James Ehnes debuted with Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra in 1993 when he was 17 and has since shared the stage with the ensemble countless times. He was the Orchestra’s first-ever Artist in Residence from 2021 to 2024 and a featured artist on several national and international tours. Ehnes reunites with the musicians of the NAC Orchestra to perform Bach’s …

The duo of violinist Alina Ibragimova and pianist Cédric Tiberghien present their tenth album for Hyperion Records. Previous collaborations for the label include acclaimed recordings of the complete violin sonatas of Brahms, Mozart, and Felix Mendelssohn, as well as complete works for violin and piano by Schubert and Ravel. “In a word, delicious” was Gramophone’s verdict on the duo’s last …

Themes of art song, poetry and spirituality run throughout the second album by Korean-American violinist Danbi Um, performed with Finnish pianist Juho Pohjonen. Poème Mystique centers Richard Strauss’s intimate Violin Sonata, written in the year he met his future wife, and Ernest Bloch’s Second Violin Sonata, the title work of the album. By turns ecstatic, spiritual, and fantasy-like, in his …

María Dueñas, Opus Klassik‘s 2024 Young Talent of the Year, presents Paganini’s iconic Caprices. These 24 dazzling gems have accompanied the Spanish rising star since she began playing. Noting that Paganini lived in the age of Italian bel canto, María seeks “to bring out the vocal quality in the Caprices – to reveal the music behind the technique.” The 2-CD …

Chicago-based violinist Martin Davids (Callipygian Players, Bella Voce Sinfonia, Haymarket Opera, Music of the Baroque) is joined by organist, musicologist, and author David Yearsley for a program paying tribute to an unlikely, yet celebrated duo. In 17th century Hamburg, organist Heinrich Scheidemann (1595-1663) and violinist Johann Schop (1590-1667) became one of the town’s leading cultural attractions playing from the organ …

Italian violinist Davide Alogna, a champion of Italian twentieth century repertoire, is the soloist with the London Symphony Orchestra for a program of new works for violin and orchestra. Each work on the program is tonal, often cinematic, and around 5 minutes in duration, serving as an accessible introduction to the composer. The collection showcases eleven composers, several who are …

Recent guests on Live from WFMT, violinist Paul Huang and pianist Helen Huang (no relation) present their second album as a duo. Following the critical praise for Kaleidoscope, the duo’s 2023 release featuring sumptuous Romantic Era works by Respighi and Saint-Saëns, Mirrors centers two violin sonatas composed during the Second World War. Paul Huang explains that both the Prokofiev Violin …

Celebrated violinist James Ehnes picks up the viola for his first recording of the Op. 120 sonatas of Brahms in the composer’s arrangement for viola and piano. Originally written for clarinet, Brahms made subtle changes for the viola versions, enriching the meagre viola sonata repertoire with these two late masterpieces. Composed in just a few days in 1851, Robert Schumann’s …

Following a devastating cancer diagnosis in September 2022, Adrian Sutton, the composer of the music for War Horse, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, and other National Theatre productions, made a conscious decision to change his focus, committing himself to working solely on music for the concert hall. This new album of world premiere recordings reflects his …

In her 24th release for Cedille Records, violinist Rachel Barton Pine performs Arcangelo Corelli’s 12 Violin Sonatas, Op. 5, with early music specialists David Schrader, John Mark Rozendaal, and Brandon Acker. Known for her dynamic range and versatility, Pine revisits the Baroque period, highlighting Corelli’s influential yet seldom performed sonatas. The ensemble performs on a diverse collection of period instruments—Schrader …

Mari Samuelsen’s third album for Deutsche Grammophon is inspired by her experience of becoming a mother. Known for her imaginative programming and penchant for electronics and looping, the Norwegian violinist presents music by Olivia Belli, Bryce Dessner, Ludovico Einaudi, Nils Frahm, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Mário Laginha, Hania Rani, Max Richter, and Steve Reich, with a dash of Schubert also thrown into …