MA's Free Guide to (Mostly) Free Streams, Dec. 21-28

We will be updating this list weekly. Please note that all times are given in U.S. Eastern Time (ET). To calculate in other time zones or counties, British Summer Time (BST) is currently five hours ahead of ET and Central European Time (CET) is currently six hours ahead. U.S. Central Daylight Time (CDT) is one hour behind ET. Mountain Time (MT) is two hours behind ET, while Pacific Time (PT) is three hours behind. Contact editor@musicalamerica.com.

Classical music coverage on Musical America is supported in part by a grant from the Rubin Institute for Music Criticism, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation.  Musical America makes all editorial decisions.

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Monday, December 21

8 am ET: Wigmore Hall presents Stile Antico: A Spanish Nativity. A seasonal program in which the vocal ensemble performs Christmas music from the Spanish Golden Age. Register, view here and on demand for 30 days. LIVE

1 pm ET: Wiener Staatsoper presents Henze’s Das Verratene Meer. Conductor: Simone Young, director: Jossi Wieler, Sergio Morabito. With Vera-Lotte Boecker, and Bo Skovhus. Recorded December 14, 2020. Register for free and view here. **

1 pm ET: Metropolitan Opera presents Solstice Songs. Part of the Met’s free, online Family Holiday Festival, which runs through December 21. It’s either the shortest or longest day of the year (depending on where you live). Musician and educator Goussy Célestin explores how songs and stories have always helped understand the passage of time. View here.

2 pm ET: Metropolitan Opera presents Solstice Dance Party. The final event of the Met’s free, online Family Holiday Festival. To join the celebratory dance party, join via ZOOM here. LIVE

2 pm ET: DG Stage presents Krystian Zimerman: Beethoven Piano Concertos III. Krystian Zimerman, the LSO and Sir Simon Rattle bring their Beethoven piano concerto cycle to an end with the Emperor Concerto. The most symphonic of his piano concertos, No. 5 was the only one not to be premiered by Beethoven himself. Tickets $13. View here. **

2:15 pm ET: Bayerische Staatsoper presents Saint-Saëns’s Oratorio de Noël. Antonello Manacorda conducts Saint-Saëns’s Christmas Oratorio with soloists Ailyn Pérez, Tara Erraught, Okka von der Damerau, Benjamin Bernheim, and Etienne Dupuis (12-21-2020) with the Bayerisches Staatsorchester and Chorus of the Bayerische Staatsoper. View here.

2:30 pm ET: Wigmore Hall presents The Cardinall’s Musick. Andrew Carwood conducts the award-winning choir in seasonal music by Palestrina, Schütz, and Praetorius. Register, view here and on demand for 30 days. LIVE **

4 pm ET: New York String Orchestra Seminar presents Brahms’s Violin Concerto. Emanuel Ax and Jaime Laredo are joined by violinist Pamela Frank in a discussion of the Brahms Violin Concerto. NYSOS participants play excerpts from the work. View here.

5 pm ET: The Kennedy Center presents Home for the Holidays with Renée Fleming. Renée Fleming invites you into her home for an intimate concert of holiday favorites. Accompanied by Dave Sanders on guitar. View here and on demand.

7:30 pm ET: Met Opera Streams presents Mozart’s The Magic Flute. Starring Ying Huang, Erika Miklósa, Matthew Polenzani, Nathan Gunn, and René Pape, conducted by James Levine. From December 30, 2006. View here and for 24 hours.

8 pm ET: DACAMERA presents Schubert’s Winterreise. The winter solstice is observed with Schubert’s song cycle A Winter’s Journey, presented as a solitary wanderer without shelter in the context of the worldwide refugee crisis, and sung by baritone Tyler Duncan with pianist Sarah Rothenberg. Register and view here.

8 pm ET: Atlanta Symphony Orchestra presents Warm Wishes. Associate Conductor Jerry Hou leads a program of classical holiday favorites and beloved carols featuring vocalists Talise Trevigne and Russell Thomas. Tickets $20. View here.

8 pm ET: The Oratorio Society of New York presents The Grand Tradition Continues: OSNY Messiah 2020. A performance of selections from Handel’s Messiah taped in October in the barn at Kent Tritle’s house in Stone Ridge, New York. Tritle leads 24 members of the OSNY chorus, a 12-member orchestra, and soloists Susanna Phillips, Heather Petrie, Joshua Blue, and Sidney Outlaw. View here.

8 pm ET: Boston Landmarks Orchestra presents At Home for the Holidays. A free multicultural musical celebration on the winter solstice to bring joy and light with music from around the world. View here.

Tuesday, December 22

10 am ET: Lyric Opera of Kansas City presents Amahl & the Night Visitors. Menotti’s Christmas story for the whole family. Three kings following the star to Bethlehem stop at the home of a shepherd boy. As Amahl entertains the guests, he offers his own gift to the Christ child and learns the miracle of generosity. This new production utilizes puppets brought to life by a team of puppeteers and live voices. Digital access $40. View here until January 31, 2021.

