Composer

Experience the power of Janáček’s dramatic Glagolitic Mass as the Festival Chorus and Philharmonia Orchestra bring this magnificent work to life. Listen out for joyful fanfares, vibrant colour, and thrilling organ solos played by young American virtuoso Katelyn Emerson.

Three Choirs Festival: Glagolitic Mass

Gloucester Cathedral

Festival favourite Paul Lewis returns with a programme framed by two of Mozart’s most appealing piano sonatas – one known for its charm and grace, the other for its intensity and restlessness. In between comes music from France – Debussy’s sensual and ecstatic vision of an island ruled by love L’isle joyeuse, and a selection of Poulenc’s more down-to-earth Improvisations – the witty, lyrical vignettes the composer wrote over a period of 27 years, each dedicated to a colleague or friend.

Paul Lewis

University of Oxford

In French Reflections, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra Fellows present a sophisticated selection of chamber works spanning Baroque splendour to 20th‑century brilliance. Lully’s regal dances open a program enriched by Saint‑Saëns’ elegant Septet and Poulenc’s refined lyricism. Martinů’s La Revue de cuisine brings rhythmic vitality and modern flair, complemented by Bernovsky’s striking Trio for Brass. This concert showcases the Fellows’ artistry across a vivid palette of ensemble colours and historical styles.

French Reflections

Our Lady of Good Counsel Catholic Church

EPSG:4326

NSSO July 2026 Concert

Sydney Conservatorium of Music

Step into the world of Babar the Elephant for a family-friendly performance filled with enchanting music alongside a narration  by Carter Johnson of the beloved story.

Celebrated for his warm stage presence, compelling musical personality, and cutting-edge programming, Canadian pianist Carter Johnson is known for making classical music speak to all kinds of audiences. With playing described as "sincere, communicative, and intelligent", "drop-dead gorgeous", and even "the greatest thing since sliced bread" (Gramophone), Johnson's competition laurels include being a finalist in the 2025 Van Cliburn International Competition (the first Canadian in history to do so), the silver laureate of the 2025 Honens International Competition, the first prize winner of the 2025 Dublin International Competition, and the silver medalist in the 2024 Gina Bachauer International Competition. He is a recipient of the CAG Louis and Susan Meisel Prize.

Carter Johnson, piano/narrator - The Story of Babar the Elephant

Maverick Concert Hall

he Great Barn, Hellens Manor

‘ …he produces beautiful sounds and has that kind of
poetry peculiar to the French at their most sensitive.’
Naxos
The celebrated French pianist Pascal Rogé has performed in almost every major concert hall in the world and with every major orchestra across the globe, often collaborating with the most famous conductors. As a prolific recording artist, he has won countless prestigious awards. He is especially renowned for his performances of the music of his homeland, exemplifying as he does the finest in French pianism. In such repertoire, which provides the music for Pascal’s entire recital at Hellens, his playing is noted for its wonderful elegance and very real beauty.

The Celebrated French Pianist Pascal Rogé Comes To Hellens

Hellens Manor

From the roots of choral singing to the flowering of a tradition. Embark on a captivating vocal journey with The Gesualdo Six as the singers curate a collection of exquisite vocal consort pieces. Experience lyrical Renaissance works celebrating nature and love by Byrd and Gibbons. Discover how contemporary composers breathe life into verses by Christina Rossetti and Kathleen Jamie. Immerse yourself in skilful re-imaginings of traditional British folk songs that beautifully tie the sequence together.

The Gesualdo Six

Wigmore Hall

Chorin Music Summer 2026

Chorin Abbey

'Where other children would have nursery rhymes, I’d go to bed to the sounds of Haydn, Mozart and Schubert,' recalls Sir Simon Keenlyside, whose father and grandfather were both professional violinists. Those priceless formative years continued when he became a boy chorister, then a choral scholar at St John’s College, Cambridge, and set rock-solid foundations for his subsequent career as a wonderfully perceptive concert singer, one of the most exciting operatic performers of modern times.

