Naxos World was established in 2002, originally specialising in a wide range of traditional and ethnic music from around the world.
Relaunched in 2019, Naxos World now also presents exciting recordings situated at the crossroads of classical and world music. The label’s mission is to support classical musicians’ exploration of global music, cross-cultural collaborations and non-western forms of classical music.
The Art of the Chinese Xiao & Hulusi by Heart of the Dragon Ensemble presents the elegant union of ‘East meets West’. Featuring the sophisticated Chinese xiao and the Dai nation’s joyous hulusi, the album seamlessly blends a range of traditional Chinese music and western instruments.
Watch the music video for the track The Affections of the Dai Nation taken from the album.
Lodestar Trio’s Bach to Folk blazes a trail with an unprecedented ‘Baroque meets Folk’ repertoire. With fresh interpretations of Baroque classics (Bach, Lully, Couperin) together with new compositions, they push the boundaries of their mystical and magical Scandinavian string instruments.
Bach to Folk was added to Apple Music’s popular playlists Classical A.M., New in Classical, Melancholy Strings as well as Spotify’s Classical New Releases. Follow Lodestar Trio on Spotify here.
‘Lodestar shines a different light on Bach’s pieces, they make them anew...’
– Songlines ★★★★
Watch the music video for the track Deliverance taken from the album.
Tanya Ekanayaka presents a stunning array of 43 works for solo piano on her album 18 Piano Sutras & 25 South Asian Pianisms. A mystical, vibrant, contemplative and poetic album, the sutras and pianisms traverse a broad spectrum of moods and thought. Throughout, the prolific composer-pianist’s fearless musical authenticity glistens with beautiful originality.
Music from this album was included in Apple Music’s Women in Classical Music playlist in March 2023, during Women’s History Month.
‘Imaginative and atmospheric … really beguiling.’
– International Piano
Watch the music video for the track Yelimu taken from the album.
Tri Nguyen, classical pianist and đàn-tranh (Vietnamese zither) master, presents 14 enchanting pieces composed in the form of a heartfelt letter to his late mother. With his bicultural upbringing, Tri showcases his mastery of the piano, at times quoting Bach, Vivaldi and Ravel, as well as his profound knowledge of the ancient techniques of đàn-tranh playing. This is an elegant blend of ancient and modern, Western and Asian, touching on tales of his childhood, the challenges of COVID-19 and his profound love and gratitude for his mother.
Music from this album was featured on Apple Music’s Classical A.M., New in Classical playlists and Spotify’s A Tranquil World and New Music Friday Vietnam playlists.
‘Wonderfully successful pairing of two exquisite traditional musical worlds by the same artist.’
– BBC Music Magazine ★★★★
‘It is impossible to be unmoved by the honesty and deep love expressed in this music…’
– MainlyPiano.com
‘Parisian master of melody honors his mother’s memory with a touching recital.’
– Let It Rock
Watch the music video for the track Sigh of Sorrow taken from the album.
Jason Carter is an award-winning musician and filmmaker who travels the world with his concerts, seeking intercultural dialogue and unity at every given opportunity. His latest documentary Inside Out recently won the ‘Best Music Video’ and ‘Best Music Competition’ awards at the Guitarist Music Video Festival, held in Bosnia in December 2023.
Jason Carter’s newest album Seeking the Divine reflects on moments in his life when a strong sense of purpose was revealed to him. It echoes the inner tranquillity that can come over us, sometimes unexpectedly, when we realise with complete acceptance what our role is within this world. Touching on Jason’s life-changing experiences in places like North Korea, Afghanistan, and Saudi Arabia, this album is a testament to the universal language of music and the pursuit of something beyond ourselves.
You can hear Jason’s relaxing harp-guitar on the Spotify playlists Calming Acoustic, Dreamcatcher, Calming Retreat, Chakra, Coffee House Guitar and more. Follow Jason on Spotify.
Watch the popular music video for The Colour of Silence being released on all digital stores due to popular demand as a single from the new album.
The Jury of the International Classical Music Awards (ICMA) announced the Awards for 2024.
Special Achievement Awards were granted to conductor Sylvain Cambreling; to the Capriccio label for its #Bruckner2024 The Complete Versions Edition; and to film director Bruno Monsaingeon.
To date, Sylvain Cambreling has conducted some 120 operas and 1,000 orchestral works, a singular achievement. The jury described him as “an exceptional conductor because of the immensity of his repertoire. Whatever scores he conducts, he brings to them the highest standards.” This 10-disc Anniversary Edition was released on SWR Classic to mark the occasion of Cambreling’s 75th birthday in 2023.
