Composer

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

Austrian composer Ignace Pleyel, who studied with Haydn, found lasting fame as a pioneer of piano building. His Paris-based company continued producing fine instruments after his death in 1831, influencing the development of piano works by, among others, Chopin and Debussy. Finghin Collins, inspired to pay homage to Pleyel after playing on a rebuilt Pleyel 280 concert grand piano dating from 1937, includes beautiful miniatures by the Franco-Irish composer Joseph O’Kelly and Georges Pfeiffer, both partners in the Pleyel firm.

EPSG:4326

Finghin Collins piano

Wigmore Hall

The Perelada Festival welcomes the return of Bryn Terfel, one of the great voices of our time, in a recital that is presented as a living synthesis of his artistic journey. With a career that extends over almost four decades, the Welsh bass-baritone has built an interpretative universe that embraces from Mozart to Wagner, from the Romantic Lied to the traditional song, always with the same expressive conviction and deep respect for the musical material.

Bryn Terfel

Església del Carme

The high-flying aerialists of Troupe Vertigo join the Grant Park Orchestra led by Enrico Lopez-Yañez, performing eye-popping feats to classical works and film scores, including Star Wars, Star Trek, Disney’s Up and more.

Cirque: A Space Odyssey

Millennium Park

Setting unfamiliar works alongside such repertoire landmarks as the three sonatas in this evening’s programme comes naturally to Maria Ioudenitch, who’s passionate about taking her audience on enriching musical journeys. The Russian-born American violinist, supported by rising star Roman Borisov, starts this evening from the perspective of two formidable miniatures by Lili Boulanger, whose creativity was ended all too soon by illness and her tragic early death.

Maria Ioudenitch violin; Roman Borisov piano

Tango!

San Carlo Theatre

The veteran Austrian pianist Rudolf Buchbinder is certain about the qualities that propelled Ariel Lanyi to the finals of the Leeds and Rubinstein International Piano Competitions. ‘His playing is precise, nuanced, and virtuosic, but he is no superficial virtuoso,’ he notes. ‘What sets him apart is his ability to delve deeply into the music and to establish a connection with it.’ Lanyi’s thoughtfully-crafted programme concludes with the character studies and atmospheric impressions of Debussy’s second book of Préludes.

Ariel Lanyi piano

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

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.

Tugan Sokhiev

Zurich Opera House

“From Man to Myth” considers how larger-than-life personalities capture the public imagination and, over time, become legend. Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun drifts in with luminous color and sensuous calm, its opening flute line evoking a mythical creature poised between dream and reality. Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3, “Eroica,” was originally dedicated to Napoleon, whom the composer saw as a heroic symbol of a new era—before famously withdrawing the dedication in disillusionment. Monumental in scale and emotional sweep, the work charts struggle, mourning, and hard-won triumph, revealing both the power and fragility behind the making of a myth.

From Man to Myth

Riverwalk Center

Discover the artistry of the next generation of outstanding musicians in an evening of vibrant chamber music.

Royal College of Music Strings Showcase

Oops, something's happening! Was Marie dreaming, or did that just come from the giggling and clattering of the toy box in her bedroom? Marie carefully lifts the lid and can't stop marveling... A playful, hands-on concert for children aged 3 and up, with music from Robert Schumann's famous Kinderszenen and Claude Debussy's Children 's Corner , among others .

3. Seat Cushion Concert: The Toy Box

Opernfoyer

With the world premiere of Pelléas et Mélisande in 1902, Claude Debussy challenged his contemporaries to listen to music in a new way. His instrumentation was without precedent. He transposed the Wagnerian leitmotif technique into a subtle tone painting and described atmospheres and dispositions of the soul that elude description and that even music is often only able to gesture towards.

Pelléas et Mélisande

Bebelplatz

It is dark and cold in the castle to which Bluebeard takes his young wife Judith. With the power of her love, she wants to decipher her husband's mysterious past, bring light into the darkness, and build bridges over abysses. However, she is not allowed to ask any questions; seven locked doors harbor secrets. Judith begins to open them one by one... The depths of the human soul are also dark. Locked away within are urges, fears, dreams, and nightmares. In his only opera, Duke Bluebeard's Castle, Béla Bartók penetrates the chambers of the human subconscious. 

Night

Cologne Philharmonie

This is a chance to hear her rarely performed Harp Concertino.  This is followed by Mahler’s wonderful Symphony no.4 with part for soprano in the last movement. The conductor is Rebecca Miller, well known for her electrifying and inspired performances.