Sir Simon Keenlyside baritone; Malcolm Martineau piano

When the Parisian composer Lili Boulanger took Psalm 130 ‘Du fond de l’abîme’ and set it to music in a darkly opulent, lyrical style, she was already acutely aware that her life—marked by serious illness but wholly dedicated to music—would not be long. In his own Requiem Op. 48, Gabriel Fauré (an early admirer and supporter of Boulanger’s exceptional talent) sought to depict death as peaceful and consoling. With subtle nuance and great depth, the choral soloists of the Komische Oper Berlin, led by choir director David Cavelius, are presenting late Romantic masterpieces of French sacred music. Meanwhile, the renowned Latvian organist Iveta Apkalna will unlock the radiant power of the Konzerthaus organ with Francis Poulenc’s expressive Concerto for Organ in G minor.

Sacre Choir

Konzerthaus Berlin

This is the closing concert of the Nørre Vosborg Chamber Music Festival.
We would like to thank you for a wonderful festival and invite you to coffee and cake during the break.

Nørre Vosborg: Closing concert

Nørre Vosborg

Conductor Stéphane Denève joins the San Francisco Symphony for an extraordinary program featuring two powerhouses of the French symphonic organ tradition, performed by Olivier Latry. Poulenc’s Organ Concerto was inspired by the intricate organ fantasies of Buxtehude, Bach, and other Baroque composers. “This is not the happy-go-lucky Poulenc,” he confessed in a letter, “but a Poulenc en route to the cloister—a 15th-century Poulenc, if you like.” Saint-Saëns’ Organ Symphony has been a hit with audiences since 1886, when the composer led the Royal Philharmonic Society in its world premiere. His writing for the organ—quietly shaded at first, commanding later—is the perfect showcase for Davies Symphony Hall’s magnificent Ruffatti Organ.

Denève Conducts Saint-Saëns’ Organ Symphony

Davies Symphony Hall

Opera Western Reserve is excited to present the Spring 2026 Production of Francis Poulenc’s The Voice! Composed in 1958 and originally based on the French plan La Voix Humane by Jeane Cocteau, this compelling one-act opera sung in English tells the story of a woman, known only as Elle, as she engages in a final phone call with her lover who has left her for another woman. As the conversation unfolds in real time, the audience witnesses Elle’s emotional unravelling.

The Voice (La Voix Humaine)

Penguin City Brewing Company

Ismael Perez Ramirez, tenor

Northwestern Bienen School of Music

Katelyn Moon, violin

The chamber music ensembles of the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole

Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Theatre

Čajkovskij & Rachmaninov

In Francis Poulenc's "Peasant Concerto" from 1928, the harpsichord, which had disappeared since Mozart's time, experiences a magnificent resurrection. With its melodic charm and fragrant grace, the piece seems to dream itself back to the French Rococo era – albeit with gentle irony. Charles Gounod's "Funeral March for a Marionette" – a piano sonata that the composer later transcribed for orchestra – must have appealed to Alfred Hitchcock greatly: It became the theme song for the series "Hitchcock Presents." As thrilling as a crime thriller, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's tone poem about "Scheherazade," who used fairy tales to keep her husband, King Shahryar, from killing her, is as captivating as a Arabian Nights.

1000 & One

Berliner Philharmonie

Conner Leavitt, tenor

Tian Tang, piano

Ensemble Caplet consists of harp, flute and strings. Together with singers from the Gothenburg Symphony Vocal Ensemble, they fill the summer evening with achingly beautiful notes of love and the season.

Music for a summer evening

Göteborgs Symfoniker

Sacred and secular songs of hope, light, and comfort, by composers ranging from Giovanni Battista Pergolesi and J. S. Bach to Craig Hella Johnson and Caroline Shaw.

