Watch Festive Season Concerts On DG Stage

Deutsche Grammophon’s online platform DG Stage – The Classical Concert Hall will present a further series of exceptional performances from some of the world’s leading classical artists during the festive season. The December programme will feature landmark Christmas programmes from the archive and new concert productions including celebrations to mark Beethoven’s 250th birthday.

Krystian Zimerman

Celebrate Beethoven’s 250th birthday by watching Krystian Zimerman perform the composer’s five piano concertos with the London Symphony Orchestra and Sir Simon Rattle at LSO St Luke’s in London on 17, 19 and 21 December.

Sistine Chapel Choir

Listen to the sacred sounds of Advent and Christmas on DG Stage on 23 December courtesy of the Sistine Chapel Choir whose choristers are joined – in a historic collaboration – by Cecilia Bartoli, the first woman ever to record with the Choir. The choral programme was recorded in the surroundings of the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel.

Baroque Christmas music

On Christmas Eve soprano Barbara Bonney and baritone Matthias Goerne are featured with the Freiburg Barockorchester in a programme of Baroque Christmas music, including highlights from Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and Handel’s Messiah, recorded at Freiburg Cathedral in 1999.

Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll

DG Stage has a special gift for Wagner lovers on Christmas Day. Exactly 150 years ago Richard Wagner dedicated Siegfried Idyll to his wife Cosima on her birthday and arranged for it to be performed by a chamber ensemble in their Swiss home on Christmas Day. The Bayreuth Festival 2020 marked what would have been its opening day at Haus Wahnfried – once Wagner’s home and now a museum devoted to his life and work – with that piece performed by Festival Music Director Christian Thielemann and members of the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra. The Bayreuth Festival and DG Stage will present this 20-minute treasure as a Christmas gift to all Wagner fans on the free tier DG Premium.

Bach’s Christmas Oratorio

Sir John Eliot Gardiner completed his Bach Cantata Pilgrimage with the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists 20 years ago. They prefaced their year-long journey with a highly acclaimed performance of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio at Weimar’s historic Herder Church at Christmas 1999 which will be broadcast on DG Stage in two parts on Christmas Day and 26 December. First heard at church services in Leipzig between Christmas Day 1734 and Epiphany 1735, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio is divided into six cantatas, each based on a different biblical scene.

Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker

Watch Tchaikovsky’s iconic Christmas ballet The Nutcracker on DG Stage on 27 December. This magical production, featuring Vasily Vainonen’s choreography and conducted by Valery Gergiev, was recorded live at the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg where the work received its world premiere in December 1892.

Yannick Nézet-Séguin

Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Orchestre Métropolitain complete their DG Stage Beethoven symphony cycle on 30 December with their performance of Symphony No. 9, joined by a quartet of internationally renowned Canadian soloists – soprano Marianne Fiset, mezzo-soprano Rihab Chaieb, tenor Frédéric Antoun and baritone Russell Braun.

Andris Nelsons

Finally celebrate New Year’s Eve on DG Stage with the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester and Andris Nelsons performing Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 and featuring star pianist Evgeny Kissin playing Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 2.

Watch a broad range of classical concert streams – including piano recitals, chamber music sessions and orchestra and opera performances – performed by the world’s leading artists, on Deutsche Grammophon’s online platform DG Stage. The pioneering venture expands Deutsche Grammophon’s commitment to great music, inspirational artists and new technology.

For more information and tickets click here.

Do you want to be the first to hear the latest news from the classical world? Follow uDiscover Classical on Facebook and Twitter.