The Schubertiade in Austria’s Vorarlberg region marks its 50th anniversary in 2026. Ilona Oltuski traces the festival from Hermann Prey’s purist founding vision to Gerd Nachbauer’s broader curation, and speaks with the Alinde Quartet ahead of their Schubertiade debut.

Photo Credit: Olympia Orlova

Six finalists in both categories (Piano and Chamber Music) competed for monetary prizes (with a first prize of 20,000 euros) and subsequent performance opportunities.

The real winners, though, are Poland’s lesser-known composers from the 19th and 20th Centuries. A broad and varied compilation of around sixty composers’ works offered a vast number of repertoire choices from the national collection.

It is not easy to identify what makes Polish music Polish. Given the wide-ranging aesthetic differences between the pieces, one may be hard-pressed to define the binding elements based on the use of Polish folkloristic motifs alone.

What gives Polish music its cohesive thread when many of the pieces were written when there was no Polish state, and others were composed by refugees who never returned to their country of origin? These works include – to a large extent – many of Poland’s Jewish composers, who widely contributed to the country’s music history.

Rather than providing conclusive answers to what elements constitute the music’s connective tissue, the competition offers contestants and audiences alike an in-depth exploration of these works in the hope of leading to their re-discovery.

The exhibit goes beyond the 2021 presentation at the Leipzig Gewandhaus, titled: "Curtain Up for Emmy Rubensohn - music patron from Leipzig," which was cut short due to the pandemic. It has been expanded with new documents and artifacts and is now displayed alongside and in the context of the GRASSI museums' collections. It offers an extensive compilation of photos and personal correspondence accompanying Rubensohn's narrative during her life's passage through the end of the German Kaiser Reich, the Weimar Republic, Nazi persecution, her emigration to Shanghai, and then New York.

"This concert presents a fascinating program that examines many facets of both composers' perspectives and personalities. It is not often that one finds a conductor and orchestra so invested in championing neglected works and presenting such a program—I'm genuinely excited to go on this adventure with Karen and Pegasus, and we hope to make a compelling case for this music for the listener," says soloist Nicolas Namoradze about the upcoming concert.

In her latest leadership role as the newly elected president of the BDKV – Germany’s Association of the Concert and Event Industry – Sonia Simmenauer now represents the various interests of Germany’s extensive network of service professionals and businesses in the artist support field.

During the height of the Pandemic, American conductor Garrett Keast formed the Berlin Academy for American Music, a new chamber orchestra based in Berlin. BAAM's debut CD, titled: Transatlantic, brings together a group of diverse professional orchestral musicians that share his passion – uncover and explore the vast soundscape of American Music in Berlin's classical music scene – and beyond. Keast takes a post-pandemic moment to reflect on his life as a musician that bridges both continents' traditions and expands on the inclusive character of social justice with music that does not stop at national borders.

While our collective awareness of bias and injustice towards Black people has recurrently ebbed and flowed throughout American history, Black contributions to Western classical culture are timeless and universal. We presume that the centuries-old treasure trove of Black music among the canon’s powerful, visceral accessible experiences have reached all hearts equally.

Ever since her debut as an 11-year-old violin prodigy, when she was invited by Zubin Mehta to perform at the New York Philharmonic’s 1982 New Year’s Eve Gala, Midori has been a household name with audiences worldwide. Dropping “Goto,” her surname, after her parents’ divorce signaled Midori’s early vision towards creating a unique brand, later adopted by other Asian top stars, like Yundi (Li) and Yuja (Wang). Midori counterbalanced her public visibility and international performance career with her activism in support of humanitarian and educational goals. What stood out for me, when talking to Midori over Zoom while she was in Turkey, was her adventurous spirit and openness to change.

The piano matters in Cleveland. With its winners’ concerts anchored to its historic Severance Hall—Cleveland’s edifice headquarters of the region’s eminent orchestra—the Cleveland International Piano Competition (CIPC) and surrounding programs help focus on the single keyboard instrument’s capacity to, in the right hands, emanate its own symphonic soundscape.