Marin Alsop ends her inspirational tenure as Principal Conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra when she gives her last concerts this month at the Orchestra’s home in Poole, conducting Mahler’s symphonies No.s 9 and 10.

Last month, Marin conducted the Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala in Milan in a programme of Liszt Les Preludes, Bartok The Miraculous Mandarin and Dvorak Symphony No.9.

"Alsop characterised the piece with broad strokes of late romantic, quasi Strauss-like colour. The similarities with the havens of Dvorak's New World Symphony were obvious: solemn opening; slow movement smug in its melodic suavity, made even more hypnotic with its breathing and continuous rallentandi; and the whole performance was confident with a certain musical idea which aimed to tame without losing a priori the orchestral rhetoric... And so, with each thematic explosion the conductor's gestures grew, calling upon a wholeness and instrumental élan with an accomplished executive eloquence that today is so difficult to find."
La Repubblica, April 2008

"All go crazy for Alsop, first woman on the podium at La Scala ... In 230 years of operatic and symphonic seasons, no 'female quota' has ever succeeded in overcoming what has been in effect the stronghold of Toscanini, Abbado and Muti. The weight of responsibility of being a pioneer and - as many would expect - of the pace set by her peers, did not seem to intimidate the New York artist, who trained at Yale University and Julliard... Founder of the Taki Concordia competition - dedicated solely to female orchestra directors - Alsop happily made her debut in Milan on Sunday at the helm of La Scala achieving a warm success."
Avennire, April 2008

This month HK Gruber conducts the world premiere of Busking, his second trumpet concerto. Written for virtuosic trumpeter Håkan Hardenberger and commissioned by the Amsterdam Sinfonietta, Essen Philharmonie, Swedish Chamber Orchestra and Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Busking will be performed during May by the Amsterdam Sinfonietta at Amsterdam's Muziekgebouw and Essen Philharmonie. Gruber also conducts the Swedish Chamber Orchestra this month in a programme of Schwertsik and Schubert alongside his own Violin Concerto, and begins recording a new disc of his own works for BIS.

Richard Hickox embarks on his series of some 20 concerts with the Philharmonia at the Royal Festival Hall and across the UK, presenting the entire cycle of Vaughan Williams Symphonies to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the composer's death. As part of this celebration, he conducts two semi-staged performances on 20 and 22 June of Vaughan Williams’ rarely performed opera Pilgrim’s Progress at Sadler’s Wells, also with the Philharmonia Orchestra.

Sarah Tynan will make her role debut singing Sophie in David McVicar’s production of Der Rosenkavalier for English National Opera. The premiere on 22 May will be conducted by Edward Gardner and the rest of the cast includes Sarah Connolly, John Tomlinson and Janice Watson.

This month Colin Currie performs the world premiere of Simon Holt's A Table of Noises with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Martyn Brabbins. He also performs James MacMillan's Veni, Veni, Emmanuel with the Netherlands Radio Kammer Filharmonie and Thierry Fischer at Amsterdam's Muziekgebouw, Joe Duddell's Ruby with the Malaysian Philharmonic and Paul Mann and Rouse's Concerto for percussion and orchestra: Der Gerettete Alberich with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and Marin Alsop.

On 25 May Susan Bickley will appear at the Brighton Festival singing Mahler’s Symphony No.2 with the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Sir Andrew Davis.

Jonathan Biss will give a duo recital with Richard Goode this month at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, as part of the International Chamber Music Season. Goode, a great mentor of Biss, has been an Associate Artist at the South Bank this season, and the recital with Biss will be his final concert in this role. Together they play a programme of works for four hands, and for two pianos by Schubert, Schumann, Beethoven, Stravinsky and Debussy. Earlier in the month, Biss will give a solo recital at the Schwetzinger Schloss in a programme of Janacek, Schoenberg, Beethoven and Schumann.