The Capriccio label was also recognised for its monumental cycle of the complete Bruckner Symphonies (in all versions) featuring conductor Markus Poschner, Bruckner Orchestra Linz and the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra. 2024 marks the 200th anniversary of Bruckner’s birth and this project comprises recordings of all versions of Bruckner’s symphonies, including all the alternative versions that are included in the new, comprehensive and authoritative Anton Bruckner Gesamtausgabe. The jury stated: ‘This complete edition of Bruckner’s symphonies is an exceptional project because it questions our listening habits and musical tradition. It combines musicological research with artistic excellence, while bringing together Austria’s leading musical institutions. In short, the sound of Bruckner, yet innovative too.’
Markus Poschner is the musical director throughout the project, making this the first time that one conductor has been on the podium for all nineteen versions of the symphonies. For more details, please visit the mini-site https://lnk.to/Bruckner2024.
– Pizzicato ★★★★
– MusicWeb International
Another Special Achievement Award went to Bruno Monsaingeon, the French filmmaker and violinist, for his work in bringing classical music to the screen. The jury stated: ‘All his films and documentaries are sources of inspiration, allowing us to get up close and personal with so many great musicians. Bruno Monsaingeon’s camera makes us vibrate like never before to the rhythm of music.’ His documentary The Indomitable Bow is a unique portrait of Mstislav Rostropovich that includes unreleased documents, archive films, interviews and concert performances.
Ondine’s Schubert piano trio album featuring Lars Vogt, Christian Tetzlaff and Tanja Tetzlaff has won the award for Best Chamber Music Recording of the year in the International Classical Music Awards (ICMA).
For the full list of winners, please visit the ICMA website. The awards ceremony and gala concert will be held on 12 April 2024 at the Palau de la Musica in Valencia.
The London Cello Society presented cellist Julian Lloyd Webber with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Royal Academy of Music last autumn. The award was presented by the British violist, Philip Dukes, who is a longtime musical collaborator and close friend of Lloyd Webber, citing the cellist’s outstanding and enduring contribution towards the cello community of Great Britain; his substantial services to musical education; and his passion for performing and commissioning music by English composers.
The award is the latest in Lloyd Webber’s list of accolades, which include a Fellowship of the Royal College of Music (1994), a Crystal Award from the World Economic Forum (1998), the Classic FM Red Award (2005), and the Incorporated Society of Musicians’ Distinguished Musician of the Year Award (2014).
– Fanfare
– Gramophone
– The Strad
– The WholeNote
The Dutch National Opera has been honoured with the prestigious title of ‘Best Opera Company 2023’ by the international jury of the OPER! Awards. The jury stated that ‘the Dutch National Opera under its director Sophie de Lint shows in an exemplary way how an opera house can be relevant and win acceptance in a diverse, modern urban society.’
![PUCCINI, G.: Tosca [Opera] (DNO, 2022) (NTSC)](https://www.naxos.com/sharedfiles/images/cds/hires/2.110752.jpg "PUCCINI, G.: Tosca [Opera] (DNO, 2022) (NTSC)")
– Gramophone
![HUMPERDINCK, E.: Königskinder [Opera] (DNO, 2022) (NTSC)](https://www.naxos.com/sharedfiles/images/cds/hires/2.110759.jpg "HUMPERDINCK, E.: Königskinder [Opera] (DNO, 2022) (NTSC)")
– Opera Now ★★★★
![LEONCAVALLO, R.: Pagliacci / MASCAGNI, P.: Cavalleria rusticana [Operas] (DNO, 2019) (NTSC)](https://www.naxos.com/sharedfiles/images/cds/hires/2.110670.jpg "LEONCAVALLO, R.: Pagliacci / MASCAGNI, P.: Cavalleria rusticana [Operas] (DNO, 2019) (NTSC)")
– MusicWeb International
![BERG, A.: Wozzeck [Opera] (DNO, 2017) (NTSC)](https://www.naxos.com/sharedfiles/images/cds/hires/2.110582.jpg "BERG, A.: Wozzeck [Opera] (DNO, 2017) (NTSC)")
– Opera
Philip Stopford is admired in Britain and America for his beautifully crafted music, rooted in the Anglican tradition. His works are memorable and colourful, as these world premiere recordings demonstrate. The most extensive piece on this album is the Missa Deus nobiscum, a sacred concert work with a scintillating role for soprano soloist that displays Stopford’s compositional skill, creating a journey rather than a sequence of set piece movements. Elsewhere, in pieces for a variety of locations and occasions, his music is evocative, filmic and vividly celebratory.