Northwestern Camerata

Small ensembles of Minnesota Orchestra musicians perform chamber music on the Orchestra Hall stage.

Poulenc, Bartók and Ravel

Orchestra Hall Minneapolis

Daniel Dorsey, cello

Callan Shanahan, soprano

Kristina Arakelyan, dubbed internationally as ‘one to watch’ (Scala Radio), is one of today’s most exciting composers, celebrated by audiences and critics alike for her music’s serene and compelling honesty. What a treat we have in store to hear Anna Lapwood perform her Toccata for Organ and Orchestra as her closing performance as Hallé Featured Artist. In this, her Hallé debut, Emilia Hoving guides us through some of the best-loved tunes and interludes from Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from West Side Story: from the poignant hopefulness of ‘Somewhere’, through the percussive fire of ‘Mambo’, to the tragic finale, rounding off what is sure to be an electrifying Rush Hour concert.

The Hallé – Rush Hour: West Side Story Symphonic Dances

The Bridgewater Hall

Kristina Arakelyan, dubbed internationally as ‘one to watch’ (Scala Radio), is one of today’s most exciting composers, celebrated by audiences and critics alike for her music’s serene and compelling honesty. What a treat we have in store to hear Anna Lapwood perform her Toccata for Organ and Orchestra.

Rush Hour: West Side Story Symphonic Dances

Step into the charm and vibrancy of two of Europe’s most iconic cities – Paris and London. From elegant salons to bustling boulevards, this program captures the essence of each metropolis through vivid and inventive works. Francis Poulenc’s witty and urbane Sextet bursts with Parisian flair, while Darius Milhaud’s La création du monde blends jazz and classical idioms in a bold, rhythmically charged vision of the world’s beginning, inspired by African mythology and the energy of 1920s Paris. Balancing the French exuberance is Haydn’s London Trio No. 3, a piece that is piece is elegant, buoyant, and full of wit, which he composed during his visits to England.

Haydn, Poulenc & Milhaud

St. Mary Catholic Church

Erin Harrigan, horn

Juraj Valčuha conducts three works that are distinctively French in their refinement, charm and ingenuity. Ravel’s “five children’s pieces” brim with delight and affection while Poulenc’s Gloria evokes, in his words, “frescoes with angels sticking out their tongues.” Saint-Saëns is simply epic in his Organ Symphony.

Poulenc Gloria & Saint-Saëns Organ Symphony

Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Dirk Sun, piano

This soup concert offers three tasteful pieces for various woodwind instruments and piano. Clara Schumann’s Romances for clarinet and piano are filled with melancholy, warmth and intensity. Originally composed for violin and piano, they were dedicated to the legendary violinist Joseph Joachim, with whom Clara frequently performed.

Soup with Woodwinds

Stockholm Concert Hall

Xinyi Liu, soprano

This connection is notably embodied by the Orchestre Tremplin, which allows young musicians from the CRR to share the podium with the Orchestra's professionals. Each season, this partnership is also enriched by concerts given by the Orchestra's musicians in the Conservatoire Auditorium. These events offer a special moment of closeness with the public and fully participate in the musical life of the city, in a spirit of transmission, influence, and openness.

The Six

Conservatoire Régional de Montpellier

Dutch-Argentinian soprano Ana-Carmen Balestra is known for her clear expressive voice and sparkling stage presence. A graduate of the Guildhall Opera Course, she has garnered attention for her talent as both an opera and lieder singer.

Ana-Carmen Balestra soprano & Salome Jordania piano

Johann Sebastian Bach, Claude Debussy, Francis Poulenc

3. Chamber Concert / Extreme

Rostock Art Gallery

A beautiful afternoon of music with Bernstein's Chichester Psalms, Britten's Rejoice in the Lamb and Poulenc's Organ Concerto.