12 pm ET: Academy of St. Martins in the Fields presents Festive Family Carols. An hour of readings and music for families from St. Martin’s Voices including much loved favorites: Jingle Bells, Little Donkey, and We Wish you a Merry Christmas. Tickets £10. View here and on demand until December 31.

1 pm ET: OperaVision presents Lonely House. Actress-singer Katharine Mehrling and Komische Oper Artistic Director Barrie Kosky transform Komische Oper Berlin’s big stage into an intimate setting where they present French chansons and American songs from Kurt Weill's exile in Paris and New York. View here for one month. **

1 pm ET: Wiener Staatsoper presents Bellini’s La Sonnambula. Conductor: Guillermo García Calvo, director: Marco Arturo Marelli. With Juan Diego Flórez, Daniela Fally, Luca Pisaroni, and Maria Nazarova. Production from January 2017. Register for free and view here. 

1 pm ET: IDAGIO Global Concert Hall presents Christmas with the King’s Singers. The King’s Singers celebrate the holiday season from John Rutter’s church, All Saints, Chrishall with a program including music by Palestrina, Praetorius, Howells (A Spotless Rose), Bob Chilcott, and John Rutter, as well as Stille Nacht, White Christmas and Chestnuts roasting on an open fire. Tickets $13. View here.

2 pm ET: Kaufman Music Center presents Rubén Rengel. The violinist plays solo works by Ysaÿe, Penderecki, Coleridge-Taylor, and Poulenc, along with folk repertoire from his native Venezuela. Tickets $15. View here.

2 pm ET: Live From The Barbican presents A Dickensian Christmas. Hilary Davan Wetton conducts costumed members of London Concert Brass and a choir performing a selection of Victorian and classic carols to evoke an era of roast goose, plum-pudding, the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge, and the golden-hearted Tiny Tim. Joining them is actor Kevin Whately channeling the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future. Tickets £12.50 and view here. LIVE

2 pm ET: The Royal Ballet presents Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Christopher Wheeldon's fantastical ballet is suitable for the whole family and features the colourful characters from Lewis Carroll's well-loved book. Highlights including a tap-dancing Mad Hatter and the Queen of Hearts' hilarious homage to the Rose Adagio from The Sleeping Beauty. This performance stars Royal Ballet Principals Lauren Cuthbertson and Federico Bonelli. Tickets £3. View here until January 21.    

2:30 pm ET: Concertgebouworkest presents Gergiev conducts Shostakovich & Bruckner. Valery Gergiev leads the orchestra in Shostakovich’s First Violin Concerto with Sergei Dogadin as solist, followed by Bruckner’s Ninth Symphony. Tickets Euro 15. View here.

4 pm ET: New York String Orchestra Seminar presents Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6. Jaime Laredo and Emanuel Ax discuss Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6. 2020 NYSOS participants play excerpts from the work. View here.

7 pm ET: Handel + Haydn Society presents A Baroque Christmas. H+H Associate Conductor Ian Watson leads a program of music for the season from Boston’s beautiful St. Cecilia Parish. Program includes Veni, veni Emmanuel, Dall’Abaco’s Concerto à più instrumenti in D, Op. 5, No. 1, Charpentier’s A la venue de Noël, Biber’s Mystery Sonata No. 3 in B Minor, Nativity, and Torelli’s Concerto Grosso in G Minor, Op. 6, No. 8, Christmas Concerto. View here and on demand.

7:30 pm ET: Nightly Met Opera Streams presents Massenet’s Cendrillon. Starring Kathleen Kim, Joyce DiDonato, Alice Coote, Stephanie Blythe, and Laurent Naouri, conducted by Bertrand de Billy. From April 28, 2018. View here and for 24 hours.

Wednesday, December 23

12 pm ET: Academy of St. Martins in the Fields presents Carols for Christmas. St. Martin’s Voices and presenter Zeb Soanes offer an hour of favorite carols and readings in a celebration of the Christmas season. Tickets £10. View here and on demand until December 31.

1 pm ET: Wiener Staatsoper presents Grieg’s Peer Gynt. Conductor: Simon Hewett, choreography: Edward Clug. With Jakob Feyferlik, Alice Firenze, Eno Peci, and Zolt Török. Production from December 2018. Register for free and view here. 

2 pm ET: VOCES8 Live from London presents VOCES8. Seasonal a cappella choral music that is peaceful and joyful in equal measure. Repertoire includes music by Bach, Sweelinck, Britten, Philip Stopford, and Jonathan Rathbone, alongside arrangements of lighter repertoire. Tickets £12.50 and view here.

2 pm ET: DG Stage presents Advent & Christmas at the Sistine Chapel. The Sistine Chapel Choir and its director Massimo Palombella presents medieval plainchant and masterpieces of Renaissance polyphony written for the liturgical period of Advent and Christmas. Performing in the unique acoustic of the Sistine Chapel, the world’s longest-established choir performs works by composers such as Palestrina, Nanino, Marenzio, Victoria, and Allegri, including several world premieres. Tickets Euro 4.90. View here.

2 pm ET: Live With Carnegie Hall presents Coast to Coast with NYO-USA and NYO2. Sarah Willis—horn player in the Berliner Philharmoniker—hosts a concert by the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America (NYO-USA) and NYO2 specifically for online, including excerpts from Valerie Coleman’s Umoja and the video premiere of their performance of selections from Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. Members from both orchestras will be on hand to chat. View here and on demand.

