Start

News

María Dueñas Presents Halvorsen’s Violin Concerto together with the Orchestre Métropolitain and Yannick Nézet-Séguin

Due&ntilde;as&rsquo;s acclaimed rendition of Halvorsen&rsquo;s forgotten masterpiece in Sofia Bohdanowicz&rsquo;s film will now reach an even wider global audience
She is joined in the Violin Concerto and Halvorsen&rsquo;s Chant de la &ldquo;Veslem&oslash;y&rdquo; by the Orchestre M&eacute;tropolitain and Yannick N&eacute;zet-S&eacute;guin &ndash; out on 16 October 2026
The two works also appear on the movie&rsquo;s soundtrack album, whose original score was composed by Olivier Alary &ndash; out on 4 December
&ldquo;Mar&iacute;a Due&ntilde;as quickly won over her audience with the lyricism of her initial cadenza, which was absolutely sublime&rdquo;
Bachtrack, on the artists&rsquo; performance of Halvorsen&rsquo;s Concerto in Montreal, November 2023
Deutsche Grammophon is delighted to announce the release of a pair of companion digital albums from Mar&iacute;a Due&ntilde;as. Both are being issued in connection with Measures for a Funeral, the 2024 film in which the violinist made her acting debut. The first album presents her recordings of two works by Norwegian composer Johan Halvorsen (1864-1935), who was himself a virtuoso violinist. Together with the Orchestre M&eacute;tropolitain and its Artistic Director and Principal Conductor Yannick N&eacute;zet-S&eacute;guin, Due&ntilde;as performs Halvorsen&rsquo;s long-lost Violin Concerto and Chant de la &ldquo;Veslem&oslash;y&rdquo;, an excerpt from his Suite Mosa&iuml;que. The second album is the original soundtrack to Sofia Bohdanowicz&rsquo;s film, featuring the two Halvorsen works alongside new music written and performed by Montreal-based French composer Olivier Alary.
Captured live for the film at Montreal&rsquo;s Maison symphonique in collaboration with DG, the standalone recordings of Halvorsen&rsquo;s Violin Concerto and Chant de la &ldquo;Veslem&oslash;y&rdquo; (&ldquo;Song of the Young Maiden&rdquo;) will be released on 16&nbsp;October 2026. Measures for a Funeral &ndash; Original Motion Picture Soundtrack will follow on 4&nbsp;December.
An introspective, thought-provoking film about grief and memory, Measures for a Funeral premiered in the Centrepiece programme at the Toronto International Film Festival and won the Grand Prix at Montreal&rsquo;s Festival du nouveau cin&eacute;ma. It has now screened at more than 30 festivals internationally and is soon to receive a US theatrical release through acclaimed independent distributor Factory&nbsp;25. The Globe and Mail hailed it as &ldquo;a symphony of obsession&rdquo;, while The Guardian, in a four-star review, said watching it felt like &ldquo;stepping into an Alfred Hitchcock dream&rdquo;.
The film&rsquo;s central figure, Audrey (Deragh Campbell), is a young musicologist researching the (real-life) pioneering Canadian violinist Kathleen Parlow (1890-1963). Director Bohdanowicz, whose own grandfather &ndash; violinist Andrew Benac &ndash; was taught by Parlow, was also inspired by the story of Halvorsen&rsquo;s Violin Concerto, Op. 28. Dedicated to and premiered by Parlow in 1909, it met with mixed reviews and its composer ordered all copies to be destroyed. Having acquired a mythical status as a lost masterpiece, the work suddenly resurfaced a decade ago, when librarians Houman Behzadi and James Mason found it at the University of Toronto&rsquo;s Faculty of Music Library as part of a large-scale project to digitise Parlow&rsquo;s archive.
Bohdanowicz&rsquo;s movie culminates in a performance of the concerto by young violinist Elisa, played with great sensitivity by Due&ntilde;as. &ldquo;When we presented the script to Mar&iacute;a, she immediately identified with it&rdquo;, says the film-maker. &ldquo;I&nbsp;really do feel like she&rsquo;s sort of a reincarnation of Kathleen Parlow. She is a remarkably skilled musician.&rdquo;
Due&ntilde;as gives a dazzling performance of the concerto, whose use of Norwegian folk idioms and Hardanger fiddle effects adds to its many attractions. She masters its full array of technical demands, intensifying the contrast between its virtuosic episodes and its gently lyrical moments.
Halvorsen&rsquo;s songlike vein is heard again in Chant de la &ldquo;Veslem&oslash;y&rdquo;, an exquisite miniature originally for violin and piano but arranged by the composer for Parlow to perform with strings while she was in Norway in 1909. Bachtrack&rsquo;s critic noted how at the Montreal concert Due&ntilde;as and her fellow musicians created &ldquo;a transcendent experience&rdquo;, with N&eacute;zet-S&eacute;guin fostering &ldquo;an atmosphere in which all the performers were empowered to reach their full expressive potential&rdquo;.
&ldquo;It was an honour to help recover Johan Halvorsen&rsquo;s magnificent Violin Concerto, Op.&nbsp;28,&rdquo; says Due&ntilde;as, &ldquo;and to give renewed visibility to Kathleen Parlow, the extraordinary Canadian virtuoso for whom the work was written. Parlow was a celebrated violinist of the early twentieth century, her career unfolding in the same remarkable era as that of Jascha Heifetz, and yet her name has gradually faded from musical memory. Through Measures for a Funeral, I felt privileged not only to convey her artistic legacy, but also to bring her voice, through Halvorsen&rsquo;s music, to a new generation of listeners. To encounter this long-lost masterpiece and allow it to live again in performance in Canada under the great Canadian maestro Yannick N&eacute;zet-S&eacute;guin was a deeply moving experience: a tribute to Parlow&rsquo;s artistry, to Halvorsen&rsquo;s imagination, and to the enduring power of music to restore forgotten lives to our collective memory.&rdquo;
Acclaimed soundtrack composer Olivier Alary has written a powerful, at times ominous original score for Measures for a Funeral. His music, featuring contributions from violists Victor de Coninck and Pemi Paull, complements the Romantic orchestral pieces and expresses Audrey&rsquo;s inner world. It follows her as she immerses herself in Parlow&rsquo;s life and work &ndash; an escape from the unresolved tensions in her relationship with her dying mother.
This season, Mar&iacute;a Due&ntilde;as makes her South American debut with concerts in Chile, Argentina and Uruguay, before appearing in Mexico (4-10 October; Mendelssohn&rsquo;s Violin Concerto in E minor). Further highlights include a reunion with the Staatskapelle Berlin and Christian Thielemann in Berlin (12/13 January 2027; Mendelssohn&rsquo;s Violin Concerto in D minor) and performances of the Barber Violin Concerto with the Wiener Symphoniker and Petr Popelka in Austria and the Canary Islands (15‑24 January). She also appears with the Bamberger Symphoniker under Jakub Hrů&scaron;a (Bamberg, 5/6&nbsp;February, and Hamburg, 8 March; Prokofiev&rsquo;s Violin Concerto No.&nbsp;1), returns to Montreal to rejoin Yannick N&eacute;zet-S&eacute;guin and the Orchestre M&eacute;tropolitain (21-23 April; Saint-Sa&euml;ns&rsquo;s Violin Concerto No.&nbsp;3), and performs the Beethoven Violin Concerto with the Philharmonia Orchestra under Santtu-Matias Rouvali (Munich, 4 May, and London, 6 May). Full touring details <a href="https://www.deutschegrammophon.com/en/artists/maria-duenas/on-tour">here</a>.