Spotlight on the Harp

Smith Square Hall

A mysterious princess. A remote castle. A love triangle. Debussy’s breathtaking opera is a dark fairytale caught in a dream.

“No time, no place. No big scene.” So Debussy wrote to his teacher Ernest Guiraud in 1890. It was a kind of mission statement for his ideal style of opera: in a world of increasingly “big scenes” – courtesy of Wagner and Verdi – Debussy wanted something radically different.

After several false starts, he finally found what he was looking for in an enigmatic play by Maurice Maeterlinck called Pelléas et Mélisande, full of symbols, ambiguous meanings and shadowy characters. It was the perfect home for Debussy’s innovative approach to opera, and for his startlingly new musical language. He finished Pelléas et Mélisande, his only completed opera, in 1902. The critics were perplexed, but in more recent years it has become one of the most admired works in the repertoire, beguiling audiences time and again with its elusive, shimmering beauty.

Rory Kinnear directs a semi-staging of the opera, while Ryan Wigglesworth conducts the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and a dream of a cast, including Sophie Bevan and Jacques Imbrailo as the two lovers.

Aldeburgh Festival 2026: Pelléas et Mélisande

Snape Maltings

Qixuan Fan, piano

Northwestern Bienen School of Music

‘A narrative of the soul’ was how one critic described a recent Glasgow performance by Ethan Loch, and there’s no question that this young Scottish pianist (who has become a nationwide star since his triumph in BBC Young Musician in 2022) has something very special to say. Today, he lavishes all his artistry on Debussy’s shimmering musical pictures and premieres a new creation of his own: a ‘dance drama’ inspired by the sea and brought to life by ballet dancer Antonia Cramb. 

Ethan Loch: Earth, Water, Wind & Fire

Glasgow Royal Concert Hall

In his 2023 CSO subscription debut, Conrad Tao gave a “dazzling, staggering” performance of Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F, wrote the Chicago Tribune, in which Tao “carried his melodies masterfully.” As part of the CSO’s monthlong focus on American music, the Illinois native returns with a selection of Gershwin song arrangements interspersed with works by Debussy, Ravel, Rachmaninov, Schoenberg and Robert Schumann.

Conrad Tao

Chicago Symphony Orchestra

V21 Season Ticket - Dima Slobodeniouk

Opera House, A Coruña

Debussy, Strauss, Beethoven

Imperial Baths

"Camille Saint-Saëns' Cello Concerto is fantastic: very dramatic, in a way truly theatrical," enthuses star cellist Gautier Capuçon. And with his globally acclaimed, sonorous voice, the Frenchman is the perfect soloist for this Romantic masterpiece. It's no surprise that it's so dramatic: after all, Saint-Saëns wrote eleven operas, just two fewer than operatic giant Richard Wagner. And so it's fitting that the two composers perform side by side here—especially since the Staatskapelle Dresden is an orchestra whose DNA is, so to speak, written into its DNA. But the top-class ensemble also manages to illuminate the lucid brilliance of Claude Debussy's impressionistic soundscape "La mer" with "effortless excellence" and "overwhelming beauty" (Hamburger Abendblatt). An evening not to be missed! (And just as an aside: Debussy was also, of course, an opera composer.)

Saxon State Orchestra Dresden / Gautier Capuçon / Daniele Gatti

Elbphilharmonie Hamburg

It is a young, but all the more beautiful tradition: shortly before the end of the season, great orchestral sound prepares a feast for the ears. The Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden is the orchestra of honour. In the 1840s, Richard Wagner referred to the orchestra, which he himself led as court conductor, with sincere affection as a 'wonderful harp'. Since then, the art-loving metropolis on the River Elbe has been a constant source of Wagnerian music. For the orchestra festival at the Alte Oper, the Dresdeners will continue to focus on Wagner, placing him in a surprising field of tension: Camille Saint-Saëns and Claude Debussy were among the German Romantic composer's greatest admirers and harshest critics. The Sächsische Staatskapelle, its principal conductor Daniele Gatti and Gautier Capuçon will devote themselves to these three magicians of sound par excellence.

