At the end of April 1791, Wolfgang Amadé Mozart applied for the position of second Kapellmeister at St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna, hoping to inherit the position from Leopold Hofmann, the incumbent Kapellmeister, the City Council of Vienna accepted Mozart’s petition in a strongly worded decree as a basis for the text in the vocal passages of his Sieben Klangräume accompanying the Unfinished Fragments of Mozart’s Requiem KV 626.

Mozart+ is an exceptional selection of some of the most beautiful concert and opera arias by W.A. Mozart as well as discoveries of largely unknown arias from operas by Tommaso Traetta, Giovanni Paisiello and Vicente Martín y Soler, reflecting the exchange of musical ideas between Mozart and his contemporaries and getting these three composers out of Mozart's shadow.

Founded in 1841 with the participation of Constanze Mozart, the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg enjoys a worldwide reputation for its lively and stylistically aware interpretations. It combines Viennese classical music with the music of the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries in a variety of ways. The orchestra's constant engagement with its core repertoire also shapes its approach to the music of later eras.

The Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra dedicates itself here to a “forgotten master”. In drastic, enigmatic images of the Apocalypse of St. John, Louis Spohr’s oratorio The Last Judgement deals with the fundamental questions of humanity: justice, responsibility and redemption. Shortly after its world premiere, one could say that this work was an international success. Since the Spohr Year of 2009 it has returned to concert stages all over the world and was performed brilliantly in Salzburg on 6 June 2013. OehmsClassics presents a live recording here of this concert from the Mozarteum.

The vulnerable young woman at the heart of Janacek's breakthrough opera is a signature role for the English soprano Amanda Roocroft. Here, in Stéphane Braunschweig's clear but deeply affecting production, she is partnered by the Slovak tenor Miroslav Dvorsky, as the man through whom she finds redemption, love and hope. The complex figure of the Kostelnicka becomes both tormentor and tormented in this fearless interpretation by the great dramatic soprano Deborah Polaski.

This hilarious contemporary version of Francesco Cavalli's baroque opera Hercules in Love was commissioned on occasion of the marriage of Louis XIV, the Sun King, to Maria Theresa of Spain. The original production took two years to complete and was at the time the greatest show ever performed in Europe. Directed by David Alden, this surreal production is a triumph of commedia buffa resplendent with decorative and symbolic elements, and complemented by Constance Hoffman's exceptional costumes. Led by Ivor Bolton, a master of baroque music, the chorus of De Nederlandse Opera and Concerto Köln give a sublime performance. With Luca Pisaroni's (Ercole) singing being heroic and melodious in turn, and Veronica Cangemi as a splendid Iole, this is an outstanding production by the DNO.

800 litres of water, two sails, thirty pulleys, sixty hammocks: for the Bicentenary of the Teatro Real of Madrid, Deborah Warner coined a colossal production of Benjamin Britten's Billy Budd. A critically-acclaimed performance, praised for its depth and intelligence. Baritone Jacques Imbrailo delivers a stunning rendition of the young sailor's part, while British singers Toby Spence and Brindley Sherratt provide solid interpretations of Captain 'Starry' Vere and of John Claggart. In the pit, Ivor Bolton masterfully deploys, along with the Orchestra of the Teatro Real, all the energy and power of Britten's fifth opera. A now iconic production, co-produced by the Opera of Rome and the Royal Opera House.

The English harpsichordist and conductor, Ivor Bolton, was educated at Clare College and the Royal College of Music, followed by a year at the National Opera Studio which coincided with his appointment as conductor of the Schola Cantorum of Oxford.

To mark the 100th anniversary of the death of Camille Saint-Saens, the Basel Symphony Orchestra under its conductor Ivor Bolton had set itself the goal of giving the public an insight into the composer's well-known as well as lesser-known symphonic works.

The aria Ombra mai fu at the start of Act I of Handel's opera seria Serse (Xerxes) is likely to be its best-known asset. Serse was written in 1733-38, at the end of Handel's career as an opera composer: he concentrated on oratorio after 1741. It is a great achievement. Not least because it uses the music, and the marriage of words and music, to evoke in the audience pathos, sympathy, delight, and as much tempered ridicule as tempered tenderness.

Die Festspielpremiere von ALCINA im Prinzregententheater am 17. Juli 2005 wurde wie so viele andere Premieren von Barock-Opern zu einem Höhepunkt der Münchner Opernsaison. Wer erinnert sich nicht gerne an die "Poppea", den "Rinaldo" oder natürlich "Giulio Cesare". Mit Anja Harteros und Vesselina Kasarova hatten sich zwei Topstars der internationalen Opernszene in dieser Inszenierung eingefunden. Unter der bewährten Leitung von Ivor Bolton wurde das ganze Ensemble vom Publikum bei jeder Vorstellung mit Ovationen gefeiert, der Nachhall in der Presse war nicht minder euphorisch!

Giulio Cesare, Händels aufwändigste Oper aus dem Jahre 1724, markierte im März 1994 den Beginn der Münchner Händelrenaissance. Mit einer spektakulären Premiere sorgte Intendant Sir Peter Jonas international für Furore. Weit über 100 Aufführungen von 1994 bis 2006 spielten vor ausverkauftem Haus.

Für Opernproduktionen mit einer grandiosen szenischen Umsetzung ist das der Härtetest: Funktionieren sie auch ohne Optik? Teilt sich ihre Magie auch ohne die bilderwelt, den Erfindungsreichtum des Regisseurs und die Präsenz der Sänger mit?
Kein Problem im Falle des Münchner 'Ariodante'. Der CD-Mitschnitt, quasi der "Soundtrack" aus der Aufführungsserie im Januar 2000, ist ein Glücksfall fürs Händel-Repertoire. Zumal auch die Tontechniker die Live-Atmosphäre eingefangen und eine nahezu perfekte Balance zwischen Bühne und Graben hergestellt haben. …

Ivor Bolton has been principal conductor of the Basel Symphony Orchestra since the beginning of the 2016 / 17 season and has always had a special affinity with British music. The present album with rather unknown music by Benjamin Britten was therefore a very special concern for him from the beginning. The program consists of the early cycle Our Hunting Fathers (with the tenor Mark Padmore), the Quatre Chansons francaises (a stroke of genius by the only 14-year-old) and the suite from the unfortunately rarely performed opera Gloriana, which, by the way, was written for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.

Wagner’s rarely performed early comic opera, based on Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure, enjoys its Spanish debut in a new production by director Kasper Holten. The lively score boasts clear Italian, French and Weberian influences that pre-date the composer’s mature voice, yet the music continually delights with the unmistakable emergence of Wagner’s precocious genius. His adaptation of the Bard’s play reflects the rebellious mood of a Revolutionary Germany, vindicating sensual love and attacking the fanatical repression of sexuality by a puritanical and hypocritical authority. Ivor Bolton conducts a vibrant cast featuring English baritone and Cardiff Singer of the World Lieder Prize-winner Christopher Maltman, Turkish-Viennese tenor and BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist Ilker Arcayürek and Germany’s hottest Wagnerian leading lady, Manuela Uhl.