Together with the world music ensemble Sarband, Dominique Horwitz presents three oriental themed evenings entitled “Feste feiern: Das Gelage” (“Revel and feast”) at the Niedersächsische Musiktage. While the Ensemble Sarband plays festive music of the old and new orient, the actor recites from Goethe’s “West-Eastern Divan”. The Arabian theme continues this month but this time in the ceremonial room of the maharajah in Hannover’s zoo: The clarinettist Kari Kriikku and the NDR Radiophilharmonie under Nicolas Milton combine music from the Middle East, Hungarian and Romanian folk dances as well as South American tango in their “Bazaar Bizarre”. Another highlight for Kari Kriikku follows at the beginning of September: On 8th September, he plays the world premiere of Kaija Saariaho’s clarinet concerto "D’OM LE VRAI SENS" in Helsinki, accompanied by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Sakari Oramo.

Following this year’s motto „Lettland durch Musik zur Welt gebracht“ (“Putting Latvia on the map through music”), the Latvian violinist Baiba Skride is the soloist in the opening concert of the 17th Usedom Music Festival. Together with the Baltic Youth Orchestra under the direction of Neeme Järvi, she plays Sibelius’s Violin Concerto in d Minor op. 47. As “artist in residence”, she performs in two other concerts as well. On 28th September, she gives a concert with her sisters, the pianist Lauma Skride and the violist Linda Skride, and Julian Steckel (violoncello). The programme includes piano concertos by Schumann and Brahms. The day after, Baiba and Lauma Skride perform works by Stravinsky, Schumann, Vītols and Prokofiev. On 8th September, they can both be heard in a duo concert at the Mendelssohn-Festtage 2010 at the Gewandhaus Leipzig.

Marc Albrecht looks back at a great success at the Salzburg Festival. In a production of “Lulu”, the designated chief conductor of the Nederlands Philharmonisch Orkest convinced the audience with his interpretation of the score which demonstrated “naturalness and effortlessness, almost light-heartedness which one still would not expect in this piece of music” (Süddeutsche Zeitung). The “Standard” praised Albrecht’s ability to bring out the “artificial side” of Berg’s music as well as the “stylistic range of atonality, jazz and post-romantic indulgence – filigree, softly breathing, delicately drawn”.

The King´s Singers face their concert in Bad Homburg with mixed feelings. On 26th September they bid farewell to bassist Stephen Connolly who, after 22 years, gives his last performance on stage together with the sextet. In the 42 years of their existence, merely 20 singers have moulded the a capella group. According to”The Times”, they are an ensemble which “stayed in character over four decades, yet retuned itself to the times”. This tradition will be maintained by Connolly´s successor and thus, the new man in the ensemble: the 23-year-old Briton Jonathan Howard. This young singer makes his debut in Aix-les-Bains on 1st October.