Singer

Paris! Breathless, colourful, racy and full of secrets. This is true today as it was 100 years ago, when the young American George Gershwin frequented the cafés of Montmartre, listening to the sounds of the big city and overcome with homesickness for New York, that other glamorous metropolis. In Gershwin’s musical portrait An American in Paris, revving motors, honking horns, the Cancan, Charleston, blues and ragtime merge in an irresistible symphony of the big city – a audible journey that is so concrete and thrilling that one could actually cancel one’s own city trip. The human soul with all its flights of fancy and abysses, love, desperation, death – and then there’s »Summertime«, possible the aria with the most cover versions in music history: the highlights from Gershwin’s opera Porgy and Besstransport us to a world of overpowering emotions.

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Summertime

Cologne Philharmonie

Each year, the Festival international de Colmar transforms the city’s most distinguished heritage venues into vibrant stages for world-class soloists and leading ensembles. Since 2023, the festival has been under the artistic direction of Alain Altinoglu.

The La Monnaie Symphony Orchestra at the Colmar Festival

Église Saint-Matthieu de Colmar

The OSM invites you to a very special wedding! Experience a one-of-a-kind musical event with an innovative staging of Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro. Enjoy stunning voices in an exceptional acoustic setting, singing melodies that are both joyful and moving. Premiering in 1786, the opera blends comedy and satire, with a libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte inspired by Beaumarchais’ play. It follows the adventures of Figaro and Suzanne, two servants trying to thwart the advances of their flirtatious master, Count Almaviva. Through its sharp wit, the opera critiques aristocratic privilege while celebrating the resourcefulness of the working class. This specially narrated version promises an exciting and memorable experience, offering a fresh perspective on a timeless masterpiece.

The Marriage of Figaro

Place des Arts

“I am the new Bacchus, pressing out glorious wine for the human spirit”: Ludwig van Beethoven never pulled his punches, but until you’ve heard his Seventh Symphony in full flight, you’ve never known just how intoxicating music can be. That’s just the climax to a whole concert that takes aim straight at the emotions.

At the end of a long life, Richard Strauss poured all the colours of the sunset into his heart-rending Four Last Songs – they’re a favourite on Desert Island Discs, and when they’re sung by the glorious voice of soprano Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha, you’ll understand why.

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Strauss’ Four Last Songs

Cadogan Hall 

Strauss, who conducted the Philharmonia himself in its early days, wrote to soprano Kirsten Flagstad that the piece ‘should be at your disposal for a world premiere … with a first-class conductor and orchestra’. And it was with the Philharmonia that she gave that first performance in 1950.

Wagner, Strauss & Tchaikovsky: Last Songs

Southbank Centre

Wagner's endlessly unresolved harmonies in Tristan and Isolde influenced composers for decades but it’s the emotional charge they convey that hits home.

Philharmonia Orchestra

The Anvil

‘Behold, the sea itself!’ With a ringing fanfare, and a mighty shout from the London Philharmonic Choir, Vaughan Williams’s A Sea Symphony unleashes a flood tide of inspiration. The oceans, after all, are the key to life on our blue planet, and as part of our Harmony with Nature theme, Sir Mark Elder explores two very different perspectives on the sea: Vaughan Williams’s epic symphony of the human spirit, and Sibelius’s powerful depiction of the ocean waves. With soloists Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha and David Stout, this should be a true voyage of discovery.

A Sea Symphony

The oceans, after all, are the key to life on our blue planet, and as part of the LPO’s Harmony with Nature theme, Sir Mark Elder explores two very different perspectives on the sea: Vaughan Williams’ epic symphony of the human spirit, and Sibelius’ powerful depiction of the ocean waves.

Tosca, a devout but tempestuous diva, lives for art—and for love. She’s loved by Mario Cavaradossi, the revolutionary artist, and lusted after by the treacherous Baron Scarpia, Rome’s police chief.

Tosca

Detroit Opera House

Verdi’s Requiem was composed in memory of a friend, and partly in response to the death of a fellow composer. Ever since its first performance in Milan in 1874, this richly emotional work has been expressing grief and prayers for the dead. Over the last 100 years it has been performed in memory of nuclear disasters, acts of terrorism, and by inmates at Terezín in World War II. Initially criticised for being too ‘operatic’, it retains an extraordinary, almost overwhelming power to move audiences. Four superb singers take on the solo roles alongside the CBSO Chorus and led by Sir Mark Elder, a renowned interpreter of this astonishing, deeply expressive Requiem.

Soprano

Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha

Events

Upcoming events

1 - 7 Nov, 2026

Tosca · Detroit Opera

May 5, 2027

Verdi's Requiem 2027 · City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

Jun 12, 2027

Beethoven's Ninth Symphony · Royal Northern Sinfonia

Past events

11 - 13 Sep, 2026

Summertime · Gürzenich-Orchester Köln

5 - 6 Jul, 2026

The La Monnaie Symphony Orchestra at the Colmar Festival · La Monnaie / De Munt

Future and recently performed repertoire

Singer in The Oceanides by Sibelius

London Philharmonic Orchestra

Singer in Peer Gynt by Grieg

La Monnaie / De Munt

Singer in A Sea Symphony by Williams

London Philharmonic Orchestra

Singer in Four Last Songs by Strauss

Cadogan Hall

Countess Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro by Mozart

Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal

Singer in Requiem by Verdi

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

Singer in Also sprach Zarathustra by Strauss

La Monnaie / De Munt

Singer in Die Walküre by Wagner

La Monnaie / De Munt

Tosca in Tosca by Puccini

Detroit Opera

Singer in Porgy and Bess by Gershwin

Gürzenich-Orchester Köln

Singer in Vier letzte Lieder by Strauss

La Monnaie / De Munt

Singer in Le carnaval romain by Berlioz

La Monnaie / De Munt

Singer in Scènes historiques by Sibelius

London Philharmonic Orchestra

Singer in Symphony No. 9 ‘Choral’ by Beethoven

Royal Northern Sinfonia

About

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