MA's Free Guide to (Mostly) Free Streams, July 26-August 2

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 while Pacific Time (PT) is three hours behind. Contact cpaget@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.

** Highly recommended

Monday, July 26

5 am ET: Verbier Festival presents Daniel Lozakovich & Behzod Abduraimov. Violinist Daniel Lozakovich and pianist Behzod Abduraimov perform Schubert’s Sonatina in D, Op. 137 No. 1, D. 384 and Beethoven’s Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 9 in A Major, Op. 47, Kreutzer Sonata. View here. LIVE

** 10 am ET: DG Stage presents Bayreuth Festival: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. The high point of the 2017 Bayreuth Festival, Barrie Kosky’s entertaining production of Wagner’s comedy is headed by Michael Volle’s eloquent Hans Sachs. Philippe Jordan conducts a cast that includes Günther Groissböck, Johannes Martin Kränzle, Klaus Florian Vogt, Daniel Behle, and Anne Schwanewilms. Commentary by Philippe Jordan, Barrie Kosky, and Michael Volle will precede the stream. Register and view here for two days.

1 pm ET: Music from Copland House presents Underscored: Piano Trio No. 1 by Pierre Jalbert. Jalbert’s Piano Trio No. 1 balances the visceral and the spiritual referencing life and redemption in its two movements: “Life Cycle” is propulsive, wide-ranging, and often primal, while “Agnus Dei” (from that portion of the Latin Mass about the cleansing of life’s sins) is meditative and chant-like. In addition to MCH’s complete performance of the piece, this free, hour-long program includes an introductory conversation with the composer. Register and view here, or here for a repeat performance at 7 pm ET.

1 pm ET: Verbier Festival presents Mendelssohn, Schumann & Dvorák. A remarkable line-up of chamber musicians—Janine Jansen, Alexander Sitkovetsky, Lawrence Power, Mischa Maisky, Kian Soltani, Nikolaï Lugansky, and Lahav Shani—perform Mendelssohn’s Trio for Piano, Violin and Cello No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 66, Schumann’s Piano Trio No. 3 in G minor, Op. 110, and Dvorák’s Piano Quintet No. 2 in A, Op. 81. View here. LIVE

1:30 pm ET: Gstaad Digital Festival presents Roman Borisov. Pianist Roman Borisov plays Bach’s Italian Concerto in F, BWV 971, Chopin’s Ballade No. 4 in F Minor, Op. 52, Brahms’s Four Klavierstücke, Op. 119, nd Prokofiev’s Piano Sonata No. 7 in B-flat, Op. 83. The concert was recorded live on July 24 at Gstaad. View here and on demand.

4 pm ET: Bowdoin International Music Festival presents Miró Quartet. From the Studzinski Recital Hall in Brunswick, Maine, the Miró Quartet performs George Walker’s Lyric for Strings, Kevin Puts’s Home, and Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 13 in B-flat, Op. 130 with the Grosse Fuge, Op. 133. View here. LIVE

** 7:30 pm ET: Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center presents Farrenc, Fauré, Debussy, Boulanger & Ravel. Recorded this spring at the Frederick R. Koch Foundation Townhouse, this newly curated full-length HD concert features pianists Gilles Vonsattel and Wu Han performing Farrenc’s Air russe varié for Piano, Fauré’s Dolly Suite for Piano, Four Hands, Op. 56, Debussy’s Petite Suite for Piano, Four Hands, Lili Boulanger’s Trois Morceaux for Piano, and Ravel’s La Valse for Piano, Four Hands. View here for one year.

Tuesday, July 27

** 12 pm ET: DG Stage presents Bayreuth Festival: Der Fliegende Holländer. As part of its second virtual Bayreuth Festival, DG Stage presents Dmitri Tcherniakov’s new staging of Wagner’s Der Fliegende Holländer. The Russian director is making his Bayreuth debut, as is Ukrainian conductor Oksana Lyniv, who will be the first woman to take to the podium in the Festival’s long history. Asmik Grigorian sings Senta with John Lundgren in the title role. Euro 9.90. View here until August 2.