Universal Music celebrates twelve wins at OPUS KLASSIK 2026 - Martha Argerich receives Lifetime Achievement Award

Berlin, 11 October 2026. Artists from Deutsche Grammophon, Decca Classics and DG partner labels CAvi-music, ECM and Myrios received twelve awards across eleven categories at OPUS KLASSIK 2026. Martha Argerich was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award, celebrating her extraordinary contribution to classical music. The gala at Konzerthaus Berlin featured performances by Alice Sara Ott, Andr&egrave; Schuen, Katharina Konradi and Sarah Willis with her band, The Sarahbanda. D&eacute;sir&eacute;e Nosbusch hosted the ceremony, accompanied by the Konzerthausorchester Berlin conducted by Anna Rakitina. The ceremony was televised by German public broadcaster ZDF.
The awards recognise a remarkable range of artists, repertoire and recording projects. Anna Lucia Richter was named Female Singer of the Year for <a href="https://www.deutschegrammophon.com/en/catalogue/products/mahler-songs-of-fate-anna-lucia-richter-14171">Mahler &ndash; Songs of Fate</a>, while Andr&egrave; Schuen received the Male Singer of the Year award for <a href="https://www.deutschegrammophon.com/en/catalogue/products/mozart-andre-schuen-13743">Mozart</a>. Sarah Willis, for<a href="https://www.deutschegrammophon.com/en/catalogue/products/cuban-christmas-sarah-willis-the-sarahbanda-14085"> Cuban Christmas</a>, and Yunchan Lim, for his recording of Bach&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.deutschegrammophon.com/en/catalogue/products/bach-goldberg-variations-yunchan-lim-14306">Goldberg Variations</a> live from Carnegie Hall, were honoured as Instrumentalists of the Year.
Andris Nelsons was named Conductor of the Year for <a href="https://www.deutschegrammophon.com/en/catalogue/products/mendelssohn-oratorios-symphonies-andris-nelsons-14271">Mendelssohn: Symphonies &amp; Oratorios</a> with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig. Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla received the Symphonic Recording of the Year award for <a href="https://www.deutschegrammophon.com/en/catalogue/products/back-to-nature-mirga-grazinyte-tyla-14009">Back to Nature: Čiurlionis &amp; Gražinis</a>. Alice Sara Ott won in the New Classic/Neoclassic category for <a href="https://www.deutschegrammophon.com/en/catalogue/products/johannsson-piano-works-alice-sara-ott-13864">J&oacute;hann J&oacute;hannsson &ndash; Piano Works</a>, featuring world premiere recordings of piano transcriptions. Katharina Konradi and Daniel Heide received the award for Vocal Solo Recording of the Year for <a href="https://www.deutschegrammophon.com/en/catalogue/products/liszt-songs-vol-iii-un-cycle-imaginaire-daniel-heide-katharina-konradi-14130">Franz Liszt: Un Cycle Imaginaire</a>.
Producer Rainer Maillard received the Innovative Listening Experience of the Year award for Mikhail Pletnev&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.deutschegrammophon.com/en/catalogue/products/chopin-scriabin-preludes-mikhail-pletnev-14043">Chopin &amp; Scriabin: Pr&eacute;ludes</a>, DG&rsquo;s first entirely analogue new recording since the 1980s. The Chamber Music Recording of the Year award went to <a href="https://www.deutschegrammophon.com/en/catalogue/products/pur-ti-miro-wu-wei-14258">Pur ti miro</a> by Wu Wei, Martin Stegner and Janne Saksala, which brings together the sheng, a Chinese mouth organ, with viola and double bass. Lang Lang received the Bestseller of the Year award for <a href="https://www.deutschegrammophon.com/en/catalogue/products/piano-book-2-lang-lang-13779">Piano Book 2</a>, spanning music by Bach, Chopin and Liszt alongside film, anime and gaming music.
Argerich&rsquo;s Lifetime Achievement Award recognises a career that has inspired generations of musicians and listeners. Over almost six decades, she has built an exceptional discography at Deutsche Grammophon. At 85, she continues to perform worldwide and champion young musicians.
The gala brought several of the award-winning artists to the stage. Alice Sara Ott performed a nocturne from her DG recording <a href="https://www.deutschegrammophon.com/en/catalogue/products/field-complete-nocturnes-alice-sara-ott-13665">John Field &middot; Complete Nocturnes</a>, while Andr&egrave; Schuen sang &ldquo;Non pi&ugrave; andrai&rdquo; from Mozart&rsquo;s Le nozze di Figaro. Sarah Willis and The Sarahbanda performed an arrangement of Mozart&rsquo;s Eine kleine Nachtmusik with vocals, followed by &ldquo;Horn Extravaganza&rdquo;. Katharina Konradi joined Jonas Kaufmann for &ldquo;Tanzen m&ouml;cht ich&rdquo; from Emmerich K&aacute;lm&aacute;n&rsquo;s Die Cs&aacute;rd&aacute;sf&uuml;rstin.
&ldquo;Our artists represent different generations, cultures and musical voices. From great classical works and Cuban rhythms to anime and gaming music, they bring fresh perspectives and create new ways for audiences to connect with classical music. This diversity keeps classical music alive &ndash; and we are proud to support our artists on their artistic journeys,&rdquo; says Kleopatra Sofroniou, General Manager Classics, Deutsche Grammophon.
Frank Briegmann, Chairman &amp; CEO Universal Music Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Canada &amp; Deutsche Grammophon: &ldquo;Twelve OPUS KLASSIK awards are a tremendous recognition of our artists and, at the same time, a powerful testament to the creative vitality of classical music. Martha Argerich has inspired generations for decades, while other artists are opening up new perspectives on great works today. That is precisely what makes classical music so special: the pursuit of the highest artistic standards, an enduring spirit of curiosity, and the courage to bring fresh perspectives to timeless works. I would like to extend my warmest congratulations to all the award winners. My sincere thanks also go to ZDF, the media partner of OPUS KLASSIK, for providing these exceptional artists and their music with such an outstanding platform.&rdquo;
OPUS KLASSIK honours outstanding classical artists and productions. The winners are selected by an independent, eleven-member expert jury from the music and media industry.

Andrè Schuen and Daniel Heide present Gustav Mahler: Lieder

The new album brings together Songs of a Wayfarer, the R&uuml;ckert-Lieder, the Kindertotenlieder and Urlicht
CAvi, a Deutsche Grammophon partner label, presents the first album devoted entirely to Mahler's songs by Andr&egrave; Schuen and Daniel Heide
The album will be released on 9 October 2026 on CD and digitally
Featuring Songs of a Wayfarer, R&uuml;ckert-Lieder, Kindertotenlieder and Urlicht. Available digitally in SD, HD and Dolby Atmos, and physically as 1 CD (Jewel Case). <a href="https://www.deutschegrammophon.com/en/catalogue/products/mahler-lieder-andre-schuen-daniel-heide-14555">Gustav Mahler: Lieder - listen here</a>
"Perhaps this is the best way to engage with Mahler: not as something we understand once and for all, but as a lifelong conversation partner." Andr&egrave; Schuen
Baritone Andr&egrave; Schuen and pianist Daniel Heide return to CAvi, the Deutsche Grammophon partner label where their recording partnership began, with their first joint album devoted exclusively to Gustav Mahler. Gustav Mahler: Lieder brings together Songs of a Wayfarer, the R&uuml;ckert-Lieder, the Kindertotenlieder and Urlicht. Following their acclaimed CAvi recordings of works by Schumann, Wolf, Martin, Beethoven, Britten and Schubert, the duo continues its exploration of the German Lied repertoire with some of Mahler&rsquo;s most significant songs for voice and piano.
The recording is the culmination of more than a decade of performing Mahler&rsquo;s songs together in recital. Over the years, Schuen and Heide have continually refined their interpretation in performance, shaping a reading that combines close attention to the text with a profound understanding of Mahler&rsquo;s emotional and philosophical world. These songs give deeply moving expression to love and loss, memory and consolation, and the search for meaning.
Recorded at the Markus Sittikus Hall in Hohenems, Austria, one of the venues of the internationally renowned Schubertiade Festival, the album reflects the intimacy of the musical dialogue between the two artists. In his personal liner notes, Schuen describes Mahler as &ldquo;a lifelong conversation partner&rdquo; &ndash; a composer whose songs sometimes offer answers while also leaving essential questions open.
Track 9, Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen from the R&uuml;ckert-Lieder, will be available as an Instant Grat track from 25 September 2026. The complete album will be released on 9 October 2026, on CD in a jewel case and digitally in SD, HD and Dolby Atmos. The key track is Ging heut&rsquo; morgen &uuml;bers Feld from Songs of a Wayfarer.
With Gustav Mahler: Lieder, Andr&egrave; Schuen and Daniel Heide continue an artistic exploration of Mahler developed over more than a decade, while opening a new chapter in their long-standing collaboration.

