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In October 2022, DW Radio and PRX released a new season of Deutsche Welle Festival Concerts – classical music made in Germany. Our host, Cristina Burack, takes you to the country's best classical music festivals for exciting, moving and diverse performances, with music ranging from the Baroque to the 21st century. The season's 13 episodes will visit such major musical events as the Bach Festival, Beethoven Festival and Mozart Festival, and will also bring you selected highlights from exceptional concerts elsewhere. In addition, you'll hear directly from musicians, conductors and festival directors as they share exclusive behind-the-scenes insight into the pieces and performances.

The episodes will be released from October 2022 to December 2022. Each one lasts one hour and 58 minutes. The series offers ideal flexibility, as you can broadcast the entire season, creating a regular listening experience, or use episodes individually as needed.

Orchestras and musicians benefited from flourishing cultural activities and musical events as the coronavirus pandemic moved into a new, less restrictive stage. While overseas touring remained difficult, festivals took place under more normal conditions, with enthusiastic audiences packing venues. The energy and excitement were palpable in the performances. We let you experience these unique concerts in the new episodes of Deutsche Welle Festival Concerts (DWFC).

The 2022 Würzburg Mozart Festival was dedicated to Mozart as a "Freigeist," or free spirit. We present the festival's opening concert, which featured a German orchestra steeped in tradition: The Bamberg Symphony. The orchestra performed Mozart's Piano Concerto in A Major, along with works by Joseph Haydn, Igor Stravinsky and Isabel Mundry's "Traces des Moments."

In Leipzig, the world-renowned Bach Festival focused not only on Johann Sebastian Bach but also on his extended – and very musically talented – family. One concert illuminated the similarities and differences between his music and that of his son Carl Philipp Emanuel, who was widely popular in his time, even more so than his father! The new organist of the famous St. Thomas Church, Johannes Lang, presented a delightfully varied selection of preludes, fugues and partitas by Johann Sebastian Bach and numerous other relatives. And under the baton of the new music director of St. Thomas, Andreas Reize, the St. Thomas boys' choir joined the Gewandhaus Orchestra to perform one of Bach's most beloved works of all time: The St. Matthew Passion.

2022 also brought new leadership to the Beethoven Festival in Bonn, where German-American Steven Walter took over the artistic direction, bringing new ideas, fresh sounds and unusual collaborations to the multiweek classical event. Still, just as in prior years, the festival was replete with big-name orchestras and soloists, such as the Budapest Festival Orchestra, which performed Beethoven's Symphony No. 3, the "Eroica," under the direction of Iván Fischer. German-American violinist Augustin Hadelich gave an expressive and emotional performance of Beethoven's Violin Concerto, while soprano Anna Prohaska delighted audiences with arias from Mozart's opera "The Marriage of Figaro." Other Beethoven gems in the festival included his "Kreutzer Sonata," featuring violinist Jonian-Ilias Kadesha, and his "Triple Concerto," performed by the superstar trio of cellist Julia Hagen, violinist Renaud Capuçon and pianist Kit Armstrong. Hector Berlioz's "Symphonie Fantastique" was another dramatic highlight of the festival.

Stations may subscribe to the full series via PRX SubAuto or download individual episodes.

The full list of all 13 episodes is available. See "Attached Files" Hide full description