Happy Birthday Maestro Karen Durgaryan!

We wish you all the very best for the year ahead, with many continued successes, good health and happiness.

We are very proud to work alongside you, supporting both your international career and the remarkable work he continues to carry out with the Armenian National Opera and Ballet Theatre. Your dedication to music and to the artistic development of the institution is truly inspiring.

@durgaryankaren @opera_and_ballet_theatre_

Christian Blex leads the Brussels Philharmonic in Magiciens du son on 14 March at 8:15pm at Flagey, Studio 4, Brussels. Recognised for his precise direction and clear musical vision, Blex shapes a programme that explores colour, tension and transformation across three distinct sound worlds.

The concert opens with Debussy’s Symphonic Suite from Pelléas et Mélisande, a refined journey into Impressionism where atmosphere and suggestion prevail. Philippe Boesmans’ Fin de nuit (2017) for piano and orchestra follows, creating an intense dialogue between soloist and ensemble, suspended between dream and dawn. The evening concludes with Wagner’s Vorspiel und Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde, a landmark of harmonic innovation and expressive depth.

@christian_blex @brusselsphilharmonic

Fabio Luisi leads the Orchestra del Teatro San Carlo on 14 March at 7pm at Teatro di San Carlo.

The programme opens with Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major, K 467, featuring Alessandro Taverna as soloist. Piano and orchestra engage in a refined exchange, highlighted by the well-known Andante. The concert continues with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8 in F major, Op. 93, a compact symphony marked by rhythmic energy and structural precision.

Ph: Monika Rittershaus

Congratulations to Shira Samuels-Shragg who will be the new London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Fellow Conductor for 2026/27!

During the season she will be fully immersed in life with the LPO, working closely with the Orchestra and learning alongside their Principal Conductor Edward Gardner. We can’t wait to see what she brings to the podium! 🎶

@shirasamuelsshragg @londonphilharmonicorchestra

Today we celebrate the birthday of one of the greatest and most influential dancers and choreographers of the modern era, Vaslav Nijinsky.

With his groundbreaking work with the Ballets Russes, Nijinsky revolutionized modern dance and captivated audiences with his extraordinary virtuosity, expressive depth, and seemingly gravity-defying leaps.

In tribute to this legendary figure, Marco Goecke created a ballet dedicated to Nijinsky. We are excited to tour the Latvian National Ballet with this production to the Bartók Spring Festival in Budapest on 2 and 3 April 2026.

@latviannationalballet @marcogoecke @mupabudapest

Giuseppe Verdi’s A Masked Ball comes to the Edinburgh International Festival in a concert performance conducted by Gianandrea Noseda, leading the Orchestra and Chorus of the Opernhaus Zürich.
This gripping political drama unfolds through some of Verdi’s most inspired music, combining lyrical intimacy with moments of powerful theatrical tension. Two stellar casts alternate between performances, with ill-fated lovers Riccardo and Amelia played by Stephen Costello and Elena Stikhina (26 and 30 August), and Piero Pretti and Erika Grimaldi (27 and 29 August).

📍 Edinburgh International Festival
🗓 22 August 2026

#AMCtour @operzuerich @edintfest @gianandreanoseda @scostello929 @elenastikhina @pieropretti @erika_grimaldi_soprano

The 2026 edition of the Edinburgh International Festival has just been announced, and among the highlights of this year’s programme is Ihsane, a powerful dance work by choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, presented in UK premiere.

Ihsane explores themes of grief, resilience and connection, paying homage to the cultures of North Africa and the Middle East through contemporary dance and live music composed and performed by Jasser Haj Youssef. The production brings together dancers from Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève and Eastman, creating a performance that moves between sorrow, anger and celebration.

📍 Edinburgh International Festival
🗓 18–20 August 2026

#AMCtour

Christian Blex conducts the Brussels Philharmonic in the Gala Concert: Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel on 11 March at 8pm at Henry Le Boeuf Hall, Bozar, Brussels.

The programme brings together prize winners and artists of the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel. Nikola Meeuwsen and Arthur Hinnewinkel, First and Fourth Prize winners of the Queen Elisabeth Competition 2025, perform Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 10, a brilliant double concerto originally written for Mozart and his sister. The concert continues with Beethoven’s Triple Concerto, featuring three Music Chapel artists in a dynamic dialogue between violin, cello, piano and orchestra.

Under Christian Blex’s direction, the Brussels Philharmonic frames these masterworks with balance and clarity, offering a concert that highlights both emerging voices and the enduring strength of the symphonic repertoire.

Ph: Ole Wuttudal
@christian_blex @brusselsphilharmonic

Nicolò Umberto Foron conducts the İstanbul Devlet Senfoni Orkestrası on 6 March at 8:00 pm at the Türk Telekom Opera Salonu, in a program celebrating the spirit of English music.

The concert opens with Edward Elgar’s Cello Concerto, performed by Belgian soloist David Cohen, a major work of English national music. In the second part, the orchestra performs Joseph Haydn’s “London” Symphony, his final symphony composed in England and a landmark in the development of the symphonic tradition.

@nicoloforon @operabaleistanbul
Ph: Jana Stein

You’re in for a surprise at this month’s @dallassymphony classical concerts – starting tonight! Performances of Brahms’ Double Concerto, Alexi Kenney Plays Barber, and Bartók, Rózsa & Brahms will begin a little differently than usual.

@dallassymphony excited to introduce a new idea from Music Director @fabioluisiconductor : “surprise” opening works. Each of these concerts will begin with a piece that hasn’t been advertised anywhere in advance – not even in your program books.

You won’t have any context on the composer, when the music was written, or any historical background before you hear it. As Maestro Luisi puts it, “The thought behind this idea is to approach music in a very candid, very pure way. We invite listeners to just enjoy the music and allow themselves to be carried away by it.”

Rustioni begins his five-week U.S. residency with his debut with the Seattle Symphony (March 5 & 7), performing Busoni’s Violin Concerto with Francesca Dego, Webern’s arrangement of Bach’s Ricercare a 6 from A Musical Offering, and Schoenberg’s orchestration of Brahms’s Piano Quartet No. 1.

He then makes his San Francisco Symphony debut (March 13–15) conducting Brahms’s Symphony No. 2 and Dvořák’s Cello Concerto with cellist Daniel Müller-Schott. Next stop is another debut, this time with the Dallas Symphony (March 20–22) featuring Casella’s Symphony No. 2 (DSO premiere) and Barber’s Violin Concerto with Alexi Kenney.

After Dallas, he returns to the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (March 27–29) with Yefim Bronfman and a program including Schumann’s Piano Concerto and Beethoven’s “Eroica.”

The residency concludes with his highly anticipated subscription debut with The Cleveland Orchestra at Severance Music Cetner (April 2–4) in a program of Fauré’s Pelléas et Mélisande Suite, Poulenc’s Organ Concerto with Paul Jacobs, and Debussy’s La mer; he made his critically acclimated Blossom Music Center debut in August 2025.

@danielerustioni
@seattlesymphony
@sfsymphony
@dallassymphony
@pghsymphony
@cleveorch