12 pm ET: Verbier Festival presents Mäkelä conducts Brahms & Schumann. Klaus Mäkelä conducts two concerts with violinist Daniel Lozakovich and cellist Mischa Maisky. First comes Brahms’s Violin Concerto in D, Op. 77 and Schumann’s Symphony No. 2 in C, Op. 61. After that comes Schumann’s Cello Concerto in A Minor, Op. 129 and another performance of Schumann’s Symphony No. 2 in C, Op. 61. View here. LIVE

10 pm ET: Seattle Chamber Music Festival presents Martinu, Goodyear & Mendelssohn. James Ehnes and Raphael Bell perform Martinu’s Duo No. 1 for Violin and Cello, H. 157, Stewart Goodyear plays the world premiere of his own composition, Isolation, and Mendelssohn’s Quintet for Strings in B-flat, Op. 87 is performed by James Ehnes, Benjamin Beilman, Cynthia Phelps, Yura Lee, and Raphael Bell. Tickets $25. View here and on demand.

Wednesday, July 28

** 5 am ET: Verbier Festival presents Michael Barenboim, Joshua Bell, Lawrence Power, Sheku Kanneh-Mason & Lahav Shani perform Brahms. A starry line-up performs Brahms’s Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 1 in G, Op. 78 and the Piano Quintet in F Minor, Op. 34. View here. LIVE

10 am ET: Verbier Festival presents Mao Fujita performs Mozart IV. Verbier Festival Academy alumnus Mao Fujita makes his solo debut on the stage of the Verbier Festival in the fourth of five concerts performing the complete Mozart Piano Sonatas. View here. LIVE

1 pm ET: OperaVision presents Verdi’s Il Trovatore. As Aragon descends into unrest, a count jealously fights for a noble lady's heart. But she has already given it to a passionate troubadour whose mother holds a terrible secret. Opera di Roma’s production was recorded on June 19, 2021, at Circo Massimo, Rome. Christopher Maltman sings the Count di Luna with Roberta Mantegna as Leonora, Clémentine Margaine as Azucena, and Fabio Sartori as Manrico. Daniele Gatti conducts Lorenzo Mariani’s production. View here for six months.

Sasha Cooke, Norman Garrett, and Matthew White star in Chausson's Le Roi Arthus, as part of Bard SummerScape

** 2 pm ET: Bard SummerScape presents Chausson’s Le Roi Arthus. Idealism, treachery, honor, and perfidy collide in this lyrical opera by French composer Ernest Chausson. Performed by a cast helmed by baritone Norman Garrett,  tenor Matthew White, and mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke, this new SummerScape production takes us to a world where long-standing codes of honor and loyalty no longer hold sway. Conducted by festival founder and Artistic Director Leon Botstein and directed by Louisa Proske. Tickets $10. View here and on demand.

7:30 pm ET: Bowdoin International Music Festival presents Fauré & Dohnányi. From the Studzinski Recital Hall in Brunswick, Maine, cellist Denise Djokic and pianist Tao Lin perform Fauré’s Sonata No. 2 in G Minor for Cello and Piano, Op. 117 followed by Dohnányi’s Quintet No. 2 in E-flat Minor, Op. 26 played by Itamar Zorman, Aaron Berofsky, Kirsten Docter, Edward Arron and Pei-Shan Lee. View here. LIVE

Thursday, July 29

5 am ET: Verbier Festival presents Soltani & Quentin perform Schumann, Schnittke, Debussy & Shostakovich. Cellist Kian Soltani and pianist Julien Quentin perform Schumann’s Adagio and Allegro in A-flat, Op. 70, Schnittke’s Sonata No. 1 for Cello and Piano, Op. 129, Debussy’s Sonata for Cello and Piano in D Minor, and Shostakovich’s Sonata for Cello and Piano in D Minor, Op. 40. View here. LIVE

7 am ET: The Hallé presents The Firebird. Broadcast from Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, Sir Mark Elder conducts the Hallé in Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Tale of Tsar Saltan Suite, Rachmaninov’s The Rock, and Stravinsky’s The Firebird Suite (1945). Tickets £14. View here until October 29.