David Garrett – Deutsche Grammophon  Releases New Album: 'Immortal'

The multi-award winning violinist presents rearranged works dedicated to history&rsquo;s greatest composers in classical music
Immortal is out now
Listen to Immortal <a href="https://landing.studiocdn.com/studiocdn-web/parcels/00ff5c82-0dc9-4d86-82db-0a158894a2f9">here</a>
&nbsp;
Berlin, 9 October 2026 &mdash; German/American violinist David Garrett&rsquo;s new Deutsche Grammophon recording, Immortal, is a deeply personal and ambitious project dedicated to the enduring legacy of classical music. Rooted in the belief that music can transcend time, the album pays tribute to some of history&rsquo;s greatest composers including &ndash; W.A. Mozart, Claude Debussy and John Williams reimagining their works through a contemporary yet profoundly human lens. Released today, Immortal is available digitally, on CD and vinyl.
Following the success of his previous Deutsche Grammophon release, Iconic (2022), which achieved gold status, Immortal marks a significant new chapter in David&rsquo;s artistic journey.&nbsp;
&ldquo;If we talk about things that come close to immortality, art&mdash;especially music&mdash;stands out as something that endures over time and approaches the idea of being immortal&rdquo;, David reflects. &ldquo;Over the past twelve months, I made it my responsibility to do each composer justice in the way I approached their work.&rdquo;
Immortal features 20 tracks on the standard edition and 25 on the deluxe version. Each piece has been meticulously crafted, reflecting David&rsquo;s deep musical understanding and unwavering commitment to authenticity.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m proud to say that this project is 100% handmade,&rdquo; he adds. &ldquo;I hope listeners not only enjoy the sound, but also feel the human presence within the music.&rdquo;
Formally trained in composition, David arranged the entire project album himself, shaping a distinctive artistic vision in every detail. He is joined by co-arrangers Franck van der Heijden and John Haywood, whose contributions add further depth and richness to the orchestral textures.
The recording is brought to life by The Prezent orchestra and pianist Julien Quentin, whose energy and passion underpin the album&rsquo;s sound, adding both power and nuance to the arrangements.
With Immortal, David not only honours the timeless works of the past but also reaffirms the enduring relevance of human-made music in today&rsquo;s world. It is a project that connects generations, celebrates authenticity, and&mdash;true to its title&mdash;strives for timelessness.
Starting in February 2027, David Garrett will embark on a worldwide tour for Immortal. Current tour dates can be found <a href="https://www.deutschegrammophon.com/en/artists/davidgarrett/on-tour">here</a>.

Deutsche Grammophon honoured at the 2026 Gramophone Awards

Berlin/London, 8 October 2026. Deutsche Grammophon recordings and partners have been honoured with two major wins at the 2026 Gramophone Classical Music Awards. Kaija Saariaho&rsquo;s Adriana Mater has won the Opera Award, while the Bamberg Symphony has been named Orchestra of the Year.
The Opera Award went to the world premiere recording of Kaija Saariaho&rsquo;s Adriana Mater, performed by the San Francisco Symphony and Chorus under Esa-Pekka Salonen. Recorded at Davies Symphony Hall in June 2023, the performance was captured only days after Saariaho&rsquo;s death. The production was directed by Peter Sellars and features Fleur Barron in the title role, alongside Axelle Fanyo, Nicholas Phan and Christopher Purves. Released by Deutsche Grammophon shortly after, Adriana Mater went on to win the 2025 GRAMMY&reg; Award for Best Opera Recording.
The Bamberg Symphony, meanwhile, has been voted Orchestra of the Year as it celebrates its 80th anniversary and a decade of Jakub Hrů&scaron;a as Chief Conductor. Its latest Deutsche Grammophon releases include Bomsori's second solo album, featuring the Bruch and Korngold violin concertos, and the critically acclaimed Bohuslav Martinů &ndash; The Symphonies, presenting the composer's complete six-symphony cycle and reflecting the orchestra's distinctive Bohemian sound and close artistic partnership with Hrů&scaron;a.
&ldquo;We are delighted to see Deutsche Grammophon recordings and partners recognised once again by Gramophone,&rdquo; says Dr Clemens Trautmann, President Deutsche Grammophon and New Business Strategy Global Classics. &ldquo;Adriana Mater is a profoundly moving testament to Kaija Saariaho&rsquo;s singular voice, while the Bamberg Symphony&rsquo;s Orchestra of the Year award recognises the exceptional artistry of the ensemble and its remarkable partnership with Jakub Hrů&scaron;a. My warmest congratulations to all involved.&rdquo;

A Living Dialogue:  Daniel Hope Explores the Soul of Ukrainian Music  on 'Born in Ukraine'

Daniel Hope traces 150 years of Ukrainian music, from Lysenko, Bortkiewicz, Leontovych, Stepovy and Lyatoshynsky to Valentin Silvestrov, Alexey Shor and Vitalii Kyianytsia
Two world premiere recordings frame the album &ndash; Shor&rsquo;s Footprints in the Sand and Kyianytsia&rsquo;s Adagio from the ballet The Perfect Scent
Hope is joined by three young Ukrainian pianists: Alina Pronina, Roman Fediurko and Vitalii Kyianytsia
Born in Ukraine &ndash; 150 Years of Ukrainian Music will be released digitally and on CD on 6 November 2026
For his latest Deutsche Grammophon recording, Daniel Hope is returning to the music of Ukraine, tracing its rich history from the 19th century to the present day. Following his album of works by Valentin Silvestrov and his EP Music for Ukraine, both recorded with pianist Alexey Botvinov, Born in Ukraine &ndash; 150 Years of Ukrainian Music reflects the violinist&rsquo;s long-term and ongoing engagement with Ukrainian culture.
On Born in Ukraine Hope performs a selection of works for violin and piano, including new arrangements, alongside three young Ukrainian pianists &ndash; Vitalii Kyianytsia, Alina Pronina and Roman Fediurko &ndash; whose own backgrounds and musical perspectives bring a deeply personal dimension to the project. Together they explore music by three living composers &ndash; Silvestrov, Alexey Shor and Kyianytsia himself &ndash; including two world premiere recordings, as well as works by five pioneering figures from Ukraine&rsquo;s musical past: Lysenko, Bortkiewicz, Leontovych, Stepovy and Lyatoshynsky. Born in Ukraine is set for release digitally and on CD on 6&nbsp;November 2026.
Hope calls the project &ldquo;a journey into Ukrainian musical identity&rdquo; marked by moments of &ldquo;lyricism, nostalgia, exile, hope and quiet resilience&rdquo;. Over the last decade he has visited Odessa many times, building on the affinity he already felt with Ukraine&rsquo;s violinistic tradition: &ldquo;That goes back to [my teacher] Zakhar Bron, to David Oistrakh, to Stolyarsky. And I guess I wanted to know more about where that musical soul comes from.&rdquo; His choice of title for the album is, he says, intentionally simple. &ldquo;It reminds us that behind every score is a human story &ndash; a composer shaped by a place, a culture and a history.&rdquo;
Hope&rsquo;s explorations led him back to Mykola Lysenko (1842-1912), one of the foundational figures of Ukrainian classical music, represented here by his Elegy. He also selected works by Sergei Bortkiewicz (1877-1952) and his contemporary Mykola Leontovych (1877-1921). He calls Leontovych&rsquo;s Shchedryk (later transformed into the &ldquo;Carol of the Bells&rdquo;) &ldquo;a melody that has travelled the world while remaining forever rooted in Ukrainian soil&rdquo;. Less familiar are the Prelude by Yakiv Stepovy (1883-1921), originally for solo piano, and the yearning Melody by Borys Lyatoshynsky (1895-1968). Roman Fediurko, who won the Bronze Medal at the 2026 Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition, joins Hope in all five pieces.
In recent years, Hope has worked closely with Valentin Silvestrov (b.&nbsp;1937) and discovered &ldquo;the quiet humanity that shines through everything he writes&rdquo;. Here, he and Vitalii Kyianytsia (b.&nbsp;1991) perform the Elegie from Silvestrov&rsquo;s 5 Pieces and the third of his 3&nbsp;Postludes, originally for cello and piano. Kyianytsia&rsquo;s own Adagio, from the ballet The Perfect Scent, premiered by Ballett Kiel earlier this year, closes the album. It is one of a pair of world premiere recordings that frame Born in Ukraine, which opens with Footprints in the Sand by Alexey Shor (b.&nbsp;1970), performed with Alina Pronina. Hope and Pronina also play Shor&rsquo;s Violin Sonata No.&nbsp;1, a work the violinist has described as &ldquo;technically challenging&rdquo; and offering &ldquo;a concentrated dialogue between the violin and piano&rdquo;.
Hope is full of praise for his three young colleagues, noting how much he learned during the sessions from listening to &ldquo;something they do naturally &hellip; how they would express this Ukrainian voice in their own way&rdquo;. He adds: &ldquo;Their voices, perspectives, and experiences have shaped every note of this recording, reminding me that music is, above all, a living dialogue between generations.&rdquo;
&ldquo;My hope,&rdquo; he concludes, &ldquo;is that this album encourages listeners not only to discover some of Ukraine&rsquo;s remarkable musical treasures, but also to celebrate a cultural legacy that has enriched European music for generations. At a time when that legacy continues to face immense challenges, preserving and sharing these voices feels more important than ever.&rdquo;
Highlights of Daniel Hope&rsquo;s schedule at the start of the 2026-27 season include performances of Vivaldi&rsquo;s The Four Seasons and Max Richter&rsquo;s Vivaldi Recomposed with the Z&uuml;rcher Kammerorchester at the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Klassikfestival K&uuml;snacht (9/10 &amp; 20&nbsp;September); Elgar&rsquo;s Violin Concerto with the Gstaad Festival Orchestra under Jaap van Zweden in venues across Germany (29&nbsp;September-3&nbsp;October); and music from the 2024 album Irish Roots at the Merano Festival (16&nbsp;September). Hope also leads New Century Chamber Orchestra in a four-concert series with the Marcus Roberts Trio celebrating the music of Gershwin, Ellington, Rhiannon Giddens and Caroline Shaw (California, 5-8&nbsp;November). Full touring details <a href="https://www.deutschegrammophon.com/en/artists/danielhope/on-tour">here</a>.

