any aspect of classical and contemporary music, world music, jazz, and dance, celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2015. To commemorate this, renowned film maker Reiner E. Moritz produced the documentary 'Music in the air' to shed light on the history of classical music on television.

Italian pianist Andrea Molteni (1998) performs Alban Berg’s Piano Sonata in B minor, Op. 1. Molteni began studying the piano at the age of six. He graduated with honors and honorable mention at the Conservatorio di musica Giuseppe Verdi di Como, and was awarded a master’s degree Magna cum Laude in Advanced Performance Studies by the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana in Lugano. This performance was recorded at the Verbrugghen Hall of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Australia, in 2023.

Fabio Luisi conducts the Danish National Symphony Orchestra in a performance of Mahler's Symphony No. 8. The work is one of the largest-scale choral works in the classical concert repertoire and is frequently called the "Symphony of a Thousand". Recorded at the DR Koncerthuset in Copenhagen, 2017.

Italian cellist Silvia Chiesa and Italian pianist Maurizio Baglini perform a wonderful recital as part of the 2023 edition of the Amiata Piano Festival. On the program are works by Claude Debussy, Camille Saint-Saëns, Johannes Brahms, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Francesco Cilea, Ludwig van Beethoven, Azio Corghi and George Gershwin.

Indian conductor Zubin Mehta (1936) became Music Director of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) in 1977 and was appointed Music Director for Life in 1981. On July 18, 1996, Mehta led the IPO in its first-ever performance of Richard Strauss’s tone poem Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche, Op. 28. This episode of ‘In Rehearsal’ offers an intimate look at the dialogue between Mehta and the musicians as they explore Strauss’s tone poem together.

Iván Fischer leads his Budapest Festival Orchestra (BFO) in a concert program dedicated to the music of Ludwig van Beethoven. The program opens with the composer’s Symphony No. 1 in C major, Op. 21. Afterward, Fischer conducts Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58, in which Richard Goode features as the soloist. The program closes with Beethoven’s famous Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67. This performance was recorded at the Béla Bartók National Concert Hall in Budapest, Hungary, on January 29, 2017.

The Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (Florence Musical May) is Italy’s oldest opera and arts festival. As part of the festival’s 2021 edition, Sir John Eliot Gardiner leads the Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in a wonderful concert program that includes Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 2 in C minor, Op. 17, ‘Little Russian’, and Edward Elgar’s Variations on an Original Theme, Op. 36, better known as the Enigma Variations. This performance was recorded at Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence, Italy, in 2021.

In multidisciplinary project ‘Preludes - Danze al pianoforte’, dance and music come together in a wonderful and sophisticated show. Recognized Italian choreographer Massimo Moricone choreographed some of the most beautiful piano pieces by Frédéric Chopin, Claude Debussy, J. S. Bach, and Sergei Rachmaninoff, played by Italian pianist Costanza Principe. The protagonists are three Italy’s finest dancers: Anbeta Toromani, Alessandro Macario, and Amilcar Moret Gonzales. This performance was recorded at Teatro Romano di Verona, Italy, on July 25, 2023.

Violinists Francesca Dego and Domenico Nordio and pianist Andrea Bacchetti perform Serenade in A major, Op. 92 by Norwegian composer Christian Sinding (1856-1941). Together with Edvard Grieg, Sinding was Norway’s best-known composer at the turn of the century. Composing in the late Romantic style, Sinding’s oeuvre includes a large number of piano pieces, chamber music, and songs. This performance was recorded at Teatro Comunale Città di Vicenza, Italy, on December 2, 2013.

Sir Simon Rattle and the London Symphony Orchestra mark 150 years since the death of Hector Berlioz with his tempestuous oratorio, La damnation de Faust.

In this episode of ‘In Rehearsal,’ Latvian maestro Mariss Jansons guides the Oslo Philharmonic through the powerful Suite from Béla Bartók’s pantomime ballet The Miraculous Mandarin, culminating in a performance at the Oslo Concert Hall.

Conductor Eduard Topchjan leads the Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra in a performance of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37. Russian-born pianist Maya Oganyan (*2005) makes her solo debut with the orchestra. As an encore, Oganyan performs Der Bote (‘The Messenger’) by Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov. This performance was recorded at the Aram Khachaturian Concert Hall in Yerevan, Armenia, in 2021.

2024 marks the 100th anniversary of Gabriel Fauré's death. He is considered one of the most important and influential composers, having been the teacher of Maurice Ravel, Georges Enescu, Nadia Boulanger and many others.