This month, Intermusica looks forward to touring the Monte Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra in Spain under the baton of American conductor Lawrence Foster. Performing in Pamplona, Castellon, Madrid and Oviedo, they will be joined by world-renowned pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet performing Saint-Saëns' fifth piano concerto. Other works on tour include Debussy's La Mer, Suite No.2 from Roussel's Bacchus et Ariane and Franck's Le Chausseur Maudit.

Following their hugely successful performance with Richard Goode in 2005 the Budapest Festival Orchestra made a much anticipated return to Innsbruck last month. Under Music Director Iván Fischer, the Orchestra performed a programme of Strauss lieder with Swedish soprano Miah Persson paired with Mahler Symphony No.4.

Next month, Intermusica are delighted to be bringing the orchestra back to London to perform at the Royal Festival Hall where they will present a programme of Stravinsky and Dvorak, including The Firebird and Dvorak's Cello Concerto with Pieter Wispelwey. The Budapest Festival Orchestra have a long and successful recording relationship with Channel Classics and a live recording of their December 2006 performance of Dvorak's Cello Concerto (with Wispelwey) was recently released by the label to great acclaim.

The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and chief conductor Riccardo Chailly return to London's Barbican next month, with a programme of Tchaikovsky's fourth symphony and Brahms Violin Concerto with Leonidas Kavakos. The concert forms part of a wider European tour which includes performances in La Scala, Vienna, Glasgow and Paris, where they continue their three-year relationship at the Salle Pleyel.

Intermusica is delighted to be in partnership with Chailly and the Gewandhaus for a three-concert residency at the Barbican in the 2008/09 season.

"The central European sound of the Leipzig orchestra - with its fabulously secure brass, neat, lively woodwind and unflashily articulate strings…" The Guardian

Following the drama surrounding their success in Dijon and Paris in March with Valery Gergiev, the London Symphony Orchestra returns to Salle Pleyel next month for the last of their residency concerts there this season. Performing Mozart's 25th symphony and Strauss' Ein Heldenleben and Don Juan, this will be the orchestra's second appearance of the residency under Bernard Haitink, who conducted their very first concerts during the hall's opening week. The LSO's ongoing success in Paris will continue into the 2008/09 season with the start of Gergiev's Prokofiev cycle in the Autumn, featuring Leonidas Kavakos.

Click on the link below to hear an extract from Mahler Symphony No.7, recorded live by the LSO and Gergiev in Paris by Radio France on 9 March 2008:

(c) 2008 London Symphony Orchestra Ltd. Recording courtesy of Radio France. Click here for LSO Live.

Following their successful debut tour of South Korea with soloist Carolyn Sampson, the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra made a return to London's Barbican last month. Joined by mezzo-soprano Bernarda Fink they performed an all-Bach programme following the last-minute cancellation of Thomas Quasthoff.

"Supported by outstanding orchestral playing, this performance was an absolute joy."
Classical Source

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:

Last month, Simon Halsey and the City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus performed at the Dewan Filharmonik Petronas, located within the famous Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur. Alongside the Malaysian Philharmonic who was under the baton of Martyn Brabbins, they performed Vaughan Williams' A Sea Symphony.

"The chorus was magnificent, responding with confident assurance to the surge and ebb of the music...undoubtedly the star of the evening, displaying all the best qualities of choral singing: precise in tone, in full vocal harmony and ever alert to the constantly changing music."
Malaysia Star