Join us for a mesmerizing musical experience with the chorus and orchestra featuring Chichester Psalms by Leonard Bernstein and Rejoice in the Lamb by Benjamin Britten, with Francis Poulenc's Organ Concerto performed by Alistair Reid. This in person event will take place at the Church of the Heavenly Rest. Immerse yourself in the beautiful harmonies and powerful melodies of these iconic choral works, with soloists, chorus and full orchestra. Don't miss this opportunity to be uplifted by this seldom-performed, transcendent music!

Bernstein, Britten and Poulenc Concert

Church of the Heavenly Rest

Poulenc's Les Biches suite opens the ball with its sparkling cocktail of rococo elegance—Parisian salons are never far away, Poulenc frequented them assiduously!—and jazzy rhythms where woodwinds and strings converse in a spirited spirit. The Concerto champêtre then reveals all of Poulenc's audacity, which he had made his calling card: Justin Taylor, a refined harpsichord magician, explores the slightest contrasts between virtuoso traits and tender melodies, while the orchestra, under the direction of the talented Lucie Leguay, weaves a setting that is sometimes mocking, sometimes nostalgic. Chausson's Symphony in B-flat closes the evening with its luminous gravity. A pivotal work between Wagner and Debussy, it deploys an ardent lyricism, from the dark tremors of the adagio to the cyclical exaltation of the finale. Joyfully moving between gallant spirit and romantic depth, this concert is an invitation to a bucolic dream.

Country Concerto

Opéra Comédie

Molly Snodgrass, soprano

Soprano and conductor Barbara Hannigan, one of the singular artists of our time, transforms Poulenc’s one-act opera into a harrowing multimedia experience depicting the final conversation between ex-lovers. Also on the program: Richard Strauss’s Metamorphosen, a profound memorial for human culture devastated by war.

La Voix humaine with Barbara Hannigan

David Geffen Hall

He’s chairing the jury for the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2025, then will make his Cliburn Concerts debut the following spring! Paul Lewis was awarded CBE in 2016 for his services to music, and the sincerity and depth of his musical approach have won him fans around the world. This global popularity is reflected in world-class concert engagements, like Royal Festival Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall, Musikverein, Konzerthaus, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Concertgebouw, Berlin Philharmonie, and Berlin Konzerthaus, as well as Tanglewood, Ravinia, Schubertiade, Edinburgh, Salzburg, and Lucerne Festivals.

Paul Lewis, piano

Kimbell Art Museum

The French Connection

Carver Theatre for the Performing Arts

Winner of the 2023 Concert Artists Guild Competition, major prizewinner at the 2022 Sibelius and Singapore International Violin Competitions, recipient of the Salon de Virtuosi Career Grant, and the youngest person ever to win the Windsor Festival Competition, violinist Nathan Meltzer is establishing a holistic and multifaceted career as both a soloist and chamber musician, with a passion for both standard and contemporary repertoire.

Nathan Meltzer, violin with pianist Wynona Wang

Presidio Theatre Performing Arts Center

Andrea Nalywajko, soprano

Luiz Fernando Venturelli, cello

Chamber Concert 7 »Of Bohemia and Bohème«

Oper Graz

Cycle Five: Echoes Of Celebration

St Andrew's Presbyterian Church Arizona

DesertView Performing Arts Center

Poulenc’s searing one-act opera follows a desperate woman through a final phone call with her departing lover. This haunting musical monologue transforms private anguish into visceral theater, as raw emotion unfolds through Poulenc’s lush orchestration and Jean Cocteau’s unflinching text. An unforgettable portrait of love and loss.

Based on the true story of Ming Kuang Chen, a Chinese food deliveryman who was trapped in a Bronx elevator for 81 hours in 2005, this sung-through hybrid of musical theatre, opera, and solo performance explores the immigrant experience through a blend of operatic singing, rap, and contemporary musical theater that reflects the collision of desperation, delusion, and absurdity in Chen's confined world.

