Today I will say goodbye with Mariella Devia singing "Com’è bello!" from Donizetti's "Lucrezia Borgia".

One more post off the beaten path, Nina Simone performing "Strange Fruit" at Jazz à Juan, the International Jazz Festival from Juan-les-Pins, France, in 1965. (The festival still takes place every year.) Nina appears alongside Lisle Atkinson (bass), Rudy Stevenson (guitar & flute) and Bobby Hamilton (drums).

A small detour with Es Devlin's Library of Light in Pinacoteca di Brera, Milano. It was available this spring, and every evening at 8 o'clock, there was a recorded reading of extracts from "The Order of Time" by Carlo Rovelli, read by Benedict Cumberbatch, and preceded by an extract from "Il Cielo Mistico" by Maria Gaetana Agnesi. It’s underscored by Polyphonia with extracts from Beethoven’s Violin Concerto in D, Op. 61. In the second video, her newest installation, "Library of Us," is located on the beach in Miami.

I will say goodbye today with a special page of music's history, Arthur Grumiaux’s magnificent interpretation of Ernest Bloch’s Baal Shem, the second movement, Nigun. (Nobody seems to know who the pianist is, only that the recording is from the 1970s.) He really makes it feel like a prayer. As a side note, Yehudi Menuhin, who knew Bloch since childhood, described him as “a musician like an Old Testament prophet, with a divine fire that could scorch the bystander". And with this, I wish you all a great evening!

Happy 2nd Sunday of Advent! ”O du fröhliche“ with the Philharmonic of Vienna.

Perhaps less known in Europe, Jeanine De Bique singing Handel's V'adoro Pupille.

A slow morning with Tatiana Nikolaiyeva playing the andante from Shostakovich's 2nd Piano Concerto. (1992) Have a great day!

I can't leave this day with so few posts so here's a leap back to 1975 with Henryk Szeryng playing Kreisler’s Schön Rosmarin. Have a beautiful evening!

Not much posting today but I'll say goodbye with the trombone from Mahler’s Symphony No. 3.

Continuing a bit with Ballet de l’Opéra de Paris, beginning on December 14, Nureyev's Nutcracker launches in cinemas. View quoted note →

This may come as a surprise to some, but today, Ballet Opéra de Paris is presenting the premiere of “The Hunchback of Notre-Dame”, inspired by Victor Hugo's novel. Have a great day! 🥐☕

I wish you a beautiful weekend with Ana Vidović playing Bach's Partita in E major, BWV 1006. Wonderful!

My baroque mood of the day: Johann Sebastian Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 565, played by organist Hans-André Stamm on the Trost-Organ of the Stadtkirche in Waltershausen, Germany.

I just realised that I skipped opera for some time. In conclusion, today I'll say goodnight will this absolute masterpiece from 1981 with Claudio Desderi and Paolo Montarsolo singing “Un segreto d’importanza” from Rossini’s “La Cenerentola”. 👏👏👏 I wish you all a beautiful evening!

For today's lunch break, Nikolai Lugansky is playing Rachmaninov's Moment musical Op. 16 No. 4 in E minor, Presto. La Roque d’Anthéron, France, 2002.

Our morning coffee today is with Maria Clara Mandolesi performing Piatti Caprice No. 12. Have a great day!

Warner Bros Italy hits different, I guess. From December 25, Primavera in Cinemas.

I think I skipped the cello for some time so I should fix it. Always a good idea, Gautier Capuçon performing Elgar’s Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85 - I. Adagio. Moderato, with the London Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Antonio Pappano. Have a great evening!

Less than four weeks until the annual New Year’s Concert from the Philharmonic of Vienna. Always a pleasure with rich people inside having champagne, and the poor outside watching it live on a big screen. On a positive note, our drinks never get warm. Here's a video from last year’s performance with Riccardo Muti conducting the Freiheitsmarsch.

Jascha Heifetz playing Bach's Chaconne, the fifth and final movement of the Partita No. 2 in D minor for solo violin, BWV 1004. Have a great day!