2 pm ET: IDAGIO presents Classical (R)evolution with Rachel. Join soprano Rachel Fenlon as she explores what breaking the rules, embracing uncertainty, and thinking “outside the box” does for classical music-making. In this episode: Cuban-Chinese cellist & artist, Sophia Bacelar. View here. LIVE

2:30 pm ET: IDAGIO Global Concert Hall presents Christmas Music by Candlelight. Ex Cathedra presents a sequence of music from seasonal favourites to little-known gems and new works. Filmed at Symphony Hall, Birmingham, UK. Program includes classics like In the bleak midwinter, the harmonies of composers like Will Todd and Samuel Barber, and pieces written especially for Ex Cathedra by Liz Dilnot Johnson, Alec Roth, and Roderick Williams. The concert culminates with the central question of Christmas in Bach’s chorale setting How shall I fitly meet Thee? Tickets $13. View here.

4 pm ET: New York String Orchestra Seminar presents Gabriela Lena Frank’s Elegia Andina. Jaime Laredo and Emanuel Ax are joined by composer Gabriela Lena Frank in a discussion of her work Elegia Andina and the rewards and challenges of introducing new work to student ensembles. 2020 Participants play excerpts from the work. View here.

7:30 pm ET: Nightly Met Opera Streams presents Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia. Starring Isabel Leonard, Lawrence Brownlee, Christopher Maltman, Maurizo Muraro, and Paata Burchuladze, conducted by Michele Mariotti. From November 22, 2014. View here and for 24 hours.

Thursday, December 24

4 am ET: Bayerische Staatsoper presents Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel. Friedrich Haider conducts Richard Jones’s staging with Milan Siljanov, Okka von der Damerau, Tara Erraught, Emily Pogorelc, Kevin Conners, Daria Proszek, and Sarah Gilford. View here and free on demand for 48 hours.

2 pm ET: VOCES8 Live from London presents I Fagiolini. Inspired by the poem of a British prisoner of war written 80 years ago, this Anglo-French celebration of Midnight Mass weaves four classic carol-anthems by Herbert Howells into Charpentier’s Messe de Minuit for voices, strings and flutes alongside readings of Winter poems including part of Dylan Thomas’s A Child’s Christmas in Wales and T.S. Eliot’s Journey of the Magi. Tickets £12.50 and view here.

2 pm ET: DG Stage presents Baroque Christmas Concert 1999. Baroque Christmas music from lyric soprano Barbara Bonney and baritone Matthias Goerne recorded live at Freiburg Cathedral in 1999. Accompanied by the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, Bonney and Goerne sing extracts from Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, Mozart’s Mass in C minor and Handel’s Messiah. Also performing against the festively decorated backdrop of this historic building are the German Brass ensemble and the cathedral’s boys’ choir. Tickets Euro 4.90. View here.

7:30 pm ET: Live With Carnegie Hall presents New York String Orchestra. For more than 50 years, the New York String Orchestra has performed every Christmas Eve with concerts featuring talented young musicians alongside guest artists. Revisit past performances and go behind the scenes with conductor Jaime Laredo and guest pianist Emanuel Ax as this year’s seminar goes online. View here and on demand.

7:30 pm ET: Nightly Met Opera Streams presents Puccini’s La Bohème. Starring Teresa Stratas, Renata Scotto, José Carreras, Richard Stilwell, Allan Monk, and James Morris, conducted by James Levine. From January 16, 1982. View here and for 24 hours. **

Friday, December 25

10 am ET: NDR Elbphilharmonie presents Bach’s Christmas Oratorio. Ensemble Resonanz presents Bach's Christmas Oratorio as Hausmusik among friends. With a small cast and no large choir, the ensemble has arranged 30 arias, recitatives, choruses, and chorales from Bach's masterpiece in its own version. The score remains untouched, but electric guitar and Hammond organ sound in the continuo, there’s only one trumpet, and the whole ensemble joins in the chorales. View here. **

1 pm ET: Wiener Staatsoper presents Delibes’s Sylvia. Conductor: Kevin Rhodes, choreography: Manuel Legris after Louis Mérante. With Kiyoka Hashimoto, Masayu Kimoto, and Davide Dato. Production from November 2018. Register for free and view here. 

2 pm ET: VOCES8 Live from London presents Gabrieli Consort & Players. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio BWV248 Part I: The Birth of Jesus. Cantata I, Jauchzet, frohlocket!, is performed by the Gabrieli Consort & Players conducted by Paul McCreesh with Anna Dennis, soprano, Tim Mead, countertenor, Hugo Hymas, tenor, and Ashley Riches, bass-baritone. Tickets £12.50 and view here.

2 pm ET: DG Stage presents Christmas Oratorio Cantatas 1-3. The first half of a performance given over two days at Weimar’s historic Herderkirche by the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists, conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner. Soloists Claron McFadden, Bernarda Fink, Christoph Genz, and Dietrich Henschel lead the first part of the Christmas story, from the Birth of Christ to the Adoration of the Shepherds. Tickets Euro 4.90. View here.

