Reporting from the Finnish premieres of Nico Muhly’s Shrink (2019) and An Archive in Three Parts (2025) by the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra and Hugo Ticciati, heard alonside Philip Glass Symphony No. 3 (1995), with arrangements of Nirvana and Purcell embedded. #adventuresinmusic

Reflecting Maundy Thursday’s very special performance of Sir Edward Elgar’s magnum opus The Dream of Gerontius, op. 38 (1900) by Benjamin Hulett, tenor, Sarah Connolly, mezzo-soprano, Andrew Foster-Williams, bass-baritone, and the Tampere Philharmonic & Choir under Matthew Halls. #adventuresinmusic

And on the non-Easter playlist we have Sir Harrison Birtwistle’s terrific piano concerto ’Resposes. Sweet disorder and the carefully careless’ (2013-14). #adventuresinmusic classical.music.apple.com/fi/album/147...

Looking back at the poweful 🇫🇮 premiere of Daníel Bjarnason’s compelling orchestral trilogy I Want to Be Alive (2023-25) with the composer conducting the Helsinki Philharmonic, coupled with Leila Josefowicz’s fiery take on Szymanowski’s II. Concerto (1932-33). #adventuresinmusic

21 timpani for Berlioz’s Grande Messe des Morts (1837) with the Finnish Radio Symphony and Nicholas Collon! 🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁

A concert I would have loved to attend!

Reporting from the Munich world premiere of Francisco Coll’s terrific new Piano Concerto (2025) by Kirill Gerstein and the BRSO, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, coupled with Roberto Gerhard’s Dances from Don Quixote, Francis Poulenc’s Les Biches Suite and Claude Debussy’s La Mer. #adventuresinmusic

Reporting from the Helsinki Music Centre, John Williams’s exquisite Concerto for Viola and Orchestra (2009) gets its second-ever staging from Antoine Tamestit, the Helsinki Phil and Caleb Young, coupled with Bernstein Candide Overture (1956) and Shostakovich Symphony 9 (1945). #adventuresinmusic

Looking back at last week’s lifetime performances of Brahms’s Schicksalslied (1868-71), Nänie (1880-81) and the Fourth Symphony (1884-85) with Herbert Blomstedt conducting Boston Symphony Orchestra and Tanglewood Festival Chorus. #adventuresinmusic

A throwback to last week’s top-tier Stravinsky, Gershwin and Milhaud triple-bill with the Chicago Symphony and Music Director Designate Klaus Mäkelä. [full review below] #adventuresinmusic

Reporting from Disney Hall, the LA Phil and Gustavo Dudamel revisit Thomas Adès’s imposing 45-minute ballet Inferno (2019) in jaw-dropping performances, coupled with their invigorating reading of Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony (1802-08). #adventuresinmusic

Reporting from Walt Disney Concert Hall, Gabriela Ortiz’s astounding Revolución diamantina (2023) gets its poignantly virtuosic balletic premiere from LA Phil, Los Angeles Master Chorale and Grupo Corpo, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel. #adventuresinmusic

Reporting from LA Opera, Philip Glass’s Akhnaten returns to the stage as beautiful as ever in Phelim McDermott’s production, conducted by Dalia Stasevska and featuring John Holiday in the title role. #adventuresinmusic

Reporting from Symphony Hall, the Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra and Benjamin Zander delved deep into Ives’s Putnam’s Camp (1911-12), Debussy’s La Mer (1903-05) and Mahler’s First Symphony (1884-88/1889-1910) on Friday evening, delivering a symphonic quest to remember. #adventuresinmusic

Reporting from Boston, Ensemble Signal brings Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians (1974-76) to Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, inaugurating the Thursday Night Music series with a performance to remember. #adventuresinmusic

Reporting from Boston, Thomas Adès conducts Boston Symphony Orchestra in his one-movement symphony Aquifer (2023-24), the Violin Concerto ’Concentric Paths’ (2005) - with Augustin Hadelich - and Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony (1802-08). #adventuresinmusic

Reporting from Boston, Thomas Adès conducts Boston Symphony Orchestra in his one-movement symphony Aquifer (2023-24), the Violin Concerto ’Concentric Paths’ (2005) - with Augustin Hadelich - and Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony (1802-08). #adventuresinmusic

