The Kansas City Symphony under the direction of Michael Stern joined by cellist Yo-Yo Ma, mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, and the Sphinx Organization’s vocal ensemble EXIGENCE (Dr. Eugene Rogers, director) present a landmark recording—the first commercial release devoted exclusively to the music of Joel Thompson.  The career of composer Joel Thompson has risen rapidly since the premiere of his breakthrough choral …

Led by music director Nathalie Stutzmann, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra leads presents Bruckner’s Fourth Symphony recorded in November 2025. One of the few women conductors to record the work, Stutzmann describes the great Austrian late-Romantic as one of her favorite composers. In a feature in The New York Times marking the composer’s 200th birthday, Stutzmann said: “I always was fascinated …

Sony Classical presents the Vienna Philharmonic’s 2026 Summer Night Concert recorded June 19, 2026 before an audience of 50,000 enthusiastic fans. This open-air concert has been held annually since 2008 on the grounds of the UNESCO World Heritage Site at Schönbrunn Palace. Lorenzo Viotti led a varied program featured music from Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé,Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker, Puccini’s Manon Lescaut, …

Over the past few years, conductor Douglas Bostock has prepared and recorded an unrivalled selection of British works for string orchestra in which international luminaries (Edward Elgar, Hubert Parry, Ethel Smyth) and lesser-known national figures join together in an enlightening and uplifting way. The fifth volume marks not only the conclusion of the series, but also the end of an …

The Detroit Symphony Orchestra and its music director Jader Bignamini present Carl Orff’s monumental scenic cantata Carmina Burana for soloists, chorus and children’s chorus, and orchestra. Recorded live in concert, DSO is joined by the vocal ensemble Audivi and the Detroit Opera Youth Chorus. Orff tasks the baritone with the majority of the solos — an athletic, high-lying, and lusty …

These new recordings of the Requiem and the Mass in C minor featuring Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the RIAS Chamber Choir, and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe boast two of the brightest young stars of opera. Soprano Ying Fang, considered to be one of her generations great Mozartians, takes the Soprano I solos of the “Great” Mass in C minor, originally premiered …

Conducted by Andrew Sewell, Endeavor is the third installment in the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra’s Musical Landscapes in Color project featuring works by diverse, living composers. The program includes Regina Harris Baiocchi’s Muse for Orchestra, the world premiere of Madison local Autumn Maria Reed’s Mental Health Suite, Eric Gould’s An American City, Omar Thomas’s Of Our New Day Begun, and Xavier Foley’s Soul …

Violinist Paul Huang and the London Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Jun Märkl present two American concertos from the mid-twentieth century: Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35 and Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto, Op. 14. In an interview for the album, Huang shares, “These concertos offer two complementary visions of American musical identity. Korngold brought with …

Famously invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s, the saxophone quickly became an established part of French and British military bands but remained a novelty instrument elsewhere until it gained a foothold in vaudeville and ragtime bands in 1920s America. From there, it became an essential part of dance bands, and a prominent solo instrument in jazz. A great deal …

Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra present Antonin Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9, “From the New World,” and the premiere recording of Carlos Simon’s Four Black American Dances. The album was recorded live in the historic Heinz Hall, home of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, in February 2025. Maestro Honeck says the release of this recording “is especially fitting as America …

Recorded in 2025 in celebration of the 150th anniversary of Manuel de Falla’s birth and the 50th anniversary of the Venezuelan music education program El Sistema, Gustavo Dudamel and the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela present three of Falla’s most iconic works: El amor brujo, featuring Spanish singer Pasión Vega; Noches en los jardines de España (Nights in the …

The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra led by Rumon Gamba join the very welcome trend of recording Mel Bonis’s orchestral works, composed between 1891 and 1912. Their program features the three-part Les Femmes de Légende, the Suite en forme de valses, the Suite Orientale, Three Dances, Danse sacrée, and Les Gitanos. Soprano Elizabeth Watts is soloist for Noël de la Vierge …

The Philharmonia Orchestra presents their third all-Shostakovich album conducted by Santtu-Matias Rouvali recorded live at London’s Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, where they are resident. The Philharmonia Orchestra has an extensive legacy of recording the music of Shostakovich, and in this latest release its Principal Conductor brings his own distinctive energy, precision, and flair to two contrasting masterpieces: the sharp-witted …