** 12 pm ET: Verbier Festival presents Harding conducts Brahms & Beethoven with Bell and Isserlis. Virtuosos Joshua Bell and Steven Isserlis are the soloists as Daniel Harding conducts the Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra in a concert at the Salle des Combins. Brahms’s Double Concerto is followed by Beethoven's Symphony No. 1. View here. LIVE

** 12 pm ET: Lyric Opera of Chicago presents Twilight: Gods. A radical reimagining of Wagner’s Götterdämmerung, directed by Yuval Sharon, that took place at Millennium Lakeside Parking Garage in late April 2021. The film was conceived and directed by Raphael S. Nash, who transformed Sharon's drive-through opera experience into a digital feature. The production, with new English translations by Sharon, plus original narrative poetry by Chicago interdisciplinary artist avery r. young, stars Christine Goerke (Brünnhilde), Sean Panikkar (Siegfried), Morris Robinson (Hagen), and Donnie Ray Albert (Alberich). Register and view here until October 29.

2 pm ET: London Symphony Orchestra presents Janácek’s Sinfonietta. Sir Simon Rattle conducts two works by Janácek and Sibelius from the LSO’s 2018 Roots and Origins series. Janácek’s Sinfonietta is an ode to the composer’s hometown of Brno in the now Czech Republic full of dancing strings and celebratory brass. Sibelius’s Fifth Symphony concludes the program. Recorded September 19, 2018. Register and view here.

3 pm ET: San Francisco Symphony Orchestra presents Currents: Vessel of Song. Explore the intersection between classical music and Klezmer musical culture. Curated by Joshua Horowitz and Veretski Pass, with SF Symphony musicians. Tickets $15. View here and on demand.

3 pm ET: Idagio presents Verbier Festival 2021: Gabriel Prokofiev. Like Beethoven strolling through the Viennese countryside, composer, producer and DJ Gabriel Prokofiev wandered to the heights of Verbier in early 2020 in search of sounds. In tribute to Beethoven and his Pastoral Symphony, Prokofiev delivers a contemporary response to the Pastoral in this world premiere, streamed live from the Verbier Festival. Presented here for string sextet and electronics, this new work integrates these found field recordings. Tickets $13. View here until December 31. LIVE

7 pm ET: Cleveland International Piano Competition presents Semi-Final Round Performances Session 1. Live from Gartner Auditorium at the Cleveland Museum of Art, two semi-finalists perform solo recitals of 40-minutes, featuring popular music transcriptions commissioned specifically for the Cleveland International Piano Competition. Additional semi-finalists will also be paired up and featured in a piano duo performance. The eight semi-finalists are Jiarui Cheng (22, China), Martín García García (24, Spain), Byeol Kim (31, South Korea), Yedam Kim (32, South Korea), Honggi Kim (29, South Korea), Ying Li (23, China), Lovre Marušic (28, Croatia), and Rafael Skorka (32, Israel). View here. LIVE

** 8 pm ET: The Philadelphia Orchestra presents Bronfman plays Beethoven. In a presentation recorded at the Bravo! Vail Music Festival, pianist Yefim Bronfman lends his power to Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3. Florence Price’s First Symphony, the first composition by a Black woman to be performed by a major American orchestra, imbues classical forms with spirituals and West-African rhythms and dance. Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts. View here and on demand until August 5.

9:30 pm ET: Colorado Music Festival presents Hadelich plays Beethoven. Peter Oundjian conducts the CMF Orchestra with violin Artist-in-Residence Augustin Hadelich in Weber’s Oberon Overture, Kodály’s Dances of Galánta, and Beethoven’s Violin Concerto in D, Op. 61. Tickets $15. View here for 30 days.

9 pm ET: Valley of the Moon Music Festival presents Les Sentiments. The French produced some of classical music’s most unique voices, such as Berlioz and Debussy, both featured on this program. The concert’s main course is Fauré’s Piano Quartet, and there are French art songs by Bizet, Debussy, and others. With Emily Marvosh contralto, Lisa Lee violin, Liana Bérubé viola, Tanya Tomkins cello, and Eric Zivian piano. Tickets $5. Register and view here.

10 pm ET: Seattle Chamber Music Festival presents Taneyev, Kernis & Rachmaninov. Taneyev’s String Trio in D is performed by Benjamin Beilman, Yura Lee, and Bion Tsang, Andrew Armstrong plays Aaron Jay Kernis’s Before Sleep and Dreams, and Rachmaninov’s Sonata for Cello and Piano in G minor, Op. 19 is performed by Bion Tsang and Stewart Goodyear. Tickets $25. View here and on demand.