Reporting from György Kurtág’s 100th birthday celebrations in Helsinki with Anu Komsi, Piia Komsi, Helga Karen and Sakari Oramo featuring unforgettable performances from Kafka-Fragments, Játékok, The Sayings of Péter Bornemisza and song cycles op. 25 & 26. #adventuresinmusic

In conjuction with the first US performances of Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Horn Concerto (2024-25) for Stefan Dohr, an interview with the composer. #adventuresinmusic

In conjuction with the first US performances of Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Horn Concerto (2024-25) for Stefan Dohr, an interview with the composer. #adventuresinmusic

Ahead of the US premiere of the Salonen Horn Concerto (2023-25) with Boston Symphony, an interview with Stefan Dohr, where we touch upon not only the Salonen novelty but also concerti by Abrahamsen, Lachenmann, Rohloff and Widmann, along with other things soloistic and orchestral #adventuresinmusic

Reporting from Helsinki, where Anna Thorvaldsdóttir’s formidable cello concerto Before we fall (2024) received its intense Finnish premiere with Johannes Moser and the Helsinki Philharmonic under Jukka-Pekka Saraste. #adventuresinmusic

This one happens to be my 700th feature for #adventuresinmusic 🥳

Reporting from Disney Hall, John Adams and Víkingur Ólafsson team up with the LA Phil for a top-tier take on the composer’s new piano concerto After the Fall, now recorded for DG, framed by splendid readings of Harris 3, Ives The Unanswered Question & Copland Appalachian Spring. #adventuresinmusic

Reporting from Geffen Hall, Thomas Adès conducts NY Phil & Choruses in a terrific program feat. Ives Orchestral Set No. 2 (1909-15/1919), Rautavaara PC 1 (1969) with Yuja Wang, Kaija Saariaho Oltra Mar (1998-99) and Adès’s own America (A Prophecy) (1999/2024). #adventuresinmusic

Befittingly, after an Atlantic crossing, some work on reviewing the formidable New York Philharmonic and Thomas Adès performance of Kaija Saariaho’s Oltra Mar (1998-99) with University of Michigan Chamber Choir and EXIGENCE Vocal Ensemble.

Befittingly, after an Atlantic crossing, some work on reviewing the formidable New York Philharmonic and Thomas Adès performance of Kaija Saariaho’s Oltra Mar (1998-99) with University of Michigan Chamber Choir and EXIGENCE Vocal Ensemble. #adventuresinmusic

Reporting from the BSO’s all-John Williams evening, conducted by Andris Nelsons, featuring the new Piano Concerto (2023-25) and TreeSong (2000) with their dedicatees Emanuel Ax and Gil Shaham as soloists. #adventuresinmusic

Between his Boston Symphony and BRSO performances, Emanuel Ax discuss the John Williams and Anders Hillborg Piano Concerti, along with some forays into Ludwig van Beethoven. #adventuresinmusic

Thrilled to get back to this piece six months after the Tanglewood Festival world premiere!! John Williams Piano Concerto (2023-25) with Emanuel Ax & Boston Symphony Orchestra & Andris Nelsons tonight at Symphony Hall! p.s. Interview with Manny coming up very soon #adventuresinmusic

Dress rehearsal done! The Finnish premiere of Anna Thorvaldsdóttir’s fabulous new cello concerto Before we fall (2024) with Johannes Moser and Helsinki Phil under Jukka-Pekka Saraste ahead tonight. 🔥 #adventuresinmusic

Anna Thorvaldsdóttir discusses her new cello concerto Before we fall (2024) for Johannes Moser ahead of its 🇫🇮 premiere with Helsinki Phil. Also, a word or two about her symphony-in-progress. #adventuresinmusic

Pierre Boulez left us ten years ago. Pictured, Boulez’s grave in Baden-Baden in June 2016 still featuring a temp cross instead of a tombeau proper. NB the handwritten amendment to the text. #adventuresinmusic

Two splendid Big Sur pieces to keep me warm on a wintry Sunday here in Finland. #adventuresinmusic