2 pm ET: Teatro Massimo presents Omer Meir Wellber. From Teatro Massimo in Palermo, Omer Meir Wellber conducts Prokofiev’s Overture on Jewish Themes, Op. 34, Schnittke’s Quintet for Piano and Strings, and Stravinsky’s Histoire du soldat with narrator Eli Danker. View here.

7:30 pm ET: Nightly Met Opera Streams presents Humperdinck’s Hansel & Gretel. Starring Christine Schäfer, Alice Coote, Rosalind Plowright, Philip Langridge, and Alan Held, conducted by Vladimir Jurowski. From January 1, 2008. View here and for 24 hours. **

Saturday, December 26

10 am ET: Concertgebouworkest presents Christmas Matinee. Fabio Luisi, who was scheduled to lead the Christmas Matinee, has tested positive for COVID-19 so Klaus Mäkelä will lead the orchestra in a modified program of Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony and Debussy’s La Mer. Tickets Euro 15. View here.

12 pm ET: NPR Music presents AMPLIFY with Lara Downes & Jon Batiste. Downes talks with pianist Jon Batiste, bandleader and musical director of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, about the challenge of balancing the visionary, idealistic side of artistic creation with the artist’s responsibility to engage and reflect upon the world as it is. The bi-weekly series features intimate and deeply personal video conversations with visionary Black musicians who are shaping the present and future of the art form. View here.

1 pm ET: OperaVision presents Nutcracker. Ballet Company of the National Opera of Ukraine's staging of Nutcracker was recorded in Kiev on May 29, 2018. Behind a charming tale which captures the festive spirit emerges a journey from childhood to adulthood with much virtuosity along the way, all set to Tchaikovsky's immediately recognisable music. View here for three months.

1 pm ET: Wiener Staatsoper presents Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel. Conductor: Christian Thielemann, director: Adrian Noble. With Daniela Sindram, Ileana Tonca, Michaela Schuster, Adrian Eröd, and Janina Baechle. Production from 2015. Register for free and view here. 

2 pm ET: DG Stage presents Christmas Oratorio Cantatas 4-6. The second half of a performance given over two days at Weimar’s historic Herderkirche by the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists, conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner. Soloists Claron McFadden, Bernarda Fink, Christoph Genz, and Dietrich Henschel lead the Christmas story, from the Circumcision and Naming of Jesus to the Adoration of the Wise Men. Tickets Euro 4.90. View here.

2 pm ET: VOCES8 Live from London presents Gabrieli Consort & Players. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio BWV248 Part II: Shepherds and Angels. Cantata II, Und es waren Hirten in derselben Gegend is performed by the Gabrieli Consort & Players conducted by Paul McCreesh with Carolyn Sampson, soprano, Tim Mead, countertenor, Jeremy Budd, tenor, and Roderick Williams, bass-baritone. Tickets £12.50 and view here.

7:30 pm ET: Nightly Met Opera Streams presents Lehár’s The Merry Widow. Starring Renée Fleming, Kelli O'Hara, Nathan Gunn, Alek Shrader, and Sir Thomas Allen, conducted by Sir Andrew Davis. From January 17, 2015. View here and for 24 hours.

Sunday, December 27

1 pm ET: OperaVision presents Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann. Recorded in October 2015, Barrie Kosky tells Offenbach's fantastic story as a disturbing nightmare of an artist who increasingly loses his sense of identity. As we dive into the obsessions of a deranged mind, the title role is shared by three performers—including an actor—while a single soprano (Nicole Chevalier) embodies all four female lead roles. View here for one month.

1 pm ET: Wiener Staatsoper presents Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier. Conductor: Philippe Jordan, Director: Otto Schenk. With Martina Serafin, Daniela Sindram, Günther Groissböck, Erin Morley, Jochen Schmeckenbecher, Piotr Beczala. Production from December 2020. Register for free and view here. 

2 pm ET: VOCES8 Live from London presents Gabrieli Consort & Players. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio BWV248 Part III: At the Manger. Cantata III, Herrscher des Himmels, erhöre das Lallen is performed by the Gabrieli Consort & Players conducted by Paul McCreesh with Anna Dennis, soprano, Helen Charlston, mezzo-soprano, Hugo Hymas, tenor, and Roderick Williams, bass-baritone. Tickets £12.50 and view here.

2 pm ET: DG Stage presents Gergiev conducts The Nutcracker. Tchaikovsky’s ballet filmed live at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, where the ballet was first staged in 1892. The production stars Alina Somova as the Princess Masha and Vladimir Shklyarov as the Nutcracker Prince. Tickets Euro 4.90. View here.

7 pm ET: New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players present Cox and Box. An original film shot and fully staged at South Orange Performing Arts Center with an Actors Equity Association-approved COVID-19 safety plan. Mr. Cox and Mr. Box dig in their heels when they discover the mischievous scheme of their landlord, Sgt. Bouncer, in this early score by Sir Arthur Sullivan. The film is brought to life by director Matthew Wages with a vision in-line with situational comedy and 21st-century sensibilities. Ticket $25 per-household with a post-show Zoom meet and greet on December 27, December 30 at 2:30 pm ET and a New Year’s Eve special December 31 at 8 pm ET. View here.