** 10:30 pm ET: Chamber Music Northwest presents Visionary Quintets. The Dover Quartet performs with virtuoso pianists: Marc-André Hamelin and Matan Porat. The program includes Bach’s Violin Sonata No. 2 in A Minor, BWV 1003 “Andante,” Mendelssohn’s String Quartet No.1 in E-flat, Op. 12, Porat’s own Piano Quintet (world premiere), and Ornstein’s Piano Quintet, Op.  92, SO 610. View here until August 31.

Friday, July 30

5 am ET: Verbier Festival presents Sheku & Isata Kanneh-Mason perform Bridge, Britten & Rachmaninov. Cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason and his sister, pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason perform Bridge’s Cello Sonata in D minor, H. 125, Britten’s Tema Sacher, for Cello Solo, two of Rachmaninov’s Fourteen Romances, Op. 34, Bridge’s Spring Song, Melodie for Cello and Piano in C-sharp minor, H. 99, and Scherzo for Cello and Piano, H. 19a, and Britten’s Sonata for Cello and Piano in C, Op. 65. View here. LIVE

** 10 am ET: DG Stage presents Bayreuth Festival: Das Rheingold. Frank Castorf’s staging of the Ring Cycle, premiered in 2013 and filmed in 2016, provoked controversy right from the beginning. For Castorf, the Rheingold of our days is oil; thus he places the first part of the tetralogy at a gas station on Route 66. Marek Janowski’s musical reading was unanimously praised, as was the cast including Iain Paterson (Wotan), Nadine Weissmann (Erda), Albert Dohmen (Alberich), and Roberto Saccà (Loge). Register and view here for two days.

10 am ET: Verbier Festival presents Mao Fujita performs Mozart V. Verbier Festival Academy alumnus Mao Fujita makes his solo debut on the stage of the Verbier Festival in the last of five concerts performing the complete Mozart Piano Sonatas. View here. LIVE

** 12 pm ET: Carnegie Hall Selects presents Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2. Chopin’s Second Piano Concerto was one of only a handful of works he wrote that included orchestral forces. Arthur Rubinstein—whose Carnegie Hall career spanned more than 130 performances from 1906 to 1976—highlights the concerto’s lyricism with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by André Previn in this 1975 film recorded in London’s Fairfield Halls. View here until August 6.

12 pm ET: Merola Opera Program presents What the Heart Desires. San Francisco’s opera training program commences its 64th season with a showcase of a select group of the program’s rising stars. Celebrating diversity in song, this recital featuring compositions by women and people of color is co-curated by tenor Nicholas Phan and mezzo-soprano Ronnita Miller (Merola '05). What the Heart Desires expresses romantic desire, as well as the yearning for home, for rest, for peace, and for a better world. Performed and filmed live on July 3, 2021, at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Concert Hall. View here.

**1 pm ET: Bayerische Staatsoper presents Point of Inflection. From the Nationaltheater, a special gala concert featuring a line-up including Nikolaus Bachler, Ivor Bolton, Pavol Breslik, Constantinos Carydis, Asher Fisch, Christian Gerhaher, Anja Harteros, Ermonela Jaho, Anja Kampe, Jonas Kaufmann, Wolfgang Koch, Kent Nagano, Anna Netrebko, Anne Sofie von Otter, Marlis Petersen, Kirill Petrenko, Anne Schwanewilms, Nina Stemme, Bryn Terfel, Georg Zeppenfeld, and the Bayerisches Staatsorchester. View here. LIVE

** 3:30 pm ET: Oxford Philharmonic presents Stephen Hough plays Mompou. The world of Catalan composer Federico Mompou is a place of innocence and charm reduced to small-scale pieces that make perfect encores. But for Stephen Hough, a long-term Mompou champion, there’s spiritual depth behind the notes that calls for more considered hearing. His whole recital is constructed around Mompou’s Música Callada or Music of Silence: a collection of contemplative miniatures inspired by the poetry of St John of the Cross. Written in the 1950s/60s, they prefigure the simplicity of latter-day ‘Holy Minimalism’, with an austerity that Hough calls ‘shocking. The venue here will be Christ Church Cathedral, one of Oxford’s ancient sacred spaces. View here. LIVE

** 7 pm ET: Music@Menlo presents Concert Program VII. Concert Program VII begins with Bizet’s Jeux d’enfants (Children’s Games). Clara Schumann inspired her husband’s Piano Quintet, the first of its kind, which stands as the point of origin of a grand repertoire tradition. With Kristin Lee, James Thompson, Paul Neubauer, Ji Na Kim, Hyeyeon Park, Wu Han, and Dmitri Atapine. Tickets $25. View here.