Orchestra Festival: Saxon State Orchestra Dresden

Alte Oper

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

Elegant for three

Bochumer Symphoniker

Luigi Cherubini Conservatory of Music, Florence

Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Theatre

Callan Shanahan, soprano

Friday Concert No. 6 ( 2026)

Volkshaus Jena

Our season finale features music guaranteed to lift your spirits. The concert opens with Maurice Ravel’s orchestration of Claude Debussy’s lighthearted “Danse” (“Tarantella Styrienne”) and continues with the world premiere of the Music Guild’s latest commissioned work – “Raíces” (“Roots”) by Los Angeles-based composer, María Eugenia León. Highlighting the musical traditions of both her native Canary Islands as well as Spain, “Raíces” features the timple, a five-string guitar described as “the pinnacle of Canarian music.” The evening concludes with Dvořák’s virtuosic Violin Concerto in A minor, featuring YuEun Gemma Kim.

Season Finale – YuEun Gemma Kim plays Dvořák

St. Matthew's Music Guild

Debussy’s Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune, heard here in Judy Loman’s delicate transcription, opens with its famous languid flute solo, dissolving boundaries between dream and waking. Jean-Michel Damase’s Sonata for Flute and Harp continues in this refined tradition, its four movements blending classical clarity with supple lyricism: graceful lines, a gentle but restless Andante, a spirited scherzo-like third movement, and a Finale that shifts from introspective calm to dazzling brilliance. 

Lucy Driver and Mared Emyr Pugh-Evans

Immerse yourself in a concert of vivid color, rhythmic vitality, and sweeping sonic landscapes. The evening begins with Pierre Mercure’s Kaleidoscope, a dazzling orchestral showpiece that lives up to its name with ever-shifting textures and vibrant energy. Next, experience the bold and expressive voice of Adolphus Hailstork in his powerful and lyrical Symphony No. 1, a compelling work that bridges American musical traditions with classical form. The program concludes with a fresh take on a timeless masterpiece: Claude Debussy’s La mer, arranged by Marlijn Helder, offering a new perspective on this impressionist masterpiece that captures the ever-changing moods of the sea. This program promises a captivating journey through imagination, expression, and the elemental power of music.

Prismatic

Mount Baker Community Club

Town Hall Seattle

In this program, our orchestral toy shop is a whirlwind of activity: Under the direction of Kazuki Yamada, we joyfully immerse ourselves in the colorful and magical realm of childhood fantasy – with a work by Debussy, inspired in 1913 by the illustrator André Hellé. He once remarked: "Toy boxes are actually cities where toys live like real people." And he added ironically: "Or perhaps cities are nothing but toy boxes where people live like toys." For the delightful composition "La boîte à joujoux," we pull a pretty doll, a tin soldier, and a quarrelsome jumping jack from the musical box and bring this wonderful bedtime story to life on stage. The poetic world of children was also a fertile source of inspiration for Bizet: in 1871, with his piano cycle "Jeux d'enfants," he created a charming collection of short, concise genre pieces – and thanks to his skillful orchestration, we will set a whirring top in motion on the stage in the small suite. 

Kazuki Yamada, Leif Ove Andsnes

Bamberger Symphoniker

Conductor in Residence Benjamin Northey leads the Orchestra in this program featuring captivating works by Debussy, Stravinsky, Kodály and Sydney’s own Holly Harrison.

The Sydney Symphony Performs Music That Moves You

Lazenby Hall

Canberra Grammar School

Shoalhaven Entertainment Centre

Glasshouse Arts, conference and Entertainment Centre

Hear the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in your city on our 2026 Regional Tour, as we travel to Port Macquarie, Armidale, Nowra and Canberra with a concert of music for – and inspired by – dance.

Fazıl Say received minutes of standing ovation after his captivating recital at the Mozart Week 2025 in the sold-out Great Hall of the Mozarteum Foundation. The celebrated pianist and composer from Turkey likes to describe himself as a bridge-builder between East and West, between early and contemporary music, between classical and jazz. His role models are the virtuosos of the 18th and 19th centuries who captivated audiences at their concerts, including with their own works. Thus, in his masterpiece, he draws a fascinating arc from Mozart's piano sonata with the famous "Alla turca" to the Impressionists Debussy and Ravel, and finally to an impressive selection of his own compositions.

Master Concert: Fazıl Say

Mozarteum Foundation

Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun opens this program, followed by a violin concerto to be performed by the winner of the Dallas International Violin Competition 2025. After intermission, the orchestra will perform the Brahms Symphony No. 4; Richard McKay conducts.