SJSU School of Music presents La Voix Humaine and Stuck Elevator

Hammer Theatre Center

Audience-favourite Sara Davis Buechner returns with Edmonton-born rising star Jessica Yuma to perform Poulenc’s Concerto for Two Pianos, a work full of vigor and breathtaking moments. English composer William Walton’s Symphony No. 1 takes listeners on a journey through rich harmony, heart-wrenching climaxes, and ultimate triumph. Plus, Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia pays tribute to a theme written more than three centuries earlier by composer Thomas Tallis.

Concerto for Two Pianos

Winspear Centre

Eastman Wind Ensemble 2026

University of Rochester

Eastman Theatre

Debussy’s La mer gushes into Severance on a wave of shimmering orchestral color, ebbing and flowing through three symphonic pictures that evoke the ocean’s power and majesty. Grammy-winning organist Paul Jacobs pulls out all the stops in Poulenc’s thundering Organ Concerto, and Daniele Rustioni leads The Cleveland Orchestra in a folkloric rhapsody by Alfredo Casella as well as Fauré’s breezy incidental music for Pelléas et Mélisande.

Debussy’s La Mer

Severance Music Center

Performed entirely from memory by the choir and soloists, this performance envelops listeners in an intimate, contemplative setting. From the radiant beauty of the Pie Jesu to the ethereal glow of In Paradisum, the music offers a vision of consolation and peace.

Fauré Requiem Performed by Hear

Smith Square Hall

“No human dies for himself alone. One dies for others. Maybe some die instead of others. Who knows?“ (Sœur Constance in Dialogues des Carmélites). Few operas focus on the confrontation with one’s own mortality as much as Francis Poulenc’s opera about an order of Carmelite nuns in the turmoil of the French Revolution, which premiered in 1957. The story revolves around the young Blanche, who – plagued by severe anxiety since birth – finds shelter in a convent. But the time of security ends abruptly when the Revolutionary Committee breaks up the convent and forbids the community from practicing its rites. The sisters swear themselves to martyrdom, but Blanche’s fear of death drives her to flee. Eventually she manages to overcome herself: As she follows her sisters to the scaffold, her fear is extinguished in the face of death. In her production of this hybrid of thriller, discourse opera and holy mass, director Ewelina Marciniak, known for her feminist readings, focuses on the dynamics of a community of women struggling for communication and humanity in the midst of terror. And even if the supernatural “Salve Regina“ of the Carmelite nuns on the scaffold leaves no doubt that this opera is a fervent profession of faith by the Catholic Poulenc, the nuns’ willingness to make sacrifices raises questions: where are the boundaries between solidarity, faith and fundamentalism? How lonely is it to die in our secularized contemporary world? Under the musical direction of Cornelius Meister, Poulenc’s powerful music becomes a unique event.

Dialogues des Carmélites

Stuttgart Opera

Barber’s Adagio and Allegri’s Miserere prepare the way for James MacMillan’s great Passion meditation, in this emotionally-charged evening from Tenebrae and Britten Sinfonia.

Seven Last Words From The Cross

St Martin-in-the-Fields Church, London

Soprano and Court Singer Elin Rombo is one of Sweden’s brightest stars on the international opera scene. A cherished guest at Konserthuset Stockholm, she now returns to the main stage – this time together with the visiting Västerås Sinfonietta under the baton of Chief Conductor Simon Crawford-Phillips.

Britten, Börtz and Poulenc

Konserthuset Stockholm

Sir Simon Rattle & Kirill Gerstein

Munich Residence

We open this program of mostly French and Australian music with a birthday tribute to a Hungarian composer. György Kurtág turns one hundred this year, and these miniatures from Játékok (‘Games’) feel apt for a piano duo concert. Deceptively small in scale, they are large in wit and meaning. Flowers we are… (embracing sounds) asks two pianists to lean into one another, arms overlapping, sound pooling across the keyboard: an embrace made audible. Quarrelling is exactly what it sounds like: two voices jostling for position, each insisting on its own territory as the keyboard’s ‘real estate’ becomes fiercely contested. And in Hommage à Paganini, one pianist is unceremoniously banished to a second instrument altogether. We put these three pieces together deliberately, to sketch a little portrait of duo life: closeness, conflict, and the occasional need for separate rooms.