7 pm ET: Cleveland International Piano Competition presents Semi-Final Round Performances Session 2. Live from Gartner Auditorium at the Cleveland Museum of Art, two semi-finalists perform solo recitals of 40-minutes, featuring popular music transcriptions commissioned specifically for the Cleveland International Piano Competition. Additional semi-finalists will also be paired up and featured in a piano duo performance. The eight semi-finalists are Jiarui Cheng (22, China), Martín García García (24, Spain), Byeol Kim (31, South Korea), Yedam Kim (32, South Korea), Honggi Kim (29, South Korea), Ying Li (23, China), Lovre Marušic (28, Croatia), and Rafael Skorka (32, Israel). View here. LIVE

7:30 pm ET: Bowdoin International Music Festival presents Shostakovich & Mendelssohn. From the Studzinski Recital Hall in Brunswick, Maine, Shostakovich’s Sonata for Viola and Piano, Op. 147 is performed by violist Dimitri Murrath and pianist Pei-Shan Lee, followed by Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio No. 1 in D Minor, Op. 49 played by Sergiu Schwartz, Edward Arron, and Tao Lin. View here. LIVE

9 pm ET: Minnesota Orchestra presents American Musical Heroes. Ken-David Masur makes his Minnesota Orchestra conducting debut in a concert that honors musical and hometown heroes. Jon Kimura Parker shares the stage with the Orchestra performing music by composers such as George Gershwin, John Williams, William Grant Still, Amy Beach, and Samuel Barber. View here. LIVE

10 pm ET: Classical Tahoe presents Opening Night Under the Stars with Laquita Mitchell. In the festival's opening night, the Classical Tahoe Orchestra is conducted by Ming Luke with soprano Laquita Mitchell in performances of Jessie Montgomery's Starburst, Strauss's Vier letzte Lieder (Four Last Songs), Mozart's “Chi’o mi scordi di te”, Scene and Rondo, K.505, and Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 4 in A, Italian. View here. LIVE

Saturday, July 31

10 am ET: DG Stage presents Bayreuth Festival: Lohengrin. From the 2018 Bayreuth Festival, the new production by American director Yuval Sharon. Piotr Beczala was praised as Lohengrin, with Anja Harteros making an impressive Bayreuth debut as Elsa, and Ortrud played by Waltraud Meier. The performance was conducted by Christian Thielemann. Register and view here for two days.

** 11 am ET: Bayerische Staatsoper presents Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde. Kirill Petrenko conducts Krzysztof Warlikowski’s new production of Wagner’s opera starring Jonas Kaufmann as Tristan, Anja Harteros as Isolde, Okka von der Damerau as Brangäne, Wolfgang Koch as Kurwenal, and Mika Kares as König Marke. View here. LIVE

** 12 pm ET: Verbier Festival presents Lahav Shani conducts Schubert & Mozart. Lahav Shani conducts with baritone Matthias Goerne in Schubert arr. Alexander Schmalcz, An Sylvia and Des Fischers Liebesglück, D. 933 Schubert arr. Max Reger Im Abendrot; Schubert arr. Anton Webern Der Wegweiser and Tränenregen; and Mozart’s Symphony No. 41 in C, K. 551, Jupiter. View here. LIVE

1 pm ET: San Francisco Opera presents Verdi’s Luisa Miller. SFO’s 2015 production by Francesca Zambello is revived by associate director Laurie Feldman. Soprano Leah Crocetto stars as Luisa, opposite Michael Fabiano as her mysterious romantic interest. Ukrainian baritone Vitaliy Bilyy is Luisa’s father, Miller, and bass-baritone Daniel Sumegi portrays Count Walter. Making her San Francisco Opera and role debuts as Federica is Minsk-born mezzo Ekaterina Semenchuk. Former San Francisco Opera Music Director Nicola Luisotti conducts. View here until midnight the following day.