Antje Weithaas, Marie-Elisabeth Hecker and Dénes Várjon perform Robert Schumann's complete works for piano trio

The new album brings together Schumann's three piano trios and the Fantasiest&uuml;cke, Op. 88
Deutsche Grammophon presents Schumann's complete works for piano trio: the Piano Trios, Opp. 63, 80 and 110, together with the Fantasiest&uuml;cke, Op. 88.
The album will be released on 30 October 2026 as a 2-CD set and digitally.
"You have to be willing to embrace darkness and, with Schumann, be able to leap from heaven to hell in a tenth of a second." Antje Weithaas
Violinist Antje Weithaas, cellist Marie-Elisabeth Hecker and pianist D&eacute;nes V&aacute;rjon devote their new album to Robert Schumann's complete works for piano trio. Robert Schumann: Complete Works for Piano Trio brings together the three piano trios (No. 1 in D minor, Op. 63, No. 2 in F major, Op. 80, and No. 3 in G minor, Op. 110), alongside the Fantasiest&uuml;cke, Op. 88. These compositions move between intimacy and passion, lyrical tenderness and restless energy. The three internationally acclaimed musicians combine established solo careers with many years of chamber-music experience. Their shared musical language, developed in rehearsal, concert and the studio, responds to Schumann's abrupt shifts of mood and brings the layered dialogue between the three instruments to the fore. The album was recorded over seven intensive days in February and March 2025 at the Deutschlandfunk Kammermusiksaal in Cologne; Christoph Franke was responsible for recording, editing, mixing and mastering.
Schumann's music can change its emotional temperature within a few bars. Bright lyrical moments turn into nervous agitation, dark energy gives way to unexpected calm, and seemingly stable forms begin to shift. For Antje Weithaas, this is precisely what makes these works both challenging and compelling. As she puts it, they demand the courage to embrace darkness and the ability, in Schumann, to leap from heaven to hell in a tenth of a second. D&eacute;nes V&aacute;rjon describes the music as personal as a diary - powerful and vulnerable at once. The album is released in the year in which Antje Weithaas celebrates her 60th birthday.
The Fantasiest&uuml;cke, Op. 88, occupy a special place in this overall picture. Schumann began them in December 1842 as his first work for piano trio and revised them before their publication in 1850. The four movements combine song-like and march-like characters with formal freedom and intricate dialogues. Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, Op. 63, was written in 1847 and may be understood as a tribute to Mendelssohn. Canonic structures, triplets and syncopations drive the first movement, where dark energy and lyrical brightness rapidly alternate.
Piano Trio No. 2 in F major, Op. 80, was composed between 1847 and 1849 as a more melodic, sunnier companion to the first trio. Motifs from the Eichendorff song Dein Bildnis wunderselig run through the first two movements; in the lilting third movement and capricious finale, the interplay of the three voices unfolds further. Piano Trio No. 3 in G minor, Op. 110, dates from 1851. Its tense, at times sombre atmosphere is driven by unrelenting rhythmic restlessness; its later movements introduce unusual harmonies that already point towards the music of the future.
Taken together, the four works reveal how Schumann repeatedly reimagined the piano trio: as a tightly woven dialogue between equal voices, a space for extreme shifts of feeling and a realm of poetic ambiguity. For the three performers, recording this repertoire was a long-held ambition. Weithaas, Hecker and V&aacute;rjon approach Schumann's unusual notation and hidden musical ideas with great precision, without smoothing away the spontaneity and sense of risk in this music. The result is a multifaceted portrait of a composer whose chamber music remains at once powerful, sensitive and disconcertingly modern.
The three artists are in demand internationally both as soloists and chamber musicians. Antje Weithaas was named Instrumentalist of the Year at the 2025 OPUS KLASSIK Awards; Antje Weithaas and D&eacute;nes V&aacute;rjon received the 2024 annual prize from the Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik for their Beethoven recordings released by CAvi. Marie-Elisabeth Hecker won the Rostropovich Competition in 2005, while D&eacute;nes V&aacute;rjon is a winner of the G&eacute;za Anda Competition and a recipient of the Kossuth Prize. In Schumann's piano trios, they find music that brings together their different experiences while giving each instrument its own distinctive space.
The album Robert Schumann: Complete Works for Piano Trio will be released on 30 October 2026 as a 2-CD set and digitally in SD and HD. The third movement of the Fantasiest&uuml;cke, Op. 88, Duett. Langsam und mit Ausdruck, will be available to stream and download from 16 October 2026.

Music of the Spheres: Georgijs Osokins Announces  His Second DG Album – Constellations

Constellations shines a light on the astro-music of Estonian composer Urmas Sisask, offering a selection of pieces, including the world premiere recording of &ldquo;Cassiopeia. Ballade&rdquo;
The album also presents works by J.S.&nbsp;Bach, Brahms, Chopin, Crumb, Medtner, Schumann, Scriabin and Wagner
The album will be released on 6&nbsp;November 2026
&ldquo;I have always been fascinated by the mystery of the universe &ndash; that starry sky above us, a beauty that persists even beyond the event horizon&rdquo;
Georgijs Osokins
Latvian pianist Georgijs Osokins has recorded his second solo album for Deutsche Grammophon. Inspired by the enduring and mysterious nature of starlight, Constellations presents a beautifully structured narrative that runs from nightfall to daybreak. Its programme places masterpieces by figures such as Chopin, Schumann, Brahms and Wagner in intimate dialogue with lesser-known gems by the Estonian composer and amateur astronomer Urmas Sisask (1960-2022). In highlighting the latter&rsquo;s work, Osokins is continuing the mission encapsulated a year ago by his acclaimed DG debut album, For Arvo and showcasing the exceptional but under-celebrated musical heritage of the Baltic region.
&ldquo;P&auml;rt&rsquo;s music has to be played without any frills or exaggeration. Georgijs Osokins does just that here, performing with consummate composure and simplicity.&rdquo; &ndash; Kai Luehrs-Kaiser on For Arvo (radio3/rbb)
Constellations will be released as a digital album on 6&nbsp;November 2026. DG will share three tracks before then, starting with Schumann&rsquo;s Abendlied (arr. Saint-Sa&euml;ns) on 25&nbsp;September. This will be followed by Bach&rsquo;s Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ (arr. Busoni) on 9&nbsp;October and Brahms&rsquo;s Lerchengesang (arr. Osokins) on 23&nbsp;October, and all three will be accompanied by videos.
Georgijs Osokins has long had an interest in the myths and science of the stars in our night sky. &ldquo;Perhaps stars are the most poetic expression of time itself,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;We continue to see their light long after some of them have ceased to exist: an astrophysical metaphor for life&rsquo;s enduring legacy, a beauty that transcends time and unites us all.&rdquo;
This fascination lies behind his new album, on which, as darkness falls, Osokins navigates from one group of stars to another through a selection of evocative solo piano pieces by Sisask named after constellations (&ldquo;Merope&rdquo;, &ldquo;Little Bear&rdquo;, &ldquo;Puppis&rdquo; and so on). The latter&rsquo;s celestial observations not only provided thematic inspiration for his work, but led him to create his own compositional language, with much of his &ldquo;astro-music&rdquo; based on a five-pitch scale derived from his analysis of planetary rotations.
Osokins says he was &ldquo;profoundly moved&rdquo; when he discovered this little-known repertoire. &ldquo;Sisask devoted his artistic life to capturing the spirit of distant star systems humanity may never reach,&rdquo; he explains. &ldquo;Through his extraordinary imagination and deep passion, he transformed their silent radiance into music, allowing their celestial light to resonate in sound.&rdquo;
Constellations presents the world premiere recording of No.&nbsp;1 from Sisask&rsquo;s Starry Sky Cycle No. 5 &ldquo;Northern Polar Sky&rdquo;: &ldquo;Cassiopeia. Ballade&rdquo;. It also features excerpts from Starry Sky Cycles No. 1 &ldquo;Northern Sky&rdquo;,&nbsp;No. 2 &ldquo;Southern Sky&rdquo; and No.&nbsp;4 &ldquo;Equatorial Sky&rdquo; &ndash; including Osokins&rsquo; own improvisation on &ldquo;Antlia: Increasing the Power&rdquo; &ndash; as well as from The Hexagon of the Sky. The Seagull and the Water.
The artist expands on the themes of &ldquo;transcendence, remembrance and the mystery of existence&rdquo; embraced by Sisask by interweaving these pieces with works such as &ldquo;Dream Images&rdquo;, from Crumb&rsquo;s zodiac-influenced Makrokosmos&nbsp;I; Busoni&rsquo;s arrangement of the Bach chorale-prelude Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ; Scriabin&rsquo;s Vers la flamme; Wagner&rsquo;s Isoldens Liebestod (arr. Liszt/Osokins); and, offering a first glimpse of daylight, Osokins&rsquo; arrangement of Brahms&rsquo;s Lerchengesang, a song that celebrates the &ldquo;skylarks&rsquo; heavenly greetings&rdquo;.
Having opened with Saint-Sa&euml;ns&rsquo;s arrangement of the song Abendlied (&ldquo;Darkness sinks powerfully into the depths &hellip; The stars now dwell with majesty in the celestial sphere&rdquo;), the album closes with another work by Schumann &ndash; the first movement of his late, luminous piano cycle Ges&auml;nge der Fr&uuml;he (Songs of Dawn). &ldquo;Schumann&rsquo;s music forms the arch of the album,&rdquo; says Osokins, &ldquo;opening the journey in the stillness of night beneath newborn stars and bringing it to its close at daybreak, with the first distant song of solitary birds.&rdquo;
With the kind support of Alba Thyment Ltd.