Viney-Grinberg Duo

Zelman Cowen Building (51)

Echoing Route/Root’s themes of memory, migration and the tension between vulnerability and grandeur, this all-20th-century programme for two pianos balances intimacy and power. Francis Poulenc’s Elégie is brief but poignant, while his Sonata for piano four hands is full of quirky charm.

Junyan Chen & Alim Beisembayev

Leeds Conservatoire

Grammy® Award winner and sought-after violinist Augustin Hadelich makes his San Francisco Performances debut at the peak of an impressive international career. According to Bachtrack, he “is most definitely the man of the moment and is quite rightly earning a reputation as one of the finest violinists on the circuit.” The Times of London called Francesco Piemontesi’s artistry, “playful, assertive, intelligent music making, with bone-china clarity.”

Augustin Hadelich and Francesco Piemontesi (The Shenson Great Artists & Ensembles Series/Herbst)

War Memorial and Performing Arts Center

Andrew Litton conducts the classic Firebird Suite, drawn from the dazzling ballet that shot Stravinsky into the 20th-century classical music pantheon almost overnight. The Seattle Symphony Chorale joins the orchestra for Poulenc's first choral work with orchestra, the 12-movement Stabat Mater — penned in response to the sudden death of his friend. Poulenc was inspired by his pilgrimage to the holy shrine of the Black Madonna of Rocamadour, which reinvigorated his Catholic faith, and the medieval Stabat Mater hymn to the Virgin Mary.

Stravinsky The Firebird

Benaroya Hall

For the first time the Prague Symphony welcomes the most important Slovenian conductor of today, Marko Letonja. The first half of the evening will be French in honour of his many years in Strasbourg, the second half will be Fate. One of the world's finest organists, Olivier Latry, will also perform with our orchestra for the first time.

Beethoven – Fate Symphony

Municipal House

Prince Bluebeard's Castle, a one-act opera to a libretto by Béla Balàzs was composed by Bartók in 1911 but not performed until seven years later, on 24 May 1918 at the Budapest Opera House. The libretto proposed by Balàzs retrieves the figure from the fairytale tradition of the ruthless Bluebeard to cast it in a symbolist frame in the wake of Debussy-Maeterlinck's Pelléas et Melisande. The opera, divided into nine scenes, has only two protagonists: Bluebeard and his wife Judith, who express themselves with a song, mainly recitative, based on pentatonic scales of Hungarian folk tradition. The action takes place in the prince's castle in medieval times. A prologue recited by a bard introduces the first scene describing Judith's resolve to follow her husband into his gloomy and mysterious castle. However, the woman wants to know Bluebeard's past and starts to open the castle's seven secret doors one after the other. With dismay she discovers sinister rooms and places stained with blood, a pivotal element of the opera associated by Bartók with the minor second chord, the most dissonant of all. On opening the seventh and final door, Judith fears to find the corpses of her previous murdered wives, but instead she sees three richly dressed, living women parading before her eyes. They are the women of morning, noon and evening who now belong only to the world of Bluebeard's memories. Judith, as the woman of the night, after being crowned and covered in jewels by her husband, will follow them forever into the seventh room, whose door closes, plunging the castle back into darkness.

Bluebeard's castle / La voix humaine

First, there is an abandoned woman, in a tragedy of rupture formulated by Cocteau that wrests painful accents of truth from Francis Poulenc. But this final stage of the crisis is not the last and does not end with the monologue: Thierry Escaich and Olivier Py have imagined a mirror sequel to this Voix humaine, their devastating Point d'orgue, a folie à trois capable of the paroxysms that only opera allows. Le National, Ariane Matiakh and Patricia Petibon take up the torch of this total spectacle.