On this album, Jeremy Summerly conducts the Choir of St Luke’s, Chelsea and Chelsea Camerata, accompanied by organist Rupert Jeffcoat, together with soprano Grace Davidson, who was commended by BBC Music Magazine for her ‘pristine soprano contribution’ in Francis Pott’s choral music album (8.572739).
– Gramophone
– Gramophone
– Choir & Organ ★★★★
– The Sunday Times, London
Browse the Sacred Choral Music catalogue for other wonderful titles.
Pianist Kevin Cole and the National Orchestral Institute Philharmonic under David Alan Miller present George Gershwin’s three masterpieces – Rhapsody in Blue, the Second Rhapsody and the Cuban Overture – that are heard in premiere recordings of the new Gershwin Critical Edition.
David Alan Miller says: ‘Recording these three essential Gershwin masterpieces with the brilliant musicians of the National Orchestral Institute Philharmonic (NOIP) and Kevin Cole, the greatest Gershwin interpreter of our time, is a dream come true for me. We feel confident that this is the way George imagined these pieces: crisp, sassy, and incredibly hot, with the crackling vitality and fearlessness of youth, so brilliantly captured by the dazzling virtuoso musicians of the NOIP.’
This is the first recording of Rhapsody in Blue in the Gershwin Critical Edition and is being released in the 2024 centennial of the work’s first performance.
The pre-release digital single featuring Gershwin’s Cuban Overture from the upcoming album is now available on streaming platforms!
This album presents three classic Gershwin pieces heard in premiere recordings of the new Gershwin Critical Edition. The edition seeks to create the most accurate representation of the composer’s intentions using all existing manuscripts and other sources, such as piano rolls. In the case of Rhapsody in Blue the edition is based on Ferde Grofé’s symphonic arrangement, though 44 measures from the original jazz band version are included. Also featured are a propulsive study in rhythm and texture by Joan Tower, and ghostly waltz evocations by Steven Stucky.
The release of the world premiere recording of GRAMMY-nominated composer Peter Boyer’s Rhapsody in Red, White & Blue also celebrates the centenary of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and launches the 50-state ‘Rhapsody National Initiative’. Commissioned by pianist Jeffrey Biegel, who also performs in this recording, the work is cast, like Gershwin’s, in a single, multi-sectional movement that similarly captures propulsive energy, along with allusions to blues influences and lyrical evocations of American vistas. This brilliantly communicative work was premiered, to great acclaim, in June 2023, and Biegel will be performing it in each of the 50 United States through 2026.
This work will be have an exclusive pre-release on Apple Music on 9 February, with the wide release on all other streaming platforms on 23 February.
– BBC Music Magazine ★★★★★
– Classical Net
– Le Journal de Montréal
Jean-Philippe Rameau’s Platée is a masterpiece of the French operatic repertoire and was highly regarded by critics during the composer’s lifetime. Composed for the marriage of the Dauphin Louis, son of Louis XV, to the Infanta Maria Teresa of Spain, it was first performed at Versailles in 1745 and became an instant hit. The plot concerns the ugly and conceited frog Platée, the victim of a machination of the gods who make her believe that she is loved by Jupiter. Is this Rameau mocking Princess Maria Teresa of Spain – reputedly a woman of little beauty? Or the French court, which saw itself as a new Olympus? This classic production from the Opéra de Paris by Marc Minkowski and Laurent Pelly returns to the stage with an entirely new cast, featuring Julie Fuchs, Mathias Vidal, Jean Teitgen and Lawrence Brownlee.
![RAMEAU, J.-P.: Platée [Opera] (Paris National Opera, 2022) (NTSC)](images/BAC224.jpg "RAMEAU, J.-P.: Platée [Opera] (Paris National Opera, 2022) (NTSC)")
‘It is a truly vintage production, grand cru indeed ... The sound was rich and smooth, the performance highly polished.’
– Opera Today
‘Marc Minkowski and his ensemble … astonish us with the precision and fluidity of their orchestral offering.’
– Bachtrack.com ★★★★★
| Platée | Lawrence Brownlee |
| Thalie, La Folie | Julie Fuchs |
| Jupiter | Jean Teitgen |
| Momus | Marc Mauillon |
| Un Satyre, Cithéron | Nahuel Di Pierro |
| Thespis | Mathias Vidal |
| Mercure | Reinoud Van Mechelen |
| L’amour, Clarine | Tamara Bounazou |
| Junon | Adriana Bignagni Lesca |
| Conductor | Marc Minkowski |
| Chorus Master | Ching-Lien Wu |
| Director and Costume Design | Laurent Pelly |
| Set Design | Chantal Thomas |
| Lighting Design | Joël Adam |
| Choreography | Laura Scozzi |
| Dramaturgy | Agathe Mélinand |
Filmed in June 2022 at the Opéra national de Paris (Palais Garnier)
More audiovisual productions available for streaming on Amazon Prime Video, either for rent or digital purchase! (Selected titles may be unavailable to stream in some locations.)