Agnes Obel’s New Album,  The Meaning of Flowers, Arrives Today

&ldquo;My daughter&rsquo;s presence and energy colour everything on this album&rdquo; Agnes Obel
Listen to&nbsp;The Meaning of Flowers&nbsp;<a href="https://dg.lnk.to/themeaningofflowers">here</a>
Berlin, 18&nbsp;September 2026.&nbsp;Deutsche Grammophon&nbsp;is delighted to announce that&nbsp;The Meaning of Flowers,&nbsp;Agnes Obel&rsquo;s first studio album since&nbsp;Myopia&nbsp;(2020), is&nbsp;out now in all formats. On&nbsp;The Meaning of Flowers&nbsp;Obel explores the vivid sense of interconnection with all living things she experienced during pregnancy, finding inspiration in ideas about birth, growth and metamorphosis in the world around us, among other themes. Her 12 atmospheric tracks draw on a range of sources, from the poetry of Enheduanna (the world&rsquo;s first named author) and the philosophical writings of Hannah Arendt and Emanuele Coccia, to the Danish pop scene of the 80s and 90s. The album is dedicated to Obel&rsquo;s daughter: &ldquo;she who has changed me and raised me and taught me so much&rdquo;.
Written, recorded, arranged and produced by the artist in her Berlin studio,&nbsp;The Meaning of Flowers&nbsp;features Obel herself on vocals (some pitch-shifted), piano, keys, synths and samples, with guest musicians adding violin, viola, cello, bass, lap steel, harmonium, flute, sax, percussion and backing vocals to the mix.
&ldquo;The Meaning of Flowers&rdquo; was the first track written for the album. Its title came from Obel&rsquo;s reading of Coccia&rsquo;s&nbsp;The Life of Plants&nbsp;and&nbsp;Metamorphoses. As she said in a recent interview, &ldquo;Flowers are these tiny things that exist within an insanely huge and complex planet of mountains and oceans, but they also have their own hyper-complex biology &hellip; So, for me, the song had to be something small and beautiful, but enormous at the same time, in the title at least.&rdquo;
Blood so Red, about the primal experience of giving birth, was influenced by Enheduanna&rsquo;s hymns to Inanna &ndash; goddess of childbirth, love, sex, song and war.&nbsp;Gemini&nbsp;and&nbsp;Laymelli&nbsp;too were inspired by Enheduanna, but also by Obel&rsquo;s awareness of a complex universe &ldquo;held together by the beauty and power of life and metamorphosis&rdquo;, again based on ideas discussed by Coccia.
The other influences on the album include 70s movie scores (Don&rsquo;t Look Down) and Danish pop (Never Been), while its only instrumental track (Tangerine) features sax arpeggios, celesta and piano, their upbeat combination of sounds forming a &ldquo;bubbly new wondrous friendship&rdquo;.
&nbsp;
Agnes Obel &ndash; forthcoming tour dates:
24 Sep&nbsp;&ndash; Queensland Performing Arts Centre, Brisbane &middot;&nbsp;26 Sep&nbsp;&ndash; Hamer Hall, Melbourne
27 Sep&nbsp;&ndash; Sydney Opera House &middot;&nbsp;29 Sep&nbsp;&ndash; New Zealand International Convention Centre, Auckland
2027:
21 Sep&nbsp;&ndash; Tonhalle, D&uuml;sseldorf &middot;&nbsp;23 Sep&nbsp;&ndash; Olympia, Paris
27 Sep&nbsp;&ndash; Royal Theatre Carr&eacute;, Amsterdam &middot;&nbsp;28 Sep&nbsp;&ndash; Muziekgebouw, Eindhoven
29 Sep&nbsp;&ndash; TivoliVredenburg, Utrecht &middot;&nbsp;1 Oct&nbsp;&ndash; Sentrum Scene, Oslo
2 Oct&nbsp;&ndash; Konserthuset, Stockholm &middot;&nbsp;3 Oct&nbsp;&ndash; Operaen, Copenhagen
13 Oct&nbsp;&ndash; Teatro Duse, Bologna &middot;&nbsp;14 Oct&nbsp;&ndash; Auditorium Parco della Musica, Rome
16 Oct&nbsp;&ndash; B&acirc;timent des Forces Motrices, Geneva &middot;&nbsp;17 Oct&nbsp;&ndash; Halle aux Grains, Toulouse
19 Oct&nbsp;&ndash; Paral&middot;lel 62, Barcelona &middot;&nbsp;20 Oct&nbsp;&ndash; The Music Station, Madrid
23 Oct&nbsp;&ndash; Theatro Circo, Braga &middot;&nbsp;2 Nov&nbsp;&ndash; Bozar, Brussels
3 Nov&nbsp;&ndash; Stadsschouwburg, Antwerp &middot;&nbsp;4 Nov&nbsp;&ndash; Eventim Apollo, London
6 Nov&nbsp;&ndash; Amphith&eacute;&acirc;tre 3000, Lyon &middot;&nbsp;9 Nov&nbsp;&ndash; Liederhalle (Beethoven-Saal), Stuttgart
10 Nov&nbsp;&ndash; Meistersingerhalle, Nuremberg &middot;&nbsp;12 Nov&nbsp;&ndash; Laeiszhalle, Hamburg
13 Nov&nbsp;&ndash; Uber Eats Music Hall, Berlin
2027 European tour tickets are on sale now.
&nbsp;
Agnes Obel &ndash;&nbsp;The Meaning of Flowers
Books and poetry read while making the album
Fiction and non-fiction:
Arendt, Hannah,&nbsp;The Human Condition, 1958
Banks, Jennifer,&nbsp;Natality:&nbsp;Toward a Philosophy of Birth, 2023
Bowen-Moore, Patricia,&nbsp;Hannah Arendt&rsquo;s Philosophy of Natality, 1989
Butler, Octavia,&nbsp;Dawn, 1987
Cage, John,&nbsp;Silence: Lectures and Writings, 1961
Coccia, Emanuele,&nbsp;The Life of Plants:&nbsp;A Metaphysics of Mixture, 2019
Coccia, Emanuele,&nbsp;Metamorphoses, 2021
Jones, Lucy,&nbsp;Matrescence: On the Metamorphosis of Pregnancy, Childbirth and Motherhood, 2023
Morton, Timothy,&nbsp;All Art Is Ecological, 2018
N&oslash;rg&aring;rd, Per,&nbsp;Artikler 1962&ndash;1982, Ivan Hansen (ed.), 1982
Rasmussen, Karl Aage,&nbsp;Musik i det tyvende &aring;rhundrede: en fort&aelig;lling, 2011
Poetry:
Akbar, Kaveh (ed.),&nbsp;The Penguin Book of Spiritual Verse: 100 Poets on the Divine, 2022
Christensen, Inger,&nbsp;Samlede Digte, 2009
Enheduanna,&nbsp;Enheduana: The Complete Poems of the World&rsquo;s First Author, trans. Sophus Helle, 2023 (orig. c.2300 BCE)
Graham, Jorie,&nbsp;The Dream of the Unified Field, 2002
Kurtz, Ella; King, Simone; Delahunty, Claire (eds.),&nbsp;What We Carry: Poetry on Childbearing, 2021

Lang Lang to release Piano Book 2 – Modern Encores available digitally on 9 October