As concerto soloist, Jonathan Biss will make his debut with the BBC Philharmonic and Gianandrea Noseda playing Beethoven's 'Emperor' concerto. He also appears with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Günther Herbig playing Beethoven Piano Concerto No.3, and with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and James Levine playing the Schumann Concerto.

Jane Dutton returns to the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcleona this month to sing Waltraute in Wagner’s Die Walküre alongside Placido Domingo, Waltraud Meier, Rene Pape and Alan Held. Sebastian Weigle will conduct and the premiere is on 28 May.

On 18 May Simona Mihai will make her Glyndebourne Festival debut singing Virtu in a new production of L’incoronazione di Poppea directed by Robert Carsen and conducted by Emmanuelle Haim. Danielle de Niese and Alice Coote also star.

Martyn Brabbins gives the world premiere of Simon Holt’s percussion concerto A Table of Noises with the City of Birmingham Symphony and soloist Colin Currie, before conducting a Vaughan Williams/Elgar programme with the Hallé Orchestra later this month.

Andrew Kennedy will premiere works from his new “Dark Pastoral” disc in a recital on 23 May at the Brighton Festival. Julius Drake will accompany him at the piano in the programme of English Song which includes works by Ivor Gurney, William Denis Browne and Eugene Goosens.

Eugene Ugorski will make his debut this month with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra. Conducted by Paul Meyer he will perform Lalo's Symphonie Espagnole.

Following her much acclaimed performance of Book One of Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier in the Royal Festival Hall, London in January, Angela Hewitt returns to the venue on 4 May to perform Book Two of the work. Click here to read the Guardian's review of the January recital. Following this London performance, Hewitt travels to Munich to make her recital debut in the city's Herkulessaal.

Boris Giltburg embarks on a recital tour in Europe this month, performing Beethoven, Franck, Rachmaninov, Scriabin and Prokofiev at the Zurich Tonhalle on 5 May, the Schwetzingen Festival on 11 May (live broadcast on SWF) and in Gijon (Spain), as well as making a studio recording in Berlin.

James MacMillan's new string quartet will be premiered this month by the Takàcs Quartet at Southbank Centre as part of the International Chamber Music Season, while elsewhere he conducts the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra in a programme of Vaughan Williams, Adès and Holst.

In May, Leonidas Kavakos will make his debut conducting and playing with the St Louis Symphony Orchestra in a programme of Stravinsky Concerto en Re, Bach Keyboard Concerto BWV 1052, and Mendelssohn Symphony No.3 'Scottish'. Later in the month, Kavakos will again be in Salzburg, to conduct the Camerata Salzburg in their own festival, 'Begegnung' in a programme of Honegger Pastoral d'Ete and Beethoven Symphony No.6.

As soloist, Kavakos will play the Berg Concerto with La Scala Filharmonica and Daniel Harding, the Dvorak Concerto with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and Claus Peter Flor, and the Brahms Concerto first with the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra and Christian Thielemann and subsequently with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and Riccardo Chailly, both in Leipzig and on tour including a performance on 6 June at the Barbican Hall in London.

Kavakos will also give a recital at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome with pianist Enrico Pace in a programme of Beethoven, Shostakovich and Strauss.

Chris Gillett will sing Louis Andreissens De Materie with the Schoenberg Ensemble in Rotterdam on 29 May and at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam on 4 June. Reinbert de Leeuw will conduct the performances.

On 13 May Leigh Melrose will make his debut at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona, in Willyl Decker’s new production of Britten’s Death in Venice conducted by Sebastian Weigle.

In April the Pavel Haas Quartet toured the United States to outstanding critical acclaim, with The Washington Post claiming 'This is one of the most polished and musically exciting young string quartets in the world today'. This month the Pavel Haas Quartet will make their debut at the Berlin Philharmonie with a programme of works by Prokofiev, Janacek and Smetana. They will also perform concerts in Nuremburg, at the Norfolk and Norwich Festival and the Chipping Campden Music Festival in England.