The Human Voice / Culmination

Théâtre des Champs-Élysées

Northshore Classics: French Fables & Fantasies

Greater Covington Center

This concert highlights piano mastery and dynamic artistry as husband and wife duo Alessio Bax and Lucille Chung take center stage. Mozart’s Concerto for Two Pianos sparkles with elegance and virtuosity. Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals delights with humor and imagination, while Poulenc’s Concerto for Two Pianos adds wit and rhythmic energy.

Mozart & More: Concertos for Two Pianos

Jacoby Symphony Hall

Delight in the elegant charm of Gabriel Fauré’s Masques et Bergamasques, op. 112 that sets the stage for Poulenc's playful storytelling in his L’Histoire de Babar, bringing to life the beloved tale of Babar the Elephant with humor and heart. The magic continues with Claude Debussy’s Clair de Lune, a luminous and timeless classic and the wonder of Maurice Ravel’s Ma Mère l'Oye (Mother Goose Suite)—a vibrant and imaginative orchestral reimagining of childhood fairy tales.

French Fables & Fantasies

New Marigny Theatre

The chamber music series at the Handel House invites you to a musical Sunday outing in a baroque setting. Musicians from the Halle State Orchestra present personally curated programs featuring famous works and rarely heard gems – in diverse ensembles and (almost) always with commentary.

3. Chamber Music

Händel-Haus

The Carnegie Mellon University Chamber Series brings together members of the CMU Faculty and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra for outstanding music making in an intimate space.

Carnegie Mellon Chamber Series: New Paths Familiar Voices

Carnegie Mellon University

With Francis Poulenc's rarely performed Organ Concerto, Christian Schmitt brings us a virtuoso performance of the concert hall organ in the Graz Musikverein. In Camille Saint-Saëns's famous Organ Symphony , the organ later functions as an instrument almost equal to the orchestra. A new sonic discovery, however, is "Amor Fati ," an orchestral piece in which the contemporary Cretan composer Giorgos Koumendakis brings the music of his homeland to life without the use of traditional Greek instruments, for example, through rich ornamentation in the strings, thiaboli and mandora sounds, and rhythmic patterns of transcribed birdsong in the woodwinds.

2nd Music Association Concert

Stefaniensaal

Strauss & Poulenc

Rutgers University–Camden

This intimate concert by award-winning pianist Paul Lewis, who’s been praised for his “impeccable technique and subtle artistry” (Boston Classical Review), features a series of Mozart and Poulenc pairings. The first half of this charming program includes Mozart’s energetic 10th piano sonata as well as excerpts from Poulenc’s Improvisations, a series of 15 short and diverse solo piano tunes. After intermission, Lewis performs the remaining Improvisations before concluding with Mozart’s turbulent Piano Sonata No. 14. L’isle Joyeuse (“Joyous Island”) by Claude Debussy divides the Mozart/Poulenc double feature.

Piano Poetry: Paul Lewis plays Mozart, Debussy, and Poulenc

Colburn School

A violist of international reputation, Roberto Díaz is president and CEO of the Curtis Institute of Music, following in the footsteps of renowned soloist/directors such as Josef Hofmann, Efrem Zimbalist, and Rudolf Serkin. As a teacher of viola at Curtis and former principal viola of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Mr. Díaz has already had a significant impact on American musical life and continues to do so in his dual roles as performer and educator. Since founding Curtis on Tour in 2007, Mr. Díaz has taken this successful initiative to North and South America, Europe, and Asia, performing chamber music side-by-side with Curtis students and other faculty and alumni of the school.

