Benedicte Maurseth and Kristine Tjøgersen are part of a new generation of Norwegian composers whose work deeply engages with ecology, place, and our perception of the natural world. Their joint composition Elja is rooted in the landscape of Hardangervidda, Europe’s largest mountain plateau. Among the featured “performers”: the rock ptarmigan, snowy owl, wolverine, Eurasian whimbrel, and Lapland longspur. The tireless Kronos Quartet performs on newly developed and adapted traditional instruments such as the Hardanger fiddle, Hardanger viola, and Hardanger cello. Benedicte Maurseth herself appears as soloist on the Hardanger fiddle.
Following its European premiere in Oslo, the work will be performed again at Festival Musica in Strasbourg. There, the quartet will present an additional program specially conceived to confront the pressing issues of our time.
18 September 2025, Ultima Festival, Oslo / 20 September 2025, Festival Musica, Strasbourg
ELJA
David Harrington, violin / Gabriela Díaz, violin / Ayane Kozasa, viola / Paul Wiancko, cello / Benedicte Maurseth, Hardanger fiddle
B. Maurseth & K. Tjøgersen: Elja
21 September 2025, Festival Musica, Straßburg
A WORLD WE LIVE IN
David Harrington, violin / Gabriela Díaz, violin / Ayane Kozasa, viola / Paul Wiancko, cello
N. Lizée: Death to Kosmische / N. Young Ohio (arr. by Paul Wiancko) / M. Kouyoumdjian: Bombs of Beirut / N. Simone: For all we know / Consumation (arr. Jacob Garchik) / T. Riley: One Earth One People One Love / H. Guõnadóttir: Fólk fær andlit / S. Reich: Different Trains
Author: Andrea Kerner
NO KING
Major political upheavals shaped European history and form the backdrop – or sometimes the very impulse – for works that reflect and transcend their time. Mozart and Beethoven witnessed monarchy, revolution, and the beginnings of European democratization. Il Giardino Armonico and the NFM Choir, under the direction of Giovanni Antonini, trace this historical arc through music.
11 September 2025, De Singel, Antwerpen
CROWN & REVOLUTION
Giovanni Antonini, conductor / Il Giardino Armonico / NFM Choir
W. A. Mozart: Overture to Idomeneo, K. 366 / Kyrie in D minor “Munich Kyrie”, K. 342 / Mass in C major “Coronation Mass”, K. 317 / L. v. Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, Op. 55 “Eroica”
season start
With great momentum, we and our orchestras and ensembles are launching into the 2025/26 season – from Ravello to Oslo, from Bach to Bernstein.
- Phantasm Viol Consort
- Building Bridges Pianists
- Kent Nagano & Dresdner Philharmonie
- Vox Luminis
- Freiburg Baroque Orchestra
- Chamber Orchestra of Europe
- Compagnia di Punto
- Il Giardino Armonico
- Sarah Willis & Mozart y Mambo
- Kronos Quartet
- Orchestra of the Royal Opera House
- Finnish Baroque Orchestra
FESTIVO Opening
The Orchestra of the 18th Century will open this year’s edition of Festivo with a Mozart and Haydn program. The concert will be conducted by concertmaster Alexander Janiczek and take place in the atrium of Schattdecor—a spectacular new venue of the festival. The soloist is Rachel Podger, “the unsurpassed British glory of the baroque violin,” as The Times describes her.
25 July 2025, Festivo, Aschau
OPENING CONCERT
R. Podger, violin / A. Janiczek, concert master & musical leader
Works by W.-A. Mozart & J. Haydn
Καλημέρα!
After a universally acclaimed concert in 2024, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe has once again been invited to the Epidaurus Festival this year. Under the baton of Constantinos Carydis, the orchestra will perform works by Liszt, Purcell, and Berlioz, as well as the world premiere of O Lightless Light! – Ode to Oedipus, a new composition by Greek composer Periklis Koukos.
10 July 2025, Epidaurus Festival – Odeon of Herodes Atticus, Athen
O LIGHTLESS LIGHT! – ODE TO OEDIPUS
Francesco Piemontesi, piano / Sofia Tamvakopoulou, piano / Tassis Christoyannis, baritone / Constantinos Carydis, conductor
Works by P. Koukos, F. Listz, H. Purcell, H. Berlioz
Geaechinger Cantorey
Since its founding in 1981 by Helmuth Rilling, the Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart has been dedicated to the music of Johann Sebastian Bach through benchmark-setting performances and vibrant educational initiatives. This mission also embraces the music of Bach’s contemporaries, as well as his predecessors and successors. With Bach at its core, the Bachakademie’s repertoire encompasses sacred vocal music, oratorios, and choral symphonic works from the 17th century to the present day.
Since 2013, the institution has been led by conductor Hans-Christoph Rademann, who in 2016 unified the former ensembles Gächinger Kantorei (choir) and Bach-Collegium Stuttgart (orchestra) into a newly restructured ensemble consisting of a reformed choir and a newly founded Baroque orchestra under the name Gaechinger Cantorey. In this ensemble, a Baroque orchestra and a carefully selected choir form a finely tuned original-sound ensemble. Under the direction of artistic director Hans-Christoph Rademann, the ensemble has made it its mission to promote an internationally recognized “Stuttgart Bach style.”