Brahms: Symphony Nº 4

Moody Performance Hall

Since 2010, chamber music ensembles of the Staatskapelle have been performing at the Bode Museum, a jewel of Berlin's museum landscape. Matinee concerts lasting just over an hour in the Gobelin Hall, with diverse programs that include music from the Baroque and Classical periods as well as works from the Romantic and Modern periods, can easily lead into further hours in the museum—for example, with a guided tour of the exhibition and the "Artwork of the Day," a private tour, or a culinary finale in the stylish museum café.

Museum Concert VIII

UNESCO Weltkulturerbe Museumsinsel

Maestro JoAnn Falletta concludes the Symphony Joslyn series with Concertmaster Susanna Perry Gilmore and a sweeping program of new and old favorites.

Falletta & Perry Gilmore

Joslyn Art Museum

Adrian Nicolas Ong, violin

Claude Debussy’s jaunty tarantelle frolics at the confluence of two Austrian rivers. A world premiere by Niloufar Nourbakhsh paints a musical autobiography of the earth, as told through the rocks upon which we dance. Louis Ballard’s ballet celebrates four legendary Oklahoma ballerinas of Indigenous North American descent.

Rivers & Moons

St. Catherine University

Lucas Amory, Piano

The Juilliard School

Since the 2023/2024 season, Frenchman Pierre Bleuse has been chief conductor of the Paris-based Ensemble Intercontemporain. As the successor to great musicians such as Pierre Boulez and Peter Eötvös, he is thus the full-time guardian of modernism. NDR audiences have already experienced the trained violinist at the "Elbphilharmonie Visions" festival in 2025, among others. Now, as part of the Hamburg International Music Festival, Bleuse has compiled a program of 20th-century works whose common denominator is its complexity.

NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra / Pierre Bleuse

Haozhou Wang, Piano

Kyungmin Yang, piano

Blending sonic mysticism with maritime contemplation, this concert unites German and French Romanticism in a way that is both rich in contrasts and affinities. Richard Wagner’s music from »Parsifal« and »Tristan und Isolde« transports us into worlds of redemption and Liebestod (love death), metaphysical silence and burning ecstasy. Between these works come two French masterpieces that create their own unique sensuality: Camille Saint-Saëns’ First Cello Concerto is a virtuoso and dramatic concert piece without symphonic pretensions, while Claude Debussy’s »La Mer« is an impressionistic naturalistic panorama, full of movement and refracting sunlight. The Cello Concerto is interpreted by our »Artist in Residence« Gautier Capuçon, a master of the warm, cantabile tone.

Symphony Concert N° 10

Semperoper Dresden

We welcome back to the Festival Septura, the internationally renowned brass septet after their triumph in Newbury last year.

Septura

St Mary's Church

Here Gavrylyuk tackles Rachmaninov’s notoriously difficult Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. These 24 variations take you on a wild ride, from stormy to mischievous to tender; but in the 18th, Rachmaninov flips the melody upside down to reveal one of classical music’s biggest and best-loved tunes.

Alexander Gavrylyuk performs Rachmaninov

Sydney Opera House

This program highlights the viola’s deep, expressive voice in Canadian composer Cassandra Miller’s Concerto, a poignant reflection on separation premiered in 2023 by Lawrence Power. Meanwhile, Debussy paints a vivid portrait of the sea with impressionistic colours, immersing listeners in a nostalgic and dreamlike soundscape. Enjoy a musical journey that is both powerful and poetic.

Wagner and Debussy: From Love to the Sea

Place des Arts

Spring takes centre stage in this concert, as French conductor Lucie Leguay makes her debut at Konserthuset Stockholm with an all-French programme. The concert opens with Lili Boulanger’s bright and playful D’un matin de printemps – one of her very last works before her untimely death from Crohn’s disease at just 24 years old.

The Organ Symphony

Stockholm City Hall

Sammi Li, piano

This program draws inspiration from the ocean: Britten’s Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes present an unforgiving antagonist; Debussy’s La Mer depicts a world of enchantment, and in its Australian premiere Poème by Jeanne Demessieux plumbs the still depths of the sea.

For Schools: Open Rehearsal with Nicholas Carter

Dance!

MassBay Community College

On this musical journey to the city of love, the program includes works by Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel, as well as the rarely heard Quintet in A major by Jean Cras, who during his lifetime not only pursued a career as a composer but also as an admiral in the French Navy. Unfortunately, this concert had to be cancelled in October. We are all the more pleased to be able to present this program to you now.