On 29 and 30 May, Michael Colvin will sing Beethoven’s ninth symphony with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra conducted by Peter Oundjian.

During May Brett Dean conducts the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra - his second collaboration with the orchestra as conductor, following a season as Artist in Residence in 2004. He conducts the final concert of the 2008 Metropolis Festival in a programme of major recent works by Australian composers such as Georges Lentz, Mary Finsterer and Keith Humble alongside music by Adès. Looking ahead, in June, Dean conducts a new music programme with the SWR Stuttgart.

Following his great success in the world premiere of Detlev Galnert’s Caligula, Ashley Holland returns to Frankfurt this month to sing in another contemporary piece, Matthias Pintscher’s L’espace dernier. Paolo Carignani will conduct concert performances in Frankfurt (17 May) and in Cologne (18 May).

This month Thierry Fischer returns to the Netherlands Radio Chamber for an all-MacMillan programme, and conducts Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder coupled with Ravel’s Pavane pour Une Infante Defunte and Frank Martin’s Pavane Couleur du Temps with his orchestra in Wales. He also puts the finalists of the televised BBC Young Musician of the Year through their paces.

Baldur Brönnimann makes his debut with the Bergen Philharmonic conducting them in the opening two concerts of the Bergen International Festival in Saariaho’s L’amour de Loin. He also returns to the Scottish Chamber Orchestra for the second time this season for a four-concert tour across the Scottish borders.

On 4 May David Alden's production of Simon Boccanegra will open in Athens for the Greek National Opera.

This month, Heinrich Schiff will both conduct and play with the Vienna Chamber Orchestra in a programme of Vivaldi's Concerto in G Minor, RV 531 for two celli with Thomas Carroll, Vivaldi Concerto in B minor, RV 424, Mozart Symphony in D major, K186b, and Schrecker Chamber Symphony for 23 solo instruments. As conductor, Schiff will lead the Düsseldorf Symphoniker in a programme of Lutoslawski Mi Parti, Schumann Symphony No.2 and Schumann Cello Concerto with soloist and one of his protégés, Julian Steckel. He also conducts the Niedersächsische Staatsorchester in Hannover in a programme of Beethoven Coriolan Overture and Symphony No.7, and Lutoslawski Cello Concerto with Cristian Poltéra.

In recital, Schiff will give a series of all-Beethoven concerts with Martin Helmchen, and also plays a chamber programme of Beethoven, Schumann and Brahms with Martin Fröst and Alexander Madzar for concerts in Ravensburg and Munsterling.

The Alban Berg Quartet perform Haydn, Berg and Beethoven at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on 1 May. This preceeds their last ever UK recital on 25 June 2008 - Schubert Trout and C major Quintets with dear friends Elisabeth Leonskaja, Heinrich Schiff and Alois Posch, also at the Queen Elizabeth Hall.

During May Richard Goode performs with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and Peter Oundjian in Mozart's Piano Concerto No.25 K503 and also gives a recital of music by Chopin, Bach, Debussy and Beethoven at the Theatre des Champs-Elysées, to be repeated later in the month at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam. Goode also performs a two piano-four hands recital with Jonathan Biss at the Southbank Centre (as part of the International Chamber Musica Season) and at the Lousiana Museum of Modern Art, as well as performing solo recitals in Turin, Padova and at the Klavierfest am Ruhr.

Ewa Kupiec makes her debut with the Orchestre de Paris, performing the Concertino for Piano and Orchestra by Wladyslaw Szpilman, the composer whose life was brought to the world’s attention in Roman Polanski’s Oscar-winning film The Pianist. Kupiec also performs works by Shostakovich and Gorecki with the Ensemble Resonanz in Hamburg.

Andreas Haefliger performs this month with the Berlin Konzerthaus Orchester and Gilbert Varga in Beethoven's Piano Concerto No.5 'Emperor'.