2 pm ET: Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra presents Smooth Classics. Stephen Bell conducts the BSO in Fauré’s Pavane, Elgar’s Chanson de Matin, Debussy’s Clair de Lune, Offenbach’s Barcarolle, Bizet’s Carmen: Intermezzo, Satie’s Gymnopédie No. 1, Gluck’s Dance of the Blessed Spirits, Ravel’s Pavane, and Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana: Intermezzo. Tickets £9. View here for 30 days.

2 pm ET: Cleveland International Piano Competition presents Semi-Final Round Performances Session 3. Live from Gartner Auditorium at the Cleveland Museum of Art, two semi-finalists perform solo recitals of 40-minutes, featuring popular music transcriptions commissioned specifically for the Cleveland International Piano Competition. Additional semi-finalists will also be paired up and featured in a piano duo performance. The eight semi-finalists are Jiarui Cheng (22, China), Martín García García (24, Spain), Byeol Kim (31, South Korea), Yedam Kim (32, South Korea), Honggi Kim (29, South Korea), Ying Li (23, China), Lovre Marušic (28, Croatia), and Rafael Skorka (32, Israel). View here. LIVE

7 pm ET: Music@Menlo presents Concert Program VIII. Beethoven’s String Trio Op. 9, No. 1 documents the composer’s early professional career; Brahms’s Piano Quintet reveals him at the height of his powers. In between, the program offers a miniature by a transformational figure in the violin tradition, the composer-virtuoso Eugene Ysaÿe. With Paul Neubauer, Tien-Hsin Cindy Wu, Gilbert Kalish, Wu Han, Arnaud Sussmann, James Thompson, Angela Wee, Audrey Chen, and David Finckel. Tickets $25. View here.

8 pm ET: Valley of the Moon Music Festival presents Rolla Duets & Beethoven’s Quartet. Beethoven’s masterpiece, the “Heiliger Dankgesang” Quartet, is a profound and heartfelt prayer of thanks after his illness. The quartet is preceded by an appetizer of Rolla Duets for violin and viola. With Bettina Mussumeli, Jodi Levitz, Kako Miura, Vivian Mayers, Ramon Carrera-Martinez, and Drake Driscoll. Tickets $5. Register and view here.

10 pm ET: Seattle Chamber Music Festival presents Kodály, Schumann & Brahms. Kodály’s Duo for Violin and Cello, Op. 7 is performed by Tai Murray and Efe Baltacigil, Schumann’s Sonata No. 3 for Violin and Piano in A minor is performed by James Ehnes and Andrew Armstrong, and Brahms’s Trio for Violin, Cello and Piano in C minor, Op. 101 is played by Jun Iwasaki, Efe Baltacigil, and Stewart Goodyear. Tickets $25. View here and on demand.

10 pm ET: Classical Tahoe presents Beethoven Meets Rodrigo & the Red Harp with Emmanuel Ceysson. The Classical Tahoe Orchestra is conducted by Ming Luke with harpist Emmanuel Ceysson in performances of Mendelssohn's Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Op. 21, Rodrigo's Concierto Serenata for Harp and Orchestra, and Beethoven's Symphony No. 8 in F, Op. 93. View here. LIVE

10 pm ET: Cabrillo Festival presents Contested Eden. Contested Eden, a new work by Gabriela Lena Frank, reflects on the California wildfires and climate crisis. The work is presented as a dance video, with choreography by Molly Katzman, filmed on location by Swan Dive Media in CZU Lightning Complex Fire sites in the Santa Cruz Mountains, and music remotely recorded by members of the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra. A version for the full Cabrillo Festival Virtual Orchestra will be premiered at a date TBA. View here.

Sunday, August 1

8:30 pm ET: Verbier Festival presents Puccini’s La Bohème. The Verbier Festival Junior Orchestra is conducted by James Gaffigan in a concert version of Puccini's La Bohème. Sungho Kim, Stephen Marsh, Alexander York, and Edward Jowle step into the roles of the penniless artists Rodolfo, Marcello, Schaunard, and Colline, while Sylvia D'Eramo and Erika Baikoff are the seamstress Mimì and the singer Musetta. View here. LIVE

12 pm ET: Glyndebourne presents Verdi’s La Traviata. Mark Elder conducts with Russian soprano Venera Gimadieva in the role of Violetta, alongside America tenor Michael Fabiano as Alfredo and Tassis Christoyannis as his father. Tom Cairns’s opulent production echoes the opera’s allure. Captured live at Festival 2014. View here until August 29.