Salon Paris

Casino Bern

The Royal Danish Orchestra’s chamber concerts present celebrated masterpieces alongside rare gems of the chamber music repertoire. Throughout the season, the orchestra’s musicians perform in the historic theatre setting of the Old Stage. Audiences also enjoy the opportunity to experience them up close at chamber concerts in the Takkelloftet Foyer, with its stunning view of Copenhagen Harbour, as well as in the beautiful balcony foyer of the Old Stage.

Exhilarating Finnish and French Chamber Works

The Royal Playhouse and The Old Stage

In this family friendly free concert, CMSCVA explores the elements of air and water, and the creatures that live there, all through the evocative medium of chamber music.

Free Concert – SEA AND SKY

First Unitarian Universalist Church of Richmond

Conservatorium Symphony Orchestra – Pictures at an Exhibition Conducted by Matthew Wood

Queensland Conservatorium

From a daring maritime adventure to a captivating showcase for the soulful cello – in the company of vibrant Principal Conductor Maxim Emelyanychev and exceptional SCO Principal Cello Philip Higham.

Schumann Cello Concerto

Aberdeen Music Hall

The Queen's Hall

City Halls

Xinyi Liu, soprano

A concert exploring the little-known world of percussion: rhythms, textures, and sound experimentation spanning contemporary music, arrangements of classic repertoire, and new technologies

Percussive Alchemy

Carlo Felice Theater

Arim Fremont, born in St. Louis, Missouri, began taking piano lessons at the age of six. She is currently a senior at Washington University in St. Louis, where she is majoring in Philosophy–Neuroscience–Psychology on the cognitive neuroscience track and minoring in music.

Arim Fremont, Senior Minor Recital, piano

560 Music Center

Debussy, Haydn, & Dvořák

Robinson Center

The opera that Claude Debussy created from Maurice Maeterlinck’s symbolist drama stands as one of the greatest achievements in the history of musical theatre. The stage of La Scala recalls productions of exceptional significance: from Victor de Sabata’s conducting in 1948 and 1953, to Herbert von Karajan’s in 1962, and the legendary staging by Antoine Vitez with Claudio Abbado on the podium in 1986, while Georges Prêtre conducted the productions in 1973, 1977, and 2005. In such a prestigious interpretative history, we find the return of Maxime Pascal’s fresh and insightful artistry – one of today’s most compelling French conductors, who has led major contemporary works at La Scala – and the La Scala debut of Romeo Castellucci, a renowned Italian stage director. As one of Italy’s most influential directors—regularly invited to major European theatres and festivals—Castellucci brings a vision of theatre that is both sacred and visionary, deeply rooted in art history, and promises a profound encounter with the symbolism of Debussy’s work.

Teatro alla Scala

This will be a great joy, as we'll be igniting four sonic fireworks. Our energy will be further fueled by two Spaniards – the conductor Roberto González-Monjas and the pianist Javier Perianes. We'll begin with a humorous role-playing exercise: Manuel de Falla's ballet "El sombrero de tres picos" ("The Three-Cornered Hat") from 1919 is set in a small Andalusian town – and for this turbulent comedy of errors, we can create witty onomatopoeia and lively dances. Equally atmospheric is his piece "Nights in Spanish Gardens," completed in 1916: enchanting impressions for piano and orchestra with which the composer wanted to "evoke places, moods, and feelings." This also resonates with Debussy, who preferred to listen to the wind for his music, "which tells us the story of this world" – and who even initially wanted to become a sailor. 

Roberto González-Monjas, Javier Perianes

Johann Sebastian Bach, Claude Debussy, Francis Poulenc

3. Chamber Concert / Extreme

Rostock Art Gallery

Driven by a mission to broaden classical music’s reach and armed with the technical means and communicative powers necessary to do so, Randall Goosby has won audience ovations worldwide with the profound personal authenticity of his artistry. The American violinist and his regular duo partner Zhu Wang, gold medallist at the 2024 New Orleans International Piano Competition, explore evocative works from the Old and New Worlds including Harry Thacker Burleigh’s folk-inspired Southland Sketches.

Randall Goosby | Wigmore Hall

Enjoy the gentle beauty of Clair de lune —French for “moonlight”— one of the most recognizable pieces in Debussy’s repertoire. This work will immerse you in a dreamlike atmosphere, using open harmonies, unconventional scales, and fluid melodic lines. Just as Impressionist painters captured the fleeting play of light rather than rigid details, the music evokes shifting moods and delicate soundscapes.