This month Paul McCreesh will make his debut with the Berne Symphony Orchestra, conducting a programme including Mendelssohn Piano Concerto No.1 (with Stephen Hough) and Beethoven Symphony No.6.

Elsewhere last month, the Choir of King's College, Cambridge returned to the US following their highly acclaimed Christmas tour in 2004. The visit included sell-out performances in Baltimore, Chicago, and New York.

"The Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, at St. Thomas Church Fifth Avenue on Friday, confirmed what many listeners think they know about the British choral tradition, but then gave listeners other things to think about too. The 30 men and boys led by Stephen Cleobury were scrupulously prepared, well tuned and musically alert."
New York Times

In the UK, the choir are delighted to be opening the Norfolk and Norwich Festival this month and later will return to the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester, joined by the Academy of Ancient Music in a programme taken from their many recordings for EMI Classics including Zadok the Priest and Vivaldi's Gloria. Intermusica then travels with the AAM to Inverness and a programme of early music concerti with Frank de Bruine and Pavlo Beznosiuk.

Click on the following link to hear an extract from Alleluia, I Heard a Voice, taken from their most recent release I Heard a Voice: The Music of the Golden Age on EMI Classics:

Russell Braun returns to the Canadian Opera Company on 6 May to sing Pelléas in Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande. Jan Latham-Koenig will conduct and Isabel Bayrakdarian will star opposite Russell in the role of Mélisande.

In May, Mario Venzago will give concerts with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra with two different programmes. The first is a programme of Sibelius Finlandia, Nielsen Symphony No.6 and Grieg Piano Concerto with soloist Garrick Ohlsson, and the second of the Bach Double Concerto with soloists Zach De Pue and Alexander Kerr, and Bruckner Symphony No.8. He will also give concerts with the Orquestra Sinfónica do Estado de São Paulo with a programme of Mozart and Bruckner.

Jun Märkl conducts Bruckner Symphony No.3 at the Salle Pleyel on 13 May with his Lyon orchestra, with whom he also travels to Lucerne on 10 May for a programme with Julia Fischer.

Gilbert Varga returns to the Berlin Symphony Orchestra to conduct Bartok’s Four Portraits, Barber’s Meditation and Dance of Vengeance and Beethoven’s fifth piano concerto with Andreas Haefliger.

In May, Marek Janowski goes on tour again with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, this time for concerts in Innsbruck, Ljubljana and Vienna in a programme of Mozart Piano Concerto No.21 K467 with soloist Nikolai Lugansky and Bruckner Symphony No.7.

Earlier in the month, he gives concerts with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, with an all-Mozart programme for concerts in Berlin, and with programmes of Mozart, Brahms, Schumann and Beethoven in Zwickau and Dresden.

Mikhail Agrest returns to the Stockholm Royal Opera this month to conduct performances of Puccini's Tosca. Agrest will subsequently travel to Sydney to begin rehearsals with Opera Australia for his debut there with Mozart's Don Giovanni.

The Tokyo String Quartet will be in the UK this month. They will be appearing at the Norfolk and Norwich Festival, the Brighton Festival and at the Wigmore Hall. They will be performing a programme of Beethoven and Webern Quartets.

Following a hugely successful tour of the United States with the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra, this month Andrew Manze conducts the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. The concert will include works by Mozart, Berwald and JS Bach.

After an absence of many years, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski returns to Budapest to conduct Bruckner Symphony No.7 with the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra. He also returns to his homeland to conduct the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra in Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis.

Sir Peter Maxwell Davies' Naxos Quartet No.7 will be performed in Rome's Church of St. Agnes in Agone, one of the Borromini churches which inspired the work.

On 16 May Matthew Best will take part in a concert of Wagner extracts with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland conducted by Patrik Ringborg. Irene Theorin will join Matthew for the programme which includes extracts from Der Ring des Nibelungen.