2 pm ET: Cleveland International Piano Competition presents Semi-Final Round Performances Session 4. Live from Gartner Auditorium at the Cleveland Museum of Art, two semi-finalists perform solo recitals of 40-minutes, featuring popular music transcriptions commissioned specifically for the Cleveland International Piano Competition. Additional semi-finalists will also be paired up and featured in a piano duo performance. The eight semi-finalists are Jiarui Cheng (22, China), Martín García García (24, Spain), Byeol Kim (31, South Korea), Yedam Kim (32, South Korea), Honggi Kim (29, South Korea), Ying Li (23, China), Lovre Marušic (28, Croatia), and Rafael Skorka (32, Israel). View here. LIVE

7 pm ET: Music@Menlo presents Concert Program IX. The festival’s final program brings together signature statements by two of Romanticism’s essential voices. Fauré’s Violin Sonata No. 1 in A, a triumph of the composer’s youth, demonstrates the emergence of a singular musical voice. The concert concludes with Dvorák’s Piano Quintet. With Sterling Elliott, Wynona (Yinuo) Wang, Wu Han, Kristin Lee, Yeri Roh, Arnaud Sussmann, and Tien-Hsin Cindy Wu. Tickets $25. View here.

8 pm ET: Valley of the Moon Music Festival presents Dvorák Miniatures & Mendelssohn’s Octet. The Apprentice Quartet joins forces with violinist Rachell Wong, and other VMMF favorites, to perform Mendelssohn’s Octet at an outdoor Sonoma venue. The program will open with Dvorák’s Miniatures for two violins and viola. Tickets $5. Register and view here.

10 pm ET: Cabrillo Festival presents In the Works. A concert of nine world premieres–solo works and duets–written for members of the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra and introduced by three emerging composers from the Composers Workshop—Theo Chandler, Meng Wang, and Jeremy Rapaport-Stein. Each composer wrote the works in collaboration closely with their assigned Festival musicians and with guidance and support from composition faculty member Pierre Jalbert. The premiere will be followed immediately by a live Post-Concert Artists Talk and Q&A. View here and on demand. LIVE

Monday, August 2

**10 am ET: DG Stage presents Bayreuth Festival: Tannhäuser. Tobias Kratzer’s brilliantly inventive production of Tannhäuser is set as a wildly contemporary parable of art and freedom. Valery Gergiev makes his Bayreuth Festival debut alongside Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen as Elisabeth, American heldentenor Stephen Gould in the title role, and Russian mezzo Elena Zhidkova as a scene stealing Venus. Register and view here for two days.

1:30 pm ET: Gstaad Digital Festival presents Vassilis Varvaresos. Pianist Vassilis Varvaresos performs Moszkowski’s Barcarolle, Op. 27 No. 1, Messiaen’s Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus: X. “Regard de l’esprit de joie”, Chopin’s Polonaise-Fantaisie in A-flat Minor, Op. 61, Liszt’s Soirées de Vienne, S. 427: No. 7: “Allegro spiritoso,” and a selection of pieces by Dora Pejacevic (1885-1923). The concert was recorded live on July 31 at Gstaad. View here and on demand.

4 pm ET: Bowdoin International Music Festival presents Jupiter Quartet. From the Studzinski Recital Hall in Brunswick, Maine, the Jupiter String Quartet performs Florence Price’s Selections from Five Folksongs in Counterpoint, Stephen Andrew Taylor’s Chaconne/Labyrinth, and Mendelssohn’s String Quartet No. 6 in F Minor, Op. 80. View here. LIVE

** 7:30 pm ET: Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center presents Schubert’s String Quintet. Recorded this spring at the Frederick R. Koch Foundation Townhouse, this newly curated full-length HD concert features violinists Arnaud Sussmann and Paul Huang, violist Matthew Lipman, and cellists Nicholas Canellakis and David Finckel performing Schubert’s Quintet in C for Two Violins, Viola, and Two Cellos, D. 956, Op. 163. View here for one year.