7:30 pm ET: Met Opera Streams presents Verdi’s Falstaff. Starring Lisette Oropesa, Angela Meade, Stephanie Blythe, Jennifer Johnson Cano, Paolo Fanale, Ambrogio Maestri, and Franco Vassallo, conducted by James Levine. From December 14, 2013. View here and for 24 hours.

Monday, December 28

7:30 pm ET: Met Opera Streams presents Puccini’s La Bohème. Starring Renata Scotto, Maralin Niska, Luciano Pavarotti, Ingvar Wixell, and Paul Plishka, conducted by James Levine. From March 15, 1977. View here and for 24 hours. **

1 pm ET: Wiener Staatsoper presents Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte. Conductor: Adam Fischer, Director: Moshe Leiser, Patrice Caurier. With Jörg Schneider, Olga Bezsmertna, René Pape, Hila Fahima, Thomas Tatzl. Production from December 2017. Register for free and view here. 

Artists and Organizations Offering Free Content

Academy of Ancient Music
The most listened-to period instrument ensemble, directed by Richard Egarr, has made a number of streams available on its website. Guest artists include Louise Alder, soprano, Nicola Benedetti, violin, Mary Bevan, soprano, David Blackadder, trumpet, Iestyn Davies, countertenor, Tim Mead, countertenor, Christopher Purvis, bass, and Tenebrae, directed by Nigel Short. Explore here.

American Opera Project
First Glimpse is a video album of 20 songs created during the first year of AOP’s 2019-21 fellowship program, Composers & the Voice. Originally intended as a live concert, the videos will be released every Friday beginning October 23 and for the following six weeks. The composers are Alaina Ferris, Matt Frey, Michael Lanci, Mary Prescott, Jessica Rudman and Tony Solitro, with librettists Amanda Hollander and Jonathan Douglass Turner. Videos will be free for one week following their release, after which they will be available to rent or purchase, individually or as a full set through AOP's Website. Explore here.

American Symphony Orchestra
American Symphony Orchestra releases weekly recordings from its archives with content alternating between live video recordings of SummerScape operas and audio recordings from previous ASO concerts. Ethel Smyth’s The Wreckers, Richard Strauss’s Die Liebe aus Danae, and Korngold’s Das Wunder der Heliane, all conducted by Leon Botstein, are all highly recommended and available now.

Apollo’s Fire: Music for the Soul
The Cleveland-based baroque orchestra founded by Artistic Director Jeannette Sorrell is offering a series of video streams entitled “Music for the Soul.” New episodes are posted here.

Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
BSO Sessions continues to bring the stories of BSO musicians, conductors, and collaborators to life through a documentary-style narrative. In addition to the first three episodes currently available upcoming episodes celebrate a responsible return of winds and brass to the stage, as well as the series debut of Music Director Marin Alsop and Principal Pops Conductor Jack Everly. Assistant Conductor Jonathan Rush interviews film composer Michael Abels and Artistic Partner Wordsmith joins in a special holiday episode with a new rendition of “’Twas the Night Before Christmas.” Explore here.

NEW: Bang On A Can
Bang on a Can will stream performances from all four 2020 Online Marathons for on-demand viewing from December 24, 2020 - January 1, 2021. Each online Marathon featured performances from musicians’s homes around the country and across the world—a total of 95 performances including 31 world premieres of new commissions and over 130 composers and performers. All performers and composers have been compensated and Bang on a Can signed more than 150 paychecks to working artists to create and play on these marathons. The online collection also includes dozens of artist conversations with Bang on a Can Co-Founders and Artistic Directors Michael Gordon, David Lang, and Julia Wolfe. All videos will be free to stream but viewers are encouraged to consider purchasing a ticket as doing so will enable Bang on a Can to do more performances, pay more players, commission more composers, and share more music worldwide. View here.

Bard SummerScape & Fisher Center
Archival works highlight Bard’s wealth and breadth of programming, including performances from its SummerScape Opera and BMF archives. Recent include Bard SummerScape’s 2011 production of Strauss’s rarely performed Die Liebe der Danae and last year’s Daniel Fish directed staging of Michael Gordon’s Acquanetta. More details here.

NEW: Bergen Philharmonic
Bergen’s outstanding orchestra enjoys national status in Norway with a history dating back to 1765. Its free streaming service was established as part of 250-year anniversary in 2015 and offers a fine selection of works from its concert series in Grieghallen, Bergen. Conductors include Edward Gardner, James Gaffigan, Thierry Fischer, David Zinman, Neeme Järvi, Jukka Pekka Saraste, Nathalie Stutzmann, and Christian Zacharias with soloists including Leif Ove Andsnes, Lise Davidsen, Truls Mørk, Mari Eriksmoen, and Freddy Kempf. Well worth exploring here.