Back at it! Contrary to the custom nowadays, I much rather have my Marche au Supplice without the opening repeat - purely in terms of dramaturgy. This is a one-way ticket, and there’s no turning back. #adventuresinmusic

If I was to pick just one cherished musical memory from 2025, it would certainly be this unbelievable, life-affirming John Adams Harmonielehre with Berlin Phil and Sir Simon Rattle on 18 October at the Philharmonie. #adventuresinmusic

As the year draws to its close, a throwback to one of the most important new music concerts of 2025, TampereRaw’s sounding portrait of Maija Hynninen, featuring the world premiere of her new piano concerto, Pathways (2024-25) for Anna Kuvaja, conducted by Maria Itkonen. #adventuresinmusic

Boxing Day album classic, Ensemble Modern and Synergy Vocals perform Steve Reich Music for 18 Musicians (1974-76) with members of Steve Reich and Musicians on RCA Red Seal (1997 studio recording). #adventuresinmusic

Very important question to all Mahlerians: How do you prefer your Das klagende Lied? a) with Waldmärchen (as in 1880) b) without Waldmärchen (as in 1898) #adventuresinmusic

Things are getting nicely Christmassy around here. 💫🎄✨ Happy Holidays good people all 🌟

Reporting from Munich, where Emanuel Ax, the BRSO and Esa-Pekka Salonen served Anders Hillborg’s The MAX Concerto (2023) with an outing of dreams, bookended by a pristine Ravel Le Tombeau de Couperin (1914-17/1919) and a staggering Berlioz Symphonie fantastique (1830) #adventuresinmusic

Reporting from the 🇫🇮 premieres of Ellen Reid Body Cosmic (2024) and Anders Hillborg Eleven Gates (2005-06) with Pekka Kuusisto conducting the Helsinki Phil, paired with Benjamin Britten Les Illuminations (1939) and Laura Netzel Fantaisie (1903) feat. soprano Aphrodite Patoulidou. #adventuresinmusic

A throwback to Tampere Philharmonic 95th anniversary concert conducted by Matthew Halls and featuring the 🇫🇮 premiere of Jasdeep Singh Degun’s sitar concerto Arya (2019-20) as its centerpiece. #adventuresinmusic

A throwback to one of my all-time favorite recitals, featuring Sean Shibe on acoustic and electric guitar at Verkatehdas (🇫🇮) performing Thomas Adès, Steve Reich, Meredith Monk, Sasha Scott, Frank Martin and J.S. Bach - plus an Oliver Messiaen encore. #adventuresinmusic

Reporting from the exquisite world premiere of Matthew Whittall’s terrific 70-minute Robert Macfarlane setting ”The World Tree” (2025) by the Helsinki Chamber Choir and Nils Schweckendiek at Temppeliaukio Church earlier this week. #adventuresinmusic

Looking back at the Hallé John Adams festival and its feat of chamber music at RNCM feat. Chamber Symhony (1992) under by Euan Shields, Hallelujah Junction (1998) w. Eliza McCarthy & James McVinnie, plus selections from John’s Book of Alleged Dances (1994) by the Emerz Collective. #adventuresinmusic

Reporting from the Hallé John Adams festival finale, conducted by the composer and featuring Leila Josefowicz as soloist in Scheherazade.2 (2014), followed by The Chairman Dances (1985) and concluding with the UK premiere of The Rock You Stand On (2024). #adventuresinmusic

Reporting from Machester, the Hallé John Adams festival lauch with the composer conducting Slonimsky’s Earbox (1995), Livre de Baudelaire (1887-89/1994), Pat’s Aria from Nixon in China (1985-87) and Harmonium (1980-81) with soprano Mary Bevan and Hallé Choir. #adventuresinmusic

Looking back at Thomas Adès and London Symphony Orchestra performing Adès Aquifer (2023-24), Sibelius Symphony No. 3 (1904-07), Ruders Paganini Variations (1999-2000) (feat. Sean Shibe) and Alex Paxton World Builder, Creature (2024) #adventuresinmusic

Tonight!! Harmonium with John Adams conducting the Hallé and Hallé Choir - will be epic! #adventuresinmusic