The Internationales Bachfest Stuttgart, a two-week festival, brings together young and seasoned artists from around the world who devote themselves to Bach and his era. Additionally, the Bachakademie maintains its own subscription concert series in Stuttgart and Ludwigsburg and is actively engaged in a busy concert schedule both nationally and internationally.
VIDEO
PRESS
“What Hans-Christoph Rademann, his Gaechinger Cantorey, and the carefully selected soloists reveal here in terms of vocal-instrumental balance, tonal refinement, and rhetorically informed artistry surely represents the pinnacle of historically informed performance today!”
concerti, 13 november 2023
“To the audience of 2023, it spoke directly from the heart.”
bachtrack, 16 july 2023
PROJECTS 2026/27 – A SELECTION
18 – 24 January 2027 and upon request
MISSA SOLEMNIS
Christiane Karg, soprano / Ulrike Malotta, alto / Benjamin Bruns, tenor / Markus Eiche, bass / Chor und Orchester der Gaechinger Cantorey / Hans-Christoph Rademann, conductor
For the Beethoven anniversary year 2027, Hans-Christoph Rademann and the Gaechinger Cantorey present a work of superlatives: Beethoven himself described his Missa Solemnis as his opus summum—for it shatters all previously known boundaries. It was premiered not in a church service but in the concert hall. Conceived not as a liturgical work but almost symphonically, it demands the utmost of its performers—much like the “Ninth,” which was composed not coincidentally shortly thereafter..
L. v. Beethoven: Missa solemnis op.123
Christiane Karg © Gisela Schenker
23, 24 & 26. March 2027
JOHANNESPASSION
Rowan Pierce, soprano / Henriette Gödde, alto / Patrick Grahl, tenor – Evangelist / Tobias Berndt, bass – Pilatus and Arien / Markus Eiche, bass – Christus / Chor der Gaechinger Cantorey / Kammerorchester Basel / Hans-Christoph Rademann, conductor
Under the direction of Hans-Christoph Rademann, the Gaechinger Cantorey has made it its mission to promote internationally a “Stuttgart Bach style.” Among the many milestones the ensemble has achieved, the St John Passion stands out in particular: its emotional complexity is explored in great depth by ensemble and conductor alike and performed with compelling passion. In the 2026/27 season, Rademann and the choir of the Gaechinger Cantorey shed new light on the work from the perspective of a later era, presenting it together with the Kammerorchester Basel in the version premiered in Düsseldorf in 1851 by Robert Schumann.
J. S. Bach: Johannespassion BWV 245 in the arrangement by R. Schumann
Kammerochester Basel © Matthias Müller
DOWNLOADS
Welcome on board!
We are delighted to have deepened our collaboration with one of Denmark’s finest ensembles, Concerto Copenhagen, as of early June 2025. Moving forward, we will be supporting the orchestra with strategic advice and international tour planning. It is a pleasure and an honor to contribute to the exciting journey of Concerto Copenhagen, and we warmly welcome this wonderfully versatile ensemble!
Concerto Copenhagen (CoCo) combines artistic authenticity and innovation through original and uncompromising interpretations that breathe new life into music, making it relevant for a modern audience. Since 1999, the collaboration between CoCo and Lars Ulrik Mortensen has led to an exciting artistic and musical journey, highly praised by audiences and critics worldwide. With a unique repertoire that blends well-known European music with lesser-known works of Scandinavian origin, as well as new compositions, CoCo celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2021.
NEWLY REDISCOVERED
Alessandro Scarlatti’s oratorio La Santissima Annunziata focuses on the scene of the Annunciation from the Gospel of Luke. His composition left a lasting impression on Handel, who attended a performance in 1708. Europa Galante and Fabio Biondi, who rediscovered the work in 2017, will now present it at this year’s Handel Festival in Halle.
13 June 2025, Händel Festspiele Halle
LA SANTISSIMI ANNUNZIATA
Roberta Invernizzi, Soprano / Andreina Drago, mezzo soprano / Valentina Molinari, soprano / Marina de Liso, mezzo soprano / Jorge Navarro Colorado, tenor / Europa Galante / Fabio Biondi, conductor
A. Scarlatti: La Santissima Annunziata
Our next concerts
With the beginning of summer, the festival season is starting for us once again. We’re looking forward to exciting and inspiring concerts with
- Freiburg Baroque Orchestra
- Phantasm Viol Consort
- Concerto Copenhagen
- Europa Galante
- Sir András Schiff & pianists of Building Bridges
- Chamber Orchestra of Europe
- Vox Luminis
- Orchestra of the 18th Century
- SWR Symphony Orchestra
- Il Giardino Armonico
- Sarah Willis & Havana Lyceum Orchestra
We are delighted to have deepened our collaboration with one of Denmark’s finest ensembles, Concerto Copenhagen, as of early June 2025. Moving forward, we will be supporting the orchestra with strategic advice and international tour planning. It is a pleasure and an honor to contribute to the exciting journey of Concerto Copenhagen, and we warmly welcome this wonderfully versatile ensemble!