Lyrical Landscapes: Mahler, Walton, & Clair de lune

Willson Auditorium

Composed during his final illness before death, Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra is considered his last masterwork, filled with brilliant, virtuosic writing that challenges each section of the orchestra. Debussy’s La mer is an impressionist masterpiece that captures the sea’s shifting moods–from calm to turbulent–with vivid, atmospheric sound. 

Virtuosic Soundscapes

Alice Pratt Brown Hall

Set sail with ASO as we close the season with a musical voyage that captures the mystery, majesty, and mischief of the sea! Featuring Debussy’s “La Mer,” Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Scheherazade,” and “Pirates of the Caribbean!”

Pirates and Other Songs of the Sea

Lewis and Clark Community College

Concertini

La Monnaie - De Munt

Gubaidulina, Prokofiev and Mozart

Ordway Center for the Performing Arts

One of the most sought-after pianists of her generation, Michelle Cann joins your Colorado Symphony to deliver a double-header piano showcase of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue – a uniquely American standard occupying the intersection between classical music, jazz, and Broadway – and Florence Price’s Piano Concerto in One Movement. Price’s Late Romantic background and her deep understanding of African-American spiritual combine for stop-in-your-tracks-beautiful moments, which Cann brings to life in a work that was almost lost to time before being reconstructed from manuscripts just fifteen years ago.

Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue with Michelle Cann

Denver Performing Arts Complex

Cynthia Hu, soprano

An engaging journey between the Old and New Worlds, with a program entirely dedicated to music written for violin and piano: from the luminous classicism of Beethoven to the new, evocative, twentieth-century classicism of Debussy, passing through the Bohemian lyricism of Dvořák and the surprising American sounds of Amy Beach and Harry Burleigh. Leading us on this journey through different styles and eras will be virtuoso violinist Randall Goosby—already recognized for his interpretative depth and commitment to the rediscovery of African-American composers—and pianist Zhu Wang.

Randall Goosby | Accademia Filarmonica Romana

Teatro Argentina

Veronica Leahy, Jazz Alto Saxophone

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

‘One of the most unusual pieces written for cello’ (Bachtrack), Kurtág’s brilliant Double Concerto engages both soloists and an orchestra divided into two sparring sections, physically separated within the performance space, in an intense dialogue. What results is an extraordinary listening experience: surrounded by music from several directions at once.

The Unanswered Question

The Bridgewater Hall

Internationally acclaimed pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, praised by the Los Angeles Times as “a master colorist” whose “every note he plays is a pearl,” brings his unparalleled artistry to Debussy’s complete Préludes, Books I & II. Across 24 luminous miniatures. Each bears a special, evocative title (“The Girl with the Flaxen Hair,” “Footsteps in the snow,” through which Thibaudet conjures wind and water, myth and memory, in a rare full performance of this impressionistic masterwork—an unforgettable journey through Debussy’s sound world.

Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano

The Music Center at Strathmore

Dénes Várjon and Nicolas Altstaedt compete in Kurtág’s commanding Double Concerto, as Thomas Adès conducts. ‘One of the most unusual pieces written for cello’ (Bachtrack), Kurtág’s brilliant Double Concerto engages both soloists and an orchestra divided into two sparring sections, physically separated within the performance space, in an intense dialogue. What results is an extraordinary listening experience: surrounded by music from several directions at once. Ives’ The Unanswered Question also immerses the listener in sound, with druid-like strings beneath the questioning trumpet and increasingly chaotic woodwind. In contrast, Thomas Adès’ peaceful Lieux retrouvés (Rediscovered Places) explores natural and man-made landscapes whilst Debussy’s revolutionary Images, three orchestral montages combining harmony, texture and colour, creates musical paintings that changed orchestral writing forever.

Composer

Claude Debussy

Events

Upcoming events

Jan 11 - Nov 15, 2026

Members of the Teatro alla Scala Orchestra · Teatro alla Scala

Aug 10, 2026

High Festival Level · Karlovy Vary Symphony Orchestra

Aug 22, 2026

Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G · The Cleveland Orchestra

22 - 23 Aug, 2026

Dances of Passion · Minnesota Orchestra

Aug 26, 2026

Montreal Symphony Orchestra · Musikhuset Aarhus

Past events

Jul 27, 2026

Paul Lewis · Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra

Jul 27, 2026

Finghin Collins piano · Wigmore Hall

About

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