Lang Lang expands&nbsp;Piano Book 2&nbsp;with five tracks spanning anime, film, contemporary classical and musical theatre
Featuring Yoshiki Mizuno&rsquo;s &ldquo;Blue Bird&rdquo; from&nbsp;Naruto, Hans Zimmer&rsquo;s &ldquo;Cornfield Chase&rdquo; from&nbsp;Interstellar, and works by Tony Ann, Joep Beving and Richard Rodgers
&ldquo;Blue Bird&rdquo; &ndash; listen&nbsp;<a href="https://de-grammophon.cimediacloud.com/r/eH2ciCPaXFFD">here</a>
Lang Lang&rsquo;s new EP&nbsp;Piano Book 2 &ndash; Modern Encores&nbsp;will be released digitally on&nbsp;9 October 2026. Following the&nbsp;Classical Encores&nbsp;EP, it expands&nbsp;Piano Book 2&nbsp;with five works spanning anime, film, contemporary classical music and musical theatre.
The EP opens with Yoshiki Mizuno's&nbsp;"Blue Bird"&nbsp;from&nbsp;Naruto, arranged for piano by Telleria. It is followed by Hans Zimmer's "Cornfield Chase" from&nbsp;Interstellar, a new solo version of Tony Ann's&nbsp;"ICARUS"&nbsp;&ndash; which links back to the successful&nbsp;Piano Book 2&nbsp;duet with the composer himself, Joep Beving's "Sleeping Lotus" and Richard Rodgers'&nbsp;"My Favorite Things", arranged for piano by Hamilton.
The first single&nbsp;"Blue Bird"&nbsp;is released today&nbsp;18 September 2026. The EP&rsquo;s next single&nbsp;"Cornfield Chase"&nbsp;will be released on&nbsp;9 October&nbsp;alongside the new collection of works.

Max Richter Announces New Album ‘While The Flood Rages’

Oscar-nominated composer&nbsp;Max Richter&nbsp;today announces his new album &lsquo;While The Flood Rages&rsquo;.
&lsquo;While The Flood Rages&rsquo; is a sweeping body of work drawn from Richter&rsquo;s latest collaboration with&nbsp;Wayne McGregor&nbsp;&lsquo;MaddAddam&rsquo;: a co-commission between the&nbsp;National Ballet Of Canada&nbsp;and the&nbsp;Royal Opera House&nbsp;inspired by&nbsp;Margaret Atwood&rsquo;s MaddAddam trilogy.
You can listen to the first single &lsquo;Now We Can Sing&rsquo;&nbsp;<a href="https://maxrichter.lnk.to/NowWeCanSing">HERE</a>.
&lsquo;While The Flood Rages&rsquo; is released on&nbsp;Friday&nbsp;16th October&nbsp;via&nbsp;Decca Records. You can pre-order &lsquo;While The Flood Rages&rsquo;&nbsp;<a href="https://maxrichter.lnk.to/WTFR">HERE</a>.
Years in the making, the project marks Richter and McGregor&rsquo;s third major collaboration, following Infra and Woolf Works. Originally developed prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and delayed by its onset, the album now arrives with renewed urgency, engaging directly with themes of ecological crisis, technological acceleration, and human connection.
Rather than a direct soundtrack, &lsquo;While The Flood Rages&rsquo; functions as a standalone companion work.&nbsp;&ldquo;I took the material apart and created a trajectory that makes sense just through listening,&rdquo;&nbsp;Richter explains.&nbsp;&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a different way to reach the same destination.&rdquo;
Structured across 15 tracks and three acts, the album unfolds as a continuous, evolving sonic landscape. Recorded at&nbsp;Studio Richter Mahr, it opens with &lsquo;Wave After Wave&rsquo;, where a processed recording of the ocean is transformed into a rhythmic, heartbeat-like pulse, setting the tone both physically and emotionally. From there, &lsquo;Eerie Music&rsquo; introduces a fractured electronic language, built using electromagnetic recordings of internal technological systems found around the studio, hinting at a world shaped as much by machinery as by nature.
At its core is the title track, &lsquo;While The Flood Rages&rsquo;, a quiet, intimate counterpoint to the surrounding chaos that keeps the focus on moments of human connection even as larger systems begin to break down. That tension builds through &lsquo;The City Was A Chaos&rsquo;,&nbsp; where dense, overlapping structures create a sense of overload, before easing into &lsquo;Quiet&rsquo;, which introduces a simple falling piano motif. That motif runs throughout the record, returning in different forms and offering brief moments of clarity within the noise.
The second act widens the emotional and sonic palette. &lsquo;Tell the Bees&rsquo; leans into something more pastoral, drawing on a softer, almost folk-like warmth, while &lsquo;Data Ballistics&rsquo; cuts through with percussive intensity, its rhythms constructed from manipulated gunfire. Across these tracks, traditional musical forms sit alongside fractured digital textures, reflecting the push and pull between older systems of belief and a more unstable, technologically driven present.
By the final act, pieces like &lsquo;Dawn&rsquo; and &lsquo;Background Radiation&rsquo; weave all the sonic elements together with choir, orchestra, and electronics folding into each other. The recurring piano motif returns again, more altered each time, suggesting not resolution so much as transformation.
The album&rsquo;s first single, &lsquo;Now We Can Sing&rsquo;, also closes the record, unfolding as a luminous final moment inspired directly by Atwood&rsquo;s text. Built from that same recurring piano motif that appears throughout the album, it opens out into a choral-led reflection on voice and connection, leaving the album not with a sense of resolution, but with something closer to quiet, collective endurance.
To celebrate the release of &lsquo;While The Flood Rages&rsquo;, Richter will be hosting the&nbsp;WTFR Global Listening Events - a worldwide network of intimate listening experiences. Inspired by the growing culture of listening bars in cities such as Tokyo, London, Seoul, Copenhagen, New York and Melbourne, the events will transform caf&eacute;s, wine bars and hi-fi venues into temporary listening rooms where guests disconnect from their devices and immerse themselves in the music. More information will be announced in the coming weeks.
One the most influential and acclaimed musicians of his generation, Max Richter is known for his ability to seamlessly blend traditional orchestrations with modern electronic elements. With his catalogue amassing over four billion streams and a dedicated global following, he is widely regarded as one of the defining voices in contemporary composition. Richter was recognised with a&nbsp;CBE&nbsp;and the&nbsp;Berlinale Camera for his contributions to both music and film earlier this year.
Beyond his solo endeavors, Richter is a prolific collaborator who has worked with esteemed creatives across multiple disciplines. Between Maison Margiela campaigns and scoring Dior shows to composing for ballets choreographed by Wayne McGregor and his contributions to the world of cinema &amp; TV, including his Oscar nominated score for Chlo&eacute; Zhao&rsquo;s critically acclaimed &lsquo;Hamnet&rsquo;, Richter&rsquo;s versatility knows no bounds.
Richter is co-founder of Studio Richter Mahr alongside his partner, visual artist Yulia Mahr. Located within 31 acres of woodland in Oxfordshire, the duo have a huge passion for using the land to farm and provide a sustainable working environment, serving as a space where both emerging and established creatives can come to develop their work.
&nbsp;
Pre-order the CD and vinyl editions in the&nbsp;<a href="https://store.deutschegrammophon.com/collections/max-richter" target="_blank" rel="noopener">DG Store</a>

RIAS Kammerchor Berlin and Justin Doyle Present Winter Tales - The Britten Christmas Album