Carnegie Hall
More than 200 teen musicians hailing from 41 states across the US came together in July 2020 as an online virtual community to form three musical ensembles: the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America (NYO-USA), NYO2, and NYO Jazz. All three ensembles recorded exuberant virtual performance videos during the residency, directed by Emmy Award-winner Habib Azar. The first four videos—Valerie Coleman’s Umoja by the musicians of NYO-USA; a unique adaptation of Grieg’s Morning Mood by NYO2; and Thad Jones’s Cherry Juice and Wycliffe Gordon’s We’re Still Here by NYO Jazz—are now available for viewing. Explore here.

The Cleveland Orchestra
Concert videos filmed at restaurants, shops, Cleveland Clinic, and iconic locations throughout Greater Cleveland will be released weekly on social media starting November 23. Cleveland Orchestra assistant concertmaster Jessica Lee and her colleagues created these videos to share the power of music with healthcare workers, patients, and the community affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. This series of 7-10 videos will be released weekly as part of the Music Medicine Initiative: The Power of Music for Health and Well-Being, a community collaboration between The Cleveland Orchestra and Cleveland Clinic’s Art + Design Institute. Explore here.

Cliburn Kids
The Cliburn launches its expanded, robust online music education program for elementary-school students. Created as a resource for school districts, teachers, and parents, the initiative includes 27 lesson plans to date, each with a seven- to ten-minute video, and corresponding individual and class activities that meet objectives of the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS). New episodes and lesson plans are released every Tuesday of the 2020–2021 school year for a total of more than 50 by May 2021. Explore here.

Daniel Hope: Hope@Home, Next Generation
With the return of restrictions throughout Europe, violinist Daniel Hope is once again playing live from his Berlin living room every evening. As he explains: “I think it is important now for established artists to use their influence to help the next generation, so that they have a chance in the future. That is why I have decided to restart Hope@Home, as well as to reconnect to people in lockdown around the world. Selected mentors will present young, freelance artists. All artists will receive a fee for their performances, and we will adhere to all COVID-19 regulations.” Mentors—performing either virtually or live—include Christoph Eschenbach, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Renaud Capuçon, Sol Gabetta, and Sarah Willis. View here with episodes archived here.

Detroit Symphony Orchestra
The Detroit Symphony Orchestra has made its webcast archive available for free. The collection features 200+ works going back three years, and highlights include Leonard Slatkin conducting John Luther Adams’s climate change-inspired Become Ocean from 2019, several world premieres, and a host of bite-sized encores. Explore here.

Deutsche Grammophon Yellow Lounge
The German classical music giant is streaming Yellow Lounge broadcasts from its archives. Recent additions include clarinetist Andreas Ottensamer, pianists Alice Sara Ott and Chihiro Yamanaka, and cellist Mischa Maisky. Performances are broadcast in rotation, one video at a time, adding a new performance every few days. DG communicates the start of each new performance by newsletter at the start of each week. To keep updated sign up here.

Finnish National Opera
Finnish National Opera presents Stage24, a series of streamed archived performances on its website, which are then available for the next six months. Recent content includes a staged version of Sibelius’s Kullervo, Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress, Caspar Holten’s staging of Wagner’s Der Fliegende Holländer with Camilla Nylund, and Christoff Loy’s Tosca. An excellent company and some interesting and original work worth investigating. Explore here.

Handel and Haydn Society
Boston’s Handel and Haydn Society has created the H+H Listening Room where you can hear and watch H+H performances including Mozart’s Requiem, Handel’s Messiah, and Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas filmed at New York’s Met Museum. There are also more than a dozen videos of musicians performing from their homes, a special video of principal flutist Emi Ferguson teaching people how to make their own baroque flute, and a new podcast called “Tuning In”. In the first episode Principal Cellist Guy Fishman interviews Artistic Director Harry Christophers about Bach's St. Matthew Passion. Explore here.

NEW: Kennedy Center: Arts Across America: Winter Traditions.
As millions across the United States will be altering traditions to keep friends, loved ones, and neighbors safe, the Kennedy Center will be sharing performances from across the country and numerous communities and cultures to celebrate traditions held dear. Highlights include performances from Renée Fleming, Amythyst Kiah, Broadway’s Austin Colby, Caroline Bowman, and Nicholas Ward, Los Texmaniacs celebrating their own Texas miracle following a battle with COVID-19, and D.C. favorites DuPont Brass, Aaron Myers, and Chuck Redd. Explore Winer Traditions here and other Kennedy Center regular online releases via their digital stage here.

La Scala/RAI
Italy’s RAI presents five productions from La Scala Milan including the world premiere of Kurtág’s Fin de Partie, Daniel Barenboim conducting Götterdämmerung, Lisette Oropesa in Verdi’s I Masnadieri, Montedervi’s Orfeo conducted by Rinaldo Alessandrini, and Les Vêpres Siciliennes conducted by Daniele Gatti. A wide range of concerts are also available. Explore and register here.

Les Arts Florissants
Les Arts Florissants’s annual Festival in Thiré, France included a series of 10- to 15-minute “Meditation” concerts recorded earlier this summer. Now available to enjoy online, the Meditations include performances by students of Juilliard’s Historical Performance program in the spirit of their annual participation in the Festival. View here.

