Alain Altinoglu

The latest edition of the Festival International de Colmar opens with an exceptional performance from the Orchestre Symphonique du Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie de Bruxelles, conducted by Alain Altinoglu. After Wagner's Prelude to Lohengrin, baritone Stéphane Degout sings Mahler's Songs of a Wandering Companion. The evening at Saint-Matthieu church closes with César Franck's Symphony in D minor, a jewel from the repertoire of the late 19th century.

The Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra performs Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 8. The extraordinary gravity of the Eighth marks a new high in conductor Alain Altinoglu undertaking of the complete discography.

Sergey Khachatryan and the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Alain Altinoglu, perform Aram Khatchatourian's Violin Concerto. Also on the programme, Igor Stravinsky's 'Rite of Spring'.

Born Oscar-Arthur Honegger (the first name was never used) in Le Havre, France, he initially studied harmony and violin in Paris, and after a brief period in Zürich, returned there to study with Charles-Marie Widor and Vincent d'Indy. He continued to study through the 1910s, before writing the ballet Le dit des jeux du monde in 1918, generally considered to be his first characteristic work.

In the second part of this magnificent concert celebrating music from across Europe, Lukas Sternath, Martha Argerich, Bruce Liu and Hayato Sumino perform the finest piano concertos by Beethoven, Schumann, Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff.

Hayato Sumino performs Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor at the Wiesbaden Kurhaus in Germany with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Alain Altinoglu as part of Europiano.

Pelléas et Mélisande - Wiener Staatsoper

Star tenor Jonas Kaufmann brings aching intensity and vocal charisma to the tortured title hero of Massenet’s Goethe adaptation. Sophie Koch, in her Met debut, is an appealing and elegant Charlotte, the object of Werther’s passionate affection that will lead to tragedy. Lisette Oropesa as Sophie, David Bižić as Albert, and Jonathan Summers as Le Bailli co-star. Richard Eyre’s atmospheric production is conducted by rising maestro Alain Altinoglu.

In this strikingly modern 2016 production from the Zurich Opera House, Tcherniakov transposes the opera’s intrigue from forest and castle to living room and psychiatric office. The love story of the original work remains riveting, but Tcherniakov brings an unexpected psychological element to his mise en scène, with Prince Golaud as a psychiatrist and Mélisande as a young woman suffering from PTSD. You’ve never seen Pelléas like this!

Manon Lescaut - Bayerische Staatsoper