Chief Conductor Sir Antonio Pappano and the London Symphony Orchestra present two American masterworks recorded live in London’s Barbican Hall in 2025. Aaron Copland’s third symphony is a vast and beautiful work depicting sprawling landscapes, forceful intensity and the power of human resilience. Composed in the final days of World War II, it channels the spirit of a nation looking …

Formerly known as the Boulder Bach Festival, the Colorado-based virtuoso string band COmpass REsonance (CORE) has emerged as a trailblazer, connecting centuries of musical tradition with bold, modern innovation. Violinist Vadim Gluzman found a group that shared his artistic values, and they now have a close working relationship. Combining the music of J.S. Bach and Valentyn Silvestrov in one program …

Celebrating Gustavo Dudamel’s 17-year tenure as Music & Artistic Director, the Los Angeles Philharmonic presents one of Sergei Prokofiev’s most popular works that highlights the composer’s enormous gift for colorful storytelling: Peter and the Wolf, brilliantly narrated by EGOT winning actress and producer Viola Davis. The artists’ winning interpretation of Peter and the Wolf was recorded at the Hollywood Bowl …

The Orchestre de l’Opéra Royal led by violinist Théotime Langlois de Swarte offer a unique survey of the music of Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, drawn from varied performance contexts:  sonatas for piano and violin, string quartets, concertos, opéras-comiques, concert arias, and symphonies. “His music — that of a performer-composer, as it was the case for most musicians of the …

Leading the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, conductor and soprano Barbara Hannigan present a program exploring the concept of The American Dream. “I grew up in awe of America, but now my feelings are mainly nostalgic. With this repertoire, I want to express my admiration for the incredible creativity and tenacity of composers who shaped a musical language that was truly their …

The Harmonious Society of Tickle-Fiddle Gentleman led by Robert Rawson explores Antonio Vivaldi’s influence on a generation of Czech composers. Best remembered today for The Four Seasons, Vivaldi’s dedication of the famous concertos to Count Wenzel von Morzin of Prague implies the works may first have become known there. In 1718 Morzin brought his “virtuosissima” orchestra – to quote Vivaldi …

The Chevalier de Saint-George(s) is an exceptional figure. Born in Guadeloupe in the eighteenth century to an aristocrat and an enslaved woman, he received the education of a court gentleman in Paris and went on to become a violinist, fencer, Freemason, participant in the Revolution, conductor, and composer. It is naturally to the violin that he dedicated his finest works. …

Pianist Idith Meshulam Korman and the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra, led by Cayenna Ponchione-Bailey, present the first complete modern recording of the surviving keyboard music of Marianna Martines (1744–1812): a composer, keyboard virtuoso, and cultural force in eighteenth-century Viennese musical life. Admired in her lifetime for her brilliance as both performer and composer, Martines occupied a central position within the city’s …

Recorded in front of a live audience at the Harris Theater, this performance serves as a souvenir from Giancarlo Guerrero’s first season as Grant Park Music Festival Artistic Director and Prinicipal Conductor. “Early in his tenure, Guerrero has already developed sufficient rapport with his players that they could mutually revel in Shostakovich’s acrobatic antics,” noted Tim Sawyier for Chicago Classical …

This 19th volume of Haydn’s complete symphonies coincides with the 40th anniversary of Il Giardino Armonico – the ensemble created and conducted by Giovanni Antonini, artistic director of the Haydn 2032 series. The Symphony No. 44 in E minor, featured in this volume, was the first work by Haydn performed by the ensemble and Antonini. The title of this symphony, …

Inspired by William Ernest Henley’s (1849–1903) iconic poem of the same name, Stacy Garrop’s new piano concerto INVICTUS was commissioned by and written for Chicago native and multi-Grammy-nominated pianist Marta Aznavoorian, who performs it with the Chicago Philharmonic under Artistic Director Scott Speck. Despite a difficult life beleaguered with health issues, William Ernest Henley’s poem Invictus, Latin for “unconquered,” is …

Kip Winger is a genre-bridging composer with a long and successful career in rock music affiliated with luminaries of the genre such as Alice Cooper, Alan Parsons, Roger Daltrey and Bob Dylan. Over the past two decades, however, Winger has been establishing himself as a composer of orchestral classical music. His celebrated ballet score, Conversations with Nijinsky, led conductor Giancarlo …