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center Passport to the Arts
A variety of virtual classes, performances, and bonus content designed for children, teens and adults with disabilities and their families. Offerings include programs with Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Metropolitan Opera Guild, New York City Ballet, the New York Philharmonic, and The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Families can attend dance, music or drama classes, watch exclusive performances, check out behind-the-scenes content, and even meet performers—all from their homes. Families will receive pre-visit materials, including social narratives, photos, and links before each program. All programs take place via Zoom. Register here.

Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra
LACO AT HOME offers streaming and on demand performances, including a full showing of the orchestra’s critically acclaimed West Coast premiere of Dark with Excessive Bright for double bass and strings by LACO Artist-in-Residence Missy Mazzoli. View streaming here and on demand here.

Los Angeles Master Chorale
Videos recorded as part of the “Offstage with the Los Angeles Master Chorale” series from April 24 to June 19 included interviews conducted by Artistic Director Grant Gershon and Associate Conductor Jenny Wong with notable performers—including special guests Reena Esmail, Morten Lauridsen, Anna Schubert, Peter Sellars, Derrick Spiva—as well as Master Chorale singers. Available on demand here.

Metropolitan Opera Live In Schools
The Metropolitan Opera’s HD Live in Schools program has launched a new series for the 2020–21 school year, creating cross-disciplinary educational opportunities across the country. For the 2020–21 school year, students and teachers will receive free subscriptions to the Met Opera on Demand service, with a catalogue of more than 700 Live in HD presentations, classic telecasts, and radio broadcasts. Ten operas have been selected for the HD Live in Schools program, and will be presented in five educational units, with two thematically paired operas per unit. The series opens with Beethoven’s Fidelio and Donizetti’s La Fille du Régiment (September 28–October 16), both of which explore the intersection of music and politics. The Met will continue to offer teachers HD Live in Schools Educator Guides and access to Google Classroom materials that can be adapted for virtual learning lesson plans. In addition, the Met’s National Educators Conference will be hosted on a virtual platform this year and take place on five Saturdays throughout the 2020–21 school year. Two conferences, scheduled for October 10, 2020, and October 17, 2020, will also feature live conversations with Met artists. More information here.

Minnesota Orchestra
Minnesota Orchestra at Home shares video, audio, and educational materials through the categories of Watch, Listen and Learn, including videos from the orchestra’s archives and newly created “mini-concerts” directly from the homes of Orchestra musicians. Explore and view here.

National Sawdust Digital Discovery Festival, Volume One
With more than 65 events, featuring over 100 artists premiering in a four-month span, National Sawdust Digital Discovery Festival: Volume One was a bright spot in NYC's post-COVID live music world. Featuring post-COVID performances from Robert Wilson, Julian Lage, Tyondai Braxton, Emel Mathlouthi, Matthew Whitaker, Dan Tepfer, Ashley Bathgate, Emily Wells, Brooklyn Rider, Joel Ross, Conrad Tao, Andrew Yee, and Lucy Dhegrae, and recently recorded Masterclasses with Tania León, Ted Hearne, Vijay Iyer, Jamie Barton, Lawrence Brownlee, Trimpin, and Lara St. John. Archival performances include David Byrne, Lara Downes and Rhiannon Giddens, and Ryuichi Sakamoto. Explore here.

New World Symphony
The New World Symphony presents a web-based series called NWS Archive+. Michael Tilson Thomas moderates discussions with NWS Fellows, alumni, guest artists, and visiting faculty about archived recordings. Performances will be available here. NWS Fellows also play live, informal chamber music concerts from their homes in Miami Beach and broadcast via Facebook Live. In addition, the NWS online archive contains master classes, tutorials and town halls, which can be found here. Finally, for the past 10 years, the Fellows have performed one-hour concerts for local school children. These concerts and preparatory material will be available free to students and parents. NWS Educational concerts can be found here.

Opera Australia
OA | TV: Opera Australia on Demand is the Sydney-based company’s new digital space. Alongside the world’s largest collection of Dame Joan Sutherland on video, OA will offer exclusive content from the OA back catalogue, productions from Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour, and a new series of chat show-style interviews conducted by AD Lyddon Terracini. The first posted full show is Sutherland in The Merry Widow, and the fileted aria’s in the section labelled “The Best of Dame Joan Sutherland” are even better. View here.

Opéra National de Paris
The Palais Garnier and Bastille Opera have made their digital stage, “The 3e Scène,” free. The platform is a pure place of artistic adventure and exploration, giving free rein to photographers, filmmakers, writers, illustrators, visual artists, composers, and choreographers to create original works. Visit here. Some of Opéra National de Paris’s productions are accessible on the company’s Facebook Page. In addition, Octave, the Paris Opera’s online magazine, is posting articles, videos, and interviews here.

Opera North
One of Britain’s most respected smaller opera companies, Opera North has put its acclaimed semi-staged concerts of Wagner’s epic Ring Cycle online. “Beg, borrow, or be like Wotan and steal a ticket for this show,” said the UK’s Times of Das Rheingold. “You’d be lucky to hear as good at Bayreuth,” said The Telegraph of Die Walküre. Richard Farnes proves a seriously impressive Wagner conductor. Watch here.