To mark the 50th anniversary of Benjamin Britten's death on 4 December, the album combines much-loved Christmas music with rarely heard choral works
With the exception of&nbsp;The Ballad of Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard&nbsp;the entire programme is new to the Deutsche Grammophon catalogue
The album will be released on CD and digitally in stereo and Dolby Atmos on 16 October 2026
&ldquo;A Ceremony of Carols&nbsp;is well known and loved, but the rest of the repertoire will probably be less familiar. The album is conceived as a kind of &lsquo;Christmas stocking&rsquo; of discoveries.&rdquo; Justin Doyle
The&nbsp;RIAS Kammerchor Berlin&nbsp;and its Chief Conductor and Artistic Director&nbsp;Justin Doyle&nbsp;turn to Benjamin Britten's choral music for their new album.&nbsp;Winter Tales - The Britten Christmas Album&nbsp;will be released digitally and on CD on 16 October 2026, the year marking the 50th anniversary of the composer's death. At its heart are&nbsp;A Ceremony of Carols,&nbsp;A Boy was Born&nbsp;and&nbsp;Missa brevis in D, complemented by&nbsp;A Hymn of St. Columba&nbsp;and&nbsp;The Ballad of Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard. With the exception of&nbsp;The Ballad, the entire programme is new to the&nbsp;Deutsche Grammophon&nbsp;catalogue. The recording also features the boys of the Staats- und Domchor Berlin, harpist Anna Viechtl, organist Marcel Andreas Ober and pianist Philip Mayers.
The album is conceived as a Christmas release but follows no conventional festive arc. Britten's familiar Christmas music is set alongside works heard far less often, opening up different facets of his choral writing. For Doyle, this repertoire is closely bound up with his own biography. A former chorister at Westminster Cathedral, he encountered several of these works as a boy. For the new recording, he also worked from scores containing Britten's handwritten annotations, gaining insights into the composer's sound world and performance practice.
Britten began&nbsp;A Ceremony of Carols&nbsp;in 1942 while returning to Britain from the United States. Before leaving Halifax, Nova Scotia, he acquired Gerald Bullett's anthology&nbsp;The English Galaxy of Shorter Poems; during the voyage, he set five of its texts, which became the core of the&nbsp;Ceremony. Medieval poetry and plainchant meet Britten's distinctive harmonies and melodic lines. Although the work is now often associated with children's voices, it was originally written for adult women's voices.
Set alongside the&nbsp;Ceremony&nbsp;is&nbsp;A Boy was Born, a work Britten composed at the age of 19: a 30-minute sequence of a cappella variations for adult and boys' voices.&nbsp;Missa brevis in D&nbsp;was written in 1959 for the choir of Westminster Cathedral and its director George Malcolm. Its rhythmically lively&nbsp;Gloria, twelve-tone&nbsp;Sanctus&nbsp;and unsettlingly fading&nbsp;Dona nobis pacem&nbsp;in the&nbsp;Agnus Dei&nbsp;show Britten's ability to turn rigorous compositional techniques into immediate dramatic expression.
The other works lead into different historical and spiritual worlds.&nbsp;A Hymn of St. Columba&nbsp;was written in 1962 to mark the 1,400th anniversary of Columba's voyage from Ireland to Iona, combining a text about the Last Judgment with deep organ rumblings and concentrated choral writing.&nbsp;The Ballad of Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard&nbsp;was composed during the Second World War for Britten's friend Richard Wood and fellow musicians at the Oflag VIIB prisoner-of-war camp near Eichst&auml;tt. Britten sent the manuscript to the camp one page at a time on microfilm. Set against a wintry backdrop, the story tells of forbidden love, jealousy and murder; Britten's setting follows it with striking immediacy.
Winter Tales&nbsp;was recorded in Berlin's Auenkirche in January 2026. Its clear yet resonant acoustic and newly restored organ provided ideal conditions for the precision of Britten's choral writing. The exclusively digital&nbsp;Dolby Atmos version&nbsp;brings out the church's acoustic space and the choir's procession in and out of&nbsp;A Ceremony of Carols&nbsp;to beautiful effect.
The changing forces - from women's voices and harp, to a full choir with boys' voices, to men's voices and piano - are central to the album's dramatic design. They make audible the variety of Britten's music for the concert stage. For Doyle, they also reflect a fundamental idea in Britten's music: &ldquo;It doesn't really matter who sings his music. What matters is that it is performed well, with the appropriate spiritual or dramatic intention.&rdquo;
Winter Tales - The Britten Christmas Album will be released on CD and digitally in SD, HD and Dolby Atmos on 16 October 2026.&nbsp;There Is No Rose&nbsp;from&nbsp;A Ceremony of Carols&nbsp;will be available to stream and download from&nbsp;2 October 2026. Around the 50th anniversary of Britten's death, the RIAS Kammerchor Berlin will also bring music from the album to the concert stage: on&nbsp;5 December 2026&nbsp;at Berlin Cathedral and on&nbsp;6 December 2026 at the Marktkirche in Hanover, both under Justin Doyle's direction.

Víkingur Ólafsson’s CONTINUUM II available to pre-order now

&ldquo;Bach was writing for all of us, for the future&rdquo; V&iacute;kingur &Oacute;lafsson
Album release: 6 November 2026
V&iacute;kingur &Oacute;lafsson&nbsp;releases the Largo from Bach&rsquo;s Keyboard Concerto in F&nbsp;minor&nbsp;today,&nbsp;11 September, as&nbsp;pre-orders open&nbsp;for his new album&nbsp;CONTINUUM&nbsp;II, out on&nbsp;Deutsche Grammophon&nbsp;in all formats on&nbsp;6&nbsp;November 2026. Part of &Oacute;lafsson&rsquo;s&nbsp;ongoing J.S. Bach project, it is the first album he has recorded entirely in&nbsp;The Nutshell, his new home studio in Iceland. The Largo is one of two works the artist has arranged for piano and strings and for which he is joined by the&nbsp;Siggi String Quartet&nbsp;and bassist&nbsp;Xun Yang.
&Oacute;lafsson calls&nbsp;CONTINUUM II&nbsp;his first &ldquo;album domesticum&rdquo; &ndash; a record of music for the home, intimate and reflective, showing&nbsp;Bach at his most personal. At its heart are six chorales, among them&nbsp;Wie sch&ouml;n leuchtet der Morgenstern&nbsp;and&nbsp;Es ist genug, and six of the short preludes Bach wrote as practice pieces for his pupils. Alongside them are his own arrangements of the organ chorale prelude&nbsp;Erbarm dich mein, o Herre Gott, the Adagio from the Violin Sonata No. 5 in F minor (also for piano and strings), and the Air on the G String, heard in both grand and upright piano versions.
Two further tracks will be released ahead of the album: the Prelude in D major on&nbsp;2 October&nbsp;and&nbsp;Nun ruhen alle W&auml;lder&nbsp;on&nbsp;23 October.
Pre-order the CD and vinyl editions in the <a href="https://store.deutschegrammophon.com/collections/vikingur-olafsson">DG Store</a>

From Bach to Hollywood: David Garrett Spans Three Centuries of Music History on Immortal

There are those moments when a single note says more than an entire book. It is exactly these moments that&nbsp;<a href="https://www.universal-music.de/davidgarrett">David Garrett</a> gathers on his new album Immortal, which arrives on Deutsche Grammophon on October 9, 2026 and is available for pre-order right now. The violinist, who on his artist profile has long moved effortlessly between the concert hall and the stadium stage, poses a question with this work that is as old as music itself: what remains when everything else fades away? His answer carries a name that says it all.
<h2>Immortal: David Garrett Takes On the Great Masters of Music</h2>
Behind the title lies no blunt marketing idea, but a question that has accompanied Garrett for a long time: what of the things we create truly endures? He phrases his answer himself with disarming clarity. When we talk about things that come close to immortality, it is art, and music in particular, that outlasts time and comes closest to the idea of immortality. From this conviction an album has grown that is dedicated to the lasting legacy of classical music and proceeds from the firm assumption that music can outlast time. Instead of preserving the old works like museum pieces, Garrett takes the bolder path he always has:
He reinterprets the pieces from a contemporary and, at the same time, deeply human perspective. The goal is explicitly not a nostalgia trip, but an album meant to connect generations, to stand for authenticity and, true to its title, to strive for timeless validity.
<h2>Which Tracks Can You Expect on the New David Garrett Album?</h2>
The list of compositions reads like a journey through more than three centuries of music history. At its center stand Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Claude Debussy, and John Williams, flanked by Johann Sebastian Bach, Felix Mendelssohn, Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Francesco Maria Veracini, and Johannes Brahms, as well as Jean Sibelius. With this, Garrett draws an arc from the Baroque through the Classical and Romantic eras all the way to the great film music of the present, treating a Hollywood score with the same seriousness as a concerto from the 18th century.
All of it becomes concrete on October 9, 2026. The album arrives digitally, on CD and on vinyl, and is additionally available in Dolby Atmos, which gives the arrangements an impressive sense of space, especially in a home cinema setup or with good headphones. Two scopes are on offer: the standard version comprises 20 tracks, the Deluxe Edition 25.
For Garrett, Immortal also marks a deliberate return. After most recently devoting himself on Millennium Symphony to symphonic reinterpretations of well-known pop and rock songs, he now presents a pure classical album once again. It is thus the logical continuation of the path he set out on in 2022 with the gold-certified album Iconic, only a shade more personal and uncompromising.
<h2>Nessun Dorma and the Signature Behind Immortal</h2>
Anyone who wants to know where the journey is headed has long had the first taste in their ears. Released as the advance single on June 26, 2026 was Garrett's reinterpretation of Puccini's Turandot aria Nessun Dorma, which he arranged himself together with John Haywood. That special quality runs through the entire album, because no one took a shortcut on the drawing board here. Garrett created all the arrangements himself, supported by co-arrangers Franck van der Heijden and John Haywood.
The album was recorded together with the orchestra The Prezent and pianist Julien Quentin, whose energy and expressiveness shape the sound significantly. No wonder Garrett is especially proud of one point: he describes the project as 100 percent handmade and hopes that listeners will not only enjoy the sound but also feel the human presence in the music.
<h2>Vinyl, Onyx CD and Fan Box: The Immortal Editions at a Glance</h2>
Alongside the standard CD and the CD Deluxe there is the dark<a href="https://store.deutschegrammophon.com/de-de/collections/david-garrett/products/david-garrett-immortal-119905">&nbsp;Onyx CD</a>, which already makes an impression visually. The showpiece for the shelf is the<a href="https://store.deutschegrammophon.com/de-de/collections/david-garrett/products/david-garrett-immortal-118702">&nbsp;2LP Picture Disc Vinyl with a signed art card</a>, while the plain Picture Disc is also available without an autograph. Anyone who wants it all reaches for the<a href="https://store.deutschegrammophon.com/de-de/collections/david-garrett/products/david-garrett-immortal-118714">&nbsp;limited fan box</a>, which likewise contains a signed art card.
A small note for the quick decision-makers: a particularly exclusive Onyx variant with a personal message is already sold out ahead of release. You can find all editions bundled together in the<a href="https://store.deutschegrammophon.com/de-de/collections/david-garrett">&nbsp;David Garrett Collection at Deutsche Grammophon</a>.
<h2>David Garrett Live: Immortal Goes on Tour!</h2>
An album like this wants not only to be heard, but to be experienced. From February 2027, David Garrett takes Immortal on a worldwide tour. With this, the violinist, who has sold more than five million albums worldwide, consistently continues his dual role as classical virtuoso and crowd magnet. Just how nimbly he moves between worlds was shown most recently by his crossover project, which you can listen back to on the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.universal-music.de/davidgarrett/musik/millennium-symphony-1044744">release page for Millennium Symphony</a>.
With Immortal, a circle now closes for him, back to pure classical. Anyone who wants to be there at the starting gun on October 9, 2026 should secure their preferred edition now in the pre-sale!