8 pm ET: Mark Morris Dance Group presents Bijoux and Double Through the Generations in Conversation. Bijoux is set to Satie’s Quatre Petit Melodies and Ludions with text by Léon Paul Fargue. Morris choreographed the work on former MMDG dancer Teri Weksler, in her tiny New York City apartment in 1983. Double, the second part of Morris’s evening-length Mozart Dances is set to the composer’s Sonata in D for Two Pianos. It features a prominent solo role that was premiered by Joe Bowie in 2006, at Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival. All dancers featured in the first archival collection are featured in a livestreamed conversation moderated by MMDG Company Director Sam Black. Register here with further screenings until August 4.

Artists and Organizations Offering Free Content

Academy of Ancient Music
The most listened-to period instrument ensemble, directed by Richard Egarr, has made streams available on its YouTube channel. 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.

Alternative Classical
Humans of Classical Music is a video series in which musicians, actors, comedians, and podcasters from around the world recommend their favorite piece of classical music in one minute. A new video will go live every Thursday during 2021, starting on February 4, accompanied with a link on Spotify. Each video is free of musical jargon and is suitable for anyone interested in exploring the world of classical music. The list includes countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo, three-time Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee Kieran Hodgson, and composers Anna Clyne, Gabriel Prokofiev, and Missy Mazzoli. Explore here.

American Opera Project
First Glimpse is a video album created during the first year of AOP’s 2019-21 fellowship program, Composers & the Voice. 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.

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.

Cliburn Kids
Cliburn Kids is a growing collection of entertaining 7- to 10-minute videos designed to introduce children to the fun of classical music. How does music paint pictures, tell stories, express feelings? Programs are geared towards elementary-aged children, and activities are provided for each episode that are perfect for in-classroom or at-home studies. Explore here.

Concertgebouworkest
The Concertgebouworkest has made its ‘Lockdown Archives’ since June 2020 available free of charge for the month of July 2021. Since the spring of 2020, the orchestra has streamed over 80 compositions in more than 40 productions, including 34 orchestral programs. The orchestral players performed socially distanced and usually in an otherwise empty hall, but with an impressive line-up of leading conductors. All the streams together generated some 700,000 views worldwide. Explore 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.

English Symphony Orchestra
The English Symphony Orchestra’s ESO Digital is an expanding digital archive of music, performed by English Symphony Orchestra and its partners, that you are unlikely to hear anywhere else. Access is free with a monthly donation; however Musical America readers can get a free trial of one week when setting up a new donation by using the coupon code MusicalAmerica2021. Register here.

Finnish National Opera
Finnish National Opera presents a series of streamed archived performances on its website, which are then available for the next six months. 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. Explore here.

Kennedy Center: Arts Across America
Arts across America focuses on cultural leadership and art as a catalyst for public healing, decolonization, and genuine global change. With artistic contributions from the Black Trans theater community, programs about Sacrifice Zones and the environment, the fight for women’s rights in the Latinx community, and discussions of the prisons and detention center system, and about the importance of Indigenous food and health. Hosted by sage artistic minds, these performances and conversations strive to bring audiences together to heal our country, communities, and selves. Explore here and other Kennedy Center regular online releases via their digital stage here.

La Scala/RAI
Italy’s RAI presents a wide range of productions from La Scala Milan and other opera houses as well as a range of concerts. 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 in summer 2020. 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. 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 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, 2020 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.

Minnesota Orchestra
Minnesota Orchestra at Home shares recent performances as well as 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.

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 or broadcast via Facebook Live.

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. Explore here. 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 up to 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.

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.

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. Subscriptions or single tickets available.

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 but single tickets are also available. www.medici.tv

Opera Philadelphia Channel
Opera Philadelphia has created its own channel through which to share its digital offering. Operatic films like David T. Little’s Soldier Songs, world premiere digital commissions by Tyshawn Sorey, Courtney Bryan, Angélica Negrón, and Caroline Shaw, and recordings of stage productions like La Traviata and Breaking the Waves are available on-demand. Season subscriptions priced at $99 are offered along with pay-per-view rentals for individual performances. The channel is available on computers and mobile devices, as well as AppleTV, Android TV, Roku, and Amazon FireTV. Explore here.