More full-length videos? NaxosVideoLibrary.com brings you an extensive streaming video library of classical music performances, opera, ballet, live concerts and documentaries. Watch the world’s greatest opera houses, ballet companies, orchestras and artists perform on demand!
Marin Alsop has been appointed principal guest conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra for a three-year term beginning in the 2024–25 season. In this new role, she will lead the orchestra in multiple subscription concerts, special events, annual summer residencies, and both national and international tours.
Currently chief conductor of the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Alsop is also artistic director and chief conductor of the Polish National Radio Symphony and principal guest conductor of London’s Philharmonia Orchestra. She also holds positions as chief conductor and curator of Chicago’s Ravinia Festival where she conducts the Chicago Symphony’s summer residencies. She is music director laureate of the Baltimore Symphony, where she founded the orchestra’s OrchKids education programme, and conductor of honour of Brazil’s São Paulo Symphony Orchestra. In 2020 she was appointed music director of the National Orchestral Institute + Festival at the University of Maryland’s Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center.
[8-Disc Boxed Set]
– ClassicsToday.com
[6-Disc Boxed Set]
– MusicWeb International
– Klassisk ★★★★★
– AllMusic.com ★★★★★
– AllMusic.com ★★★★★
View the full list of Marin Alsop’s extensive Naxos discography here.
Enjoy a discount of 10% on the digital sheet music (PDF downloads) of all new publications in 2023 with the code HK2024 (valid until 16 February 2024). The offer includes violin concertos and violin sonatas by Joseph Bologne de Saint-Georges; Joseph Martin Kraus’ concertos for viola; Ignaz Pleyel’s sinfonia concertante and string quintets; and Leopold Hofmann’s violin concertos and two masses.
Check out the new Artaria Editions 2024 Catalogue, which includes new editions to enrich the musical experience of scholars and performers alike.
Podcast: The Valencia Baryton Project plays Haydn
12 January 2024
A podcast featuring the Valencia Baryton Project and their new recording of music by Franz Joseph Haydn. Haydn was music director of the Esterházy Court at Eisenstadt for twenty-five years. It was where Prince Nikolaus commissioned him to write trios for the baryton, a bowed, stringed instrument similar to the viol but with extra plucked strings that enabled performers to accompany themselves. Haydn wrote string trios (baryton, viola, cello) of elegance, refinement and poise that encapsulate a rich variety of moods, a selection of which is introduced on this podcast by Raymond Bisha. Seldom performed or recorded, the baryton trios attest to Haydn’s limitless powers of invention in every medium.
Podcast: Same River Twice
26 January 2024
Raised in Medellín, Colombia, Billy Arcila has lived in the United States for over 40 years, where he teaches and performs as one of California’s foremost guitarists. In this podcast, Raymond Bisha presents the first album to be made of his music. Performed by the composer himself, it contains works written across Ancila's entire compositional life, from his first published work to his most recent. Interspersed with the music of other admired composers, Arcila’s autobiographical guitar music embraces the nostalgic, the verdant and the vibrant. This album also includes music by Fabio Salazar Orozco, Jorge Becerra, Gustavo Gómez Ardila, Sam Bigney and others.
Looking for new music? Our selection of curated playlists has you covered with music to complement the season, moment, or activity! This month from Naxos, immerse yourself in beautiful piano melodies with Piano for Relaxation, and discover classical music written between the mid-20th century and today with Naxos in Context: Contemporary. Then, from Naxos Moods, kick off the new year with Energetic Focus, and find inner peace with Mindfulness. And from Grand Piano, delve into the latest and most remarkable additions to their collection in the Grand Piano New Release Sampler playlist. Happy listening!
Discover the Naxos Atmosphere playlist, a spatial experience from the Naxos world of classical music featuring Dolby Atmos technology.
The Danish feature film Viften (Empire) recently won the Nordic Council Film Prize. Directed by Frederikke Aspöck, the film takes a fresh stance on racism and power plays. The action takes place in 1848 at St Croix during Denmark’s colonial times in the West Indies. The jury stated: ‘The film combines excellent screenwriting with a striking visual narrative and soundscape that make for a powerful cinematic experience.’
The film also features the Naxos recording of Schumann’s Piano Quintet in E flat major, Op. 44: Scherzo, performed by the Kodály Quartet and Jenő Jandó.
Need to license some music for a project and don’t know where to start? Visit Naxos Licensing to find out how!
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