Update

And again, it has been much too long since my last update. I spent most of my summer back in The Netherlands relaxing and not going online too much (and also concert-free, unfortunately) but I am back in England now and really have no excuse not to start writing again. I have also neglected my 24classics playlist this past month, but new tracks will appear later today or tomorrow. Just go here to listen. 

The next couple of months are looking rather exciting concert-wise. October in particular has some absolute gems, I am seriously considering going to 5 concerts which might not seem much for some, but I usually limit myself to 3-4 for monetary reasons. Difficult to resist though, Yannick Nézet-Séguin is returning to the London Philharmonic with two concerts; one consisting of works by Poulenc (including his Stabat Mater, which I love) & Prokofiev's Symphony No.7 and the other is, for me, the most exciting concert this fall: Shostakovich's 13th Symphony. Yannick is becoming a fantastic conductor of the Russian repertoire and he's of course always been a great choir-conductor so I cannot wait to see what he does with the 13th, one of the bleakest and most impressive Shostakovich works. There's another London Philharmonic concert, on the 30th of October, that I got tickets for: Schnittke's Symphony No.1. It is perhaps my favourite hilariously absurd symphony (it deserves a blogpost of its own, which will come soon) and I cannot wait to see it live. It's programmed with Lutoslawksi's Cello Concerto which, despite my love for the composer, I feel like I've seen enough this year but I'll gladly sit through it to hear Schnittke (and Ligeti's Lontano). 

In somewhat more disappointing news: I will not be able to see the MET Live broadcast of The Nose because during the live screening I'll be at the aforementioned 13th Symphony, and during the encore screening I have to teach! I really hope they release it on DVD this time around, or that some London-based opera company decides to put it on (that would obviously be even better). 

Expect a proper music-filled blogpost sometime later this week!