Deutsche Grammophon China and Xinghai Concert Hall Present the Inaugural DG Music Festival in Guangzhou

Curated by Daniel Hope, the four-day festival celebrates classical music, cross-cultural collaboration and China&rsquo;s emerging musical voices, November 15&ndash;18, 2026
GUANGZHOU, CHINA &mdash; Deutsche Grammophon China and Xinghai Concert Hall will jointly present the inaugural DG Music Festival in Guangzhou from November 15 to 18, 2026. The first officially presented in-person music festival in the label&rsquo;s nearly 130-year history will bring together leading Chinese and international artists for four days of concerts, exhibitions and encounters with audiences.
With the globally renowned violinist and DG artist Daniel Hope serving as the festival&rsquo;s Curator and Guest Artistic Director, the programme features three headline concerts alongside a wide-ranging series of exhibitions and public events. Participating artists include cellist Jian Wang, pianists Xiaofu Ju and Yingjia Xue, guzheng artist Yang Yang, vocalist Linna Gong and the AIR Ensemble. Immediately preceding the core festival performances, longstanding DG artist Yuja Wang will be appearing at Xinghai Concert Hall with Mahler Chamber Orchestra and kicking off the celebration.
Spanning solo recitals, chamber music, vocal performances and cross-cultural collaborations, the festival places classical masterworks alongside traditional melodies, new arrangements and original compositions. It invites audiences across the Greater Bay Area to experience music as a living dialogue between cultures and generations.
A Historic Partnership, a Long-Term Vision
Founded in 1898, Deutsche Grammophon has long been one of the world&rsquo;s most prestigious classical music labels. With nearly three decades of history, Xinghai Concert Hall is an internationally renowned, world-class concert hall and one of China&rsquo;s most influential performing arts venues.
Launched in 2025, DG China is dedicated to discovering and supporting Chinese musical talent in keeping with DG&rsquo;s artistic standards, and bringing China&rsquo;s voices to the world. The festival marks an important step in that commitment. More than a touring event, it is envisioned as a lasting cultural initiative developed together with Xinghai Concert Hall.
Guangzhou&rsquo;s longstanding openness to international exchange provides a fitting setting for this collaboration. Bringing DG&rsquo;s recording heritage into dialogue with Xinghai Concert Hall&rsquo;s dynamic artistic programme, the festival will create a shared space for established masters, emerging artists and audiences to listen, discover and connect.
Dr. Clemens Trautmann, President Deutsche Grammophon and New Business Strategy Global Classics at Universal Music: &ldquo;For nearly 130 years, Deutsche Grammophon has championed exceptional artists and brought their music to audiences around the world. The inaugural DG Music Festival in Guangzhou opens a new chapter in that mission, creating a space where our artistic heritage meets the energy and imagination of Chinese musicians. With Daniel Hope as Curator and Xinghai Concert Hall as our esteemed partner, we look forward to celebrating the power of live music to connect cultures, generations and communities.&rdquo;
&ldquo;We hope that what we create over these four days at Xinghai Concert Hall will be more than a few concerts: a truly open musical space that welcomes all music and conveys hope and energy,&rdquo; says Daniel Hope, Curator and Guest Artistic Director of DG Music Festival. &ldquo;Music&rsquo;s most precious power is not to show us how different we are, but to remind us to share, understand and discover together.&rdquo;
Three Concerts, Three Musical Journeys
Salut d&rsquo;Amour
November 16, 2026 | 8:00 p.m. Jian Wang and Yingjia Xue
The festival&rsquo;s opening headline concert pairs celebrated cellist Jian Wang with pianist Xue Yingjia in a programme of lyrical miniatures spanning the Classical era, Romanticism and the twentieth century.
Highlights include works by Schumann, Saint-Sa&euml;ns, Faur&eacute;, Tchaikovsky, Piazzolla and Elgar, alongside Chinese composer Liu Rongfa&rsquo;s Pastoral Song. Daniel Hope will also make a special appearance.
The first Chinese musician to sign an exclusive contract with DG, Jian Wang embodies a longstanding connection between the label and Chinese artistry. His newly recorded Bach Cello Suites, released in 2025, also marked DG China&rsquo;s first album release.
Music in Harmony
November 17, 2026 | 8:00 p.m. International Masters Meet DG China
Daniel Hope and Jian Wang join Nicola Mosca, principal cellist of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, and DG China artists Xiaofu Ju and Yang Yang for an evening of musical exchange across generations and traditions.
Bringing together violin, cello, piano, guzheng and Irish harp, the programme includes selections from Tan Dun&rsquo;s Hero Concerto, Mendelssohn&rsquo;s Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, and Xiaofu Ju&rsquo;s arrangements of Dowland&rsquo;s In Darkness Let Me Dwell and Mozart&rsquo;s Lacrimosa from Requiem.
Yang Yang contributes her original work Tianmu Yin and her own arrangement of Ludovico Einaudi&rsquo;s Nuvole Bianche. Autumn Moon over the Calm Lake, arranged by Paul Bateman, and Piazzolla&rsquo;s Winter in Buenos Aires further expand the evening&rsquo;s cross-cultural conversation.
A Night of Brilliance
November 18, 2026 | 8:00 p.m. Daniel Hope, AIR Ensemble and Special Guest Linna Gong
The final headline concert brings Daniel Hope together with the AIR Ensemble and acclaimed vocalist Linna Gong for a journey across more than four centuries of music.
Rooted in the Baroque tradition, the AIR Ensemble moves fluently between early music, folk traditions and cross-cultural arrangements. The programme travels from Renaissance and Baroque Europe to Ireland and China, featuring music by composers including Ortiz, Corelli, Purcell and Vivaldi, alongside Irish traditional melodies and special arrangements of Chinese favourites such as Jasmine Flower, Colourful Clouds Chasing the Moon and The Moon Reflected in Erquan.
Beyond the Concert Stage
Throughout the four-day festival, exhibitions and public events will invite audiences to explore the stories, ideas and craftsmanship behind the music.
Four themed exhibitions will showcase performances and artist interviews from DG STAGE+ platform; trace the evolution of DG&rsquo;s album-cover design; celebrate vinyl recordings and the label&rsquo;s recording heritage; and introduce official DG merchandise to China.
The public programme will include a talk marking the 120th anniversary of Dmitri Shostakovich&rsquo;s birth, alongside artist conversations, music-sharing salons, a session exploring concert etiquette, city walks, signing events and an after-party.
These activities will offer opportunities for audiences to meet musicians beyond the concert stage, extending the festival into a broader cultural experience that encourages curiosity, participation and a deeper connection with classical music.
Full programme details, activity announcements and ticketing conditions are available through Xinghai Concert Hall&rsquo;s official channels.
DG Music Festival 2026 November 15&ndash;18, 2026 Xinghai Concert Hall, Guangzhou, China presented by Deutsche Grammophon China and Xinghai Concert Hall
Public Tickets Contact：<a href="mailto:program@concerthall.com.cn">program@concerthall.com.cn</a>

Get news about new DG releases, artist updates, exclusive promotions, and specials delivered straight to your inbox.

Use * after final word when searching with multiple words (e.g. van beethoven*) and as placeholder to complete words (e.g. *eethov*)

How to use the filters

Showing 1 - {currentResults} of {totalResults} total results

Showing 1 - {currentResults} of {totalResults} product families for series "{webSeries}"

The content is not available in this language. It is shown in original language.

Title

Latest news and articles from Deutsche Grammophon