Curtis on Tour

Albuquerque Academy

Symphony concert meets dance floor: Poulenc's Dance Suite, composed for the Ballets Russes, transports its audience to the vibrant atmosphere of 1920s salons. In the ballet "Petrushka," puppetry meets the reality of deadly jealousy, a theme explored by Stravinsky's music with subtle irony and Russian folk dances. The exceptional young guitarist Laura Lootens performs Joaquín Rodigo's popular Guitar Concerto, which transformed its blind composer into a Spanish cultural ambassador and national hero. Chin-Chao Lin, principal conductor of the Klagenfurt City Theatre, returns to Wiesbaden for this concert.

4th Symphony Concert: Petrushka

Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden

A harrowing and powerful opera inspired by true events of the French Revolution.

The contrast between the quiet life of a convent and the sweeping, destructive forces of revolution lies at the heart of Poulenc’s opera, which is inspired by real events from the French Revolution.

Royal Danish Opera

The Orchester der Oper Zürich starts the concert season under a new, old name. After thirteen years as Philharmonia Zurich, the orchestra will return to its original moniker. The Philharmonic Concerts will once again alternate between the Opernhaus and the Tonhalle Zürich.

Jussen & Rustioni

Tonhalle Zürich

Cascade Symphony presents its annual and very popular Family Concert with a performance of Francis Poulenc’s delightful “Story of Babar the Elephant,” narrated by longtime Seattle radio host, Dave Dolacky, with visual aids to entertain the children. This concert also features the talented winner of our annual Rising Stars Competition.

The Story of Babar

Edmonds Center For the Arts

Old meets new in Górecki's Three Pieces in Old Style. Inspired by papers on old Polish music and heavily influenced by modal music combined with folk, these charming pieces encapsulate the sonorous charms of both Górecki's music and his writing for strings.

BBC NOW - Gloria

Brangwyn Hall

Our concert hall organ, the "orchestra in one instrument," is at the center of Francis Poulenc's Organ Concerto - a work full of contrasts. Sometimes deeply serious, almost sacred, then surprisingly playful, Poulenc combines tradition and modernity in a fascinating way. The soloist of the evening, Anna Lapwood, one of the most exciting organists of her generation, impresses with her virtuosity and her ability to engage people with classical music.

Lapwood with Poulenc

Palace of Culture

The organ is an instrument that for many creates a sense of reverent silence in churches rather than enjoyable music. But in this concert, it shows how versatile and modern the organ can be! Poulenc was a French composer who liked to play with musical contrasts: sacred meets secular, serious meets playful. His concert begins almost like a meditation - dark and mysterious - and suddenly the music breaks into lively, almost dance-like rhythms. The other piece, just recently composed for the organ in the famous Royal Albert Hall in London, captivates the listeners. It is a journey through moods and sounds that showcases the organ at its most exciting. Lean back and let yourself be surprised - maybe today you will discover your new favorite instrument!

abgeFRACKt: Roaring Whistles

The Northwestern University Chamber Orchestra welcomes soprano Marie Engle for Francis Poulenc’s La voix humaine, a stirring one-act opera depicting one woman’s final phone call with her ex-lover in a struggle of unrequited love. Concluding the evening is Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 4 in A Major, Op. 90 (“Italian”), a collection of impressions from his ten-month trip to Italy inspired by sunny blue skies, lively saltarello dances, religious solemnity, and timeless art and architecture.

Composer

Francis Poulenc

Events

Upcoming events

Aug 18, 2026

Rising Stars of Voice with Louise Alder · Edinburgh International Festival

Aug 19, 2026

Haydn's Passion Symphony · Minnesota Orchestra

Aug 21, 2026

Maxim Emelyanychev & SCO Wind Soloists · Edinburgh International Festival

Aug 27, 2026

Julie Roset & Susan Manoff · Edinburgh International Festival

Sep 5, 2026

Piano Classics · Sheffield Theatres

Past events

Jul 27, 2026

Three Choirs Festival: Glagolitic Mass · Philharmonia Orchestra

Jul 27, 2026

Paul Lewis · Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra

About

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