OperaVision
OperaVision offers livestreams of operas available for free and online for six months. Previous offerings include Barrie Kosky’s visually spectacular Moses und Aron, David McVicar’s superb Die Entführung aus dem Serail from Glyndebourne, and Deborah Warner’s thoughtful Death in Venice for English National Opera. View upcoming and past content here.

Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra: Beethoven at Home

RPO bring Beethoven to living rooms in December playing all nine symphonies. The musicians will perform the first eight symphonies in small chamber ensembles varying from a string sextet to a 15-strong brass ensemble. The Grand Finale takes place on New Year’s Eve: Beethoven’s Ninth, played by the full orchestra with chorus and soloists. View here.

Orli Shaham Bach Yard Playdates
Pianist Orli Shaham brings her acclaimed interactive concert series for kids to the internet. Bach Yard Playdates introduces musical concepts, instruments, and the experience of concert-going to a global audience of children and their families. A number of 10-minute episodes are already available for on-demand streaming. Programs and performances range from Bach’s Two-Part Invention to Steve Reich’s Clapping Music. Explore here.

The Sixteen
The Sixteen and founder Harry Christophers launched Quarantine with The Sixteen, a regular schedule of digital content. The Sixteen Virtual Choir’s performance of Sheppard’s Libera nos involved each part being recorded at each singer’s home. Other features include: Choral Chihuahua, a podcast by The Sixteen and I Fagiolini; Stay at Home Choir performing Sir James MacMillan’s O Radiant Dawn; Archive performances, including MacMillan’s Stabat Mater performed in the Sistine Chapel and Bach’s St Matthew Passion with Streetwise Opera; Recipes for isolation; Video diaries providing insight into daily lives during lockdown; Weekly playlists. Explore here.

NEW: The Sphinx Organization
Dedicated to transforming lives through the power of diversity in the arts, Sphinx is presenting SphinxConnect 2021: UNITY! online from January 28 to 30. This year’s convening features over 70 speakers. Highlights include an opening session with Elizabeth Alexander, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation President, and a closing session with pianist and 2014 Sphinx Medalist Damien Sneed. Panels include: Artful Resilience: How Musicians Innovate in Crisis, Socially Vocal: A Discussion on Race and Identity in the Arts, This is Everyone's Fight: How Philanthropic Institutions Stepped Forth to Support Artists and BIPOC Institutions with speakers including Jenny Bilfield, Clive Gillinson, and Deborah Rutter. Th Digital sessions are interactive, and participants will have opportunities for one-on-one networking with panelists during the three-day conference. Tickets are $150 as well as a “Pay What You Are Able” option to minimize attendance barriers. Explore here.

Trinity Wall Street
New York’s Trinity Church Wall Street introduces daily weekday “Comfort at One” (1 pm ET) streaming performances on Facebook with full videos posted here. Tune in for encore performances of favorite Trinity concerts, professionally filmed in HD, along with current at-home performances from Trinity’s extended artistic family.

University of Colorado Boulder
University of Colorado Boulder College of Music faculty artists perform with students and colleagues in Faculty Tuesdays, chamber music recitals featuring world premieres alongside classics. Free most Tuesdays from September 2020 through March 2021. Upcoming performers include violinist Harumi Rhodes, violist Richard O'Neill, cellist David Requiro, pianist David Korevaar, harpist Janet Harriman, and more. Explore here.

Vertical Player Repertory: The Constitution
VPR is releasing of a series of videos from Benjamin Yarmolinsky’s oratorio The Constitution, a work which played six sold-out live performances in 2019 and was called “an important work,” and “uniformly excellent,” by Musical America. First up is Voting Rights, which sets the text “The right of citizens of the United States, who are 18 years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States, or by any state, on account of age, by reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax, on account of sex, on account of race, on account of color, or of previous condition of servitude.” Future releases will include The First Amendment (Treason), The Fifth Amendment (Self-Incrimination), The Sixth Amendment (Impartial Jury), The Eighth Amendment (Cruel and Unusual Punishment), The Thirteenth Amendment (Abolition of Slavery), and The Miranda Warning (a world premiere). Explore here.

Voices of Ascension
New York choir Voices of Ascension, which celebrates its 30th anniversary next season, is posting a daily offering of choral beauty on its website. Music is chosen by staff, members of the chorus and orchestra, and listeners. View here.

Warsaw Philharmonic
The Warsaw Philharmonic has made a selection of video recordings available on its YouTube channel. Recent offerings include Saint-Saëns’s Organ Symphony and Arvo Pärt’s Swansong conducted by Artistic Director Andrzej Boreyko, as well as rarities by Polish composers like Grazyna Bacewicz. It’s an excellent orchestra very much in the Eastern European tradition and concerts have been master edited for posting online.

Paid Digital Arts Services

Berlin Philharmonic Digital Concert Hall
The BPO Digital Concert Hall contains over 600 orchestra concerts covering more than ten years, including 15 concerts with the orchestra’s new Chief Conductor Kirill Petrenko, interviews, backstage footage.

Medici TV
Thousands of classical music videos are available by subscription, as well as hundreds of events that are broadcast live for free each year, available for 90 days. Subscriptions cost $83.85 per year. www.medici.tv