With it's new Dvorak recording, the Merel Quartet presents a vivid and insightful portrait of a composer who remains one of music's great humanists. Antonin Dvorak's chamber works combine direct melodic appeal, harmonic ingenuity, and an unmistakable warmth that speaks across generations. This album brings together key works from his late creative period, complemented by two rare gems in compelling arrangements for string quartet. Mary Ellen Woodside and Edouard Matzener (violins), Alessandro D'Amico, and Rafael Rosenfeld have long been central figures in the Swiss and international chamber music landscape. Their Dvooak interpretations are marked by refined timbre, structural insight, and an ensemble cohesion grounded in deep musical rapport.

Tenor Daniel Behle fulfills a heartfelt wish and sings the "great" bel canto repertoire. However, he is not accompanied by a symphony orchestra, but by the renowned Alliage Quintet. The idea is as unusual as it is charming: instead of a full opera orchestra, four saxophones and a piano take center stage - sometimes shining velvety soft like strings, sometimes flashing virtuosically like brass instruments. Behle, one of the most versatile tenors of our time, sings arias that every opera lover carries in their heart-and which shine here in completely new colors. Bel canto with a wink, so to speak

Ravel Reflections not only presents an impressive artistic statement from Anton Gerzenberg, but also a kind of musical self-portrait: the young pianist proves himself to be an interpreter with analytical acumen, playful wit, and a captivating virtuosity that always remains committed to expression. His playing combines clarity and refinement with passion and a fearless willingness to take risks-qualities that made him the winner of the 2021 G�za Anda Competition and which also characterize this album.

Following the huge success of the album Spotlight on John Williams, the City Light Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Kevin Griffiths, returns with an equally spectacular follow-up project: Sound of Adventure. The double CD brings together legendary film themes that embody a spirit of adventure, imagination, and emotional depth in equal measure-a tribute to the great soundscapes of Hollywood. An album that not only delights film music fans, but also impressively translates the orchestral artistry of the great screen composers into concert format.

With If Love's a Sweet Passion, soprano Arianna Savall, tenor Petter Udland Johansen, and the Freitagsakademieunder the direction of Katharina Suske present a carefully curated selection of vocal and instrumental works by Henry Purcell and George Frideric Handel. The album illuminates essential aspects of Baroque affect, stylistic hybridity and dramatic rhetoric. It's program brings together Purcell's distinctly English musical language - marked by rhetorical clarity and subtle chromatic inflection - with Handel's Italianate, operatically expansive melodic writing and his masterful shaping of musical character. This recording unites two central Baroque traditions - the English 'consort style' of Purcell and the Italianate dramaturgy of Handel - within a coherent artistic and dramaturgical framework.

Capella de la Torre, one of Europe's most renowned early music ensembles, is starting a new chapter: future projects will be released on the Prospero Classical label. This exciting collaboration kicks off with the anniversary album 20 Years of Capella de la Torre, which will be released in the form of a high-quality digipack. With this recording, the ensemble celebrates two decades of intensive artistic work, numerous award-winning projects, and tireless curiosity about the sound worlds of the Renaissance and early Baroque, licensed by Sony Classical.

An important contribution to the Beethoven Year: Christoph Scheffelt plays all the bagatelles and the famous Bagatelle No. 25 in A minor (WoO 59), commonly known as "F�r Elise." Christoph Scheffelt was born in 1981 in Santiago de Chile. In 2002 he completed his studies as a concert pianist with honors at the Universidad Cat�lica de Chile with Prof. Mar�a Iris Radrig�n. After four years of study with Prof. Rolf Plagge at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, he is awarded the title Magister Artium in 2006, also with honors. He completes his education, also with highest honors, as a master student of Prof. Homero Francesch at the Zurich University of the Arts. His concert activities, both as a soloist and as a member of the Eldering Ensemble, have taken him regularly through large parts of Western Europe, South America and Australia. Scheffelt is among others Winner of the renowned Rahn Music Prize, the "Claudio Arrau" Prize, as well as the Werner and Berti Alter Prize for Pedagogy.

He is already being compared to Daniil Trifonov: The young Siberian pianist Sergey Tanin (*1995) is one of the up-and-coming and most promising pianists of his generation. Now he presents his debut album on PROSPERO. With works by Brahms, Schubert/Liszt and Prokofieff, he can impressively demonstrate both a mature interpretational depth as well as musicality and virtuosity. Born in 1995 in Siberia/Yakutia, Sergey Tanin started to play the piano at the age of 5. At 11, he already performed with the Moscow Symphony Orchestra in the Great Hall of the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow. After his graduation in 2019 from Moscow Conservatory (class of prof. Irina Plotnikova), Sergey continued to study at Basel Musik Academie with Claudio Martinez-Mehner. He is holder of the Swiss Government Excellence Scholarship and in 2020, the Swiss Television (SRF) released a documentary about Sergey - "The Pianist Who Came In From the Cold".

The PROSPERO label presents here Nikolaus Harnoncourt's legendary Zurich farewell concert of November 2011. After 36 years of opera and concert activities at Lake Zurich, the maestro bid farewell to his orchestra and his audience with Mozart's Wind Serenade K. 361 and Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. The conductor originally intended to work on the Gran Partita at the performance venue, the Zurich Tonhalle. However, as he was already in poor health, the meticulous rehearsals typical of the maestro were moved to his home in St. Georgen in Upper Austria. The musicians of the Philharmonia Zurich (formerly the Zurich Opera House Orchestra), who were able to experience how the interpretation was fine-tuned there, still talk today with shining eyes about this intensive and immensely enriching collaboration. So it is not surprising that the orchestra gave literally 'everything' at the farewell concert for one of the most important of his guild, in order to give it's conductor a worthy musical farewell. Swiss radio raved at the time about a "breathtaking moment of the concert year 2011". One critic even spoke of the "craziest performance of Beethoven's Fifth ever heard in the Tonhalle Zurich". This concert event is now available in a sonically carefully restored 'splendid edition'. As a hardcover book with 44-page booklet, including many illustrations and never-before-published visual material. As a special musical bonus, the edition contains a rehearsal recording of Beethoven's Fateful Symphony.

In the French Baroque period, a Tombeau refers to a piece of music in memory of a more or less beloved person, but sometimes also of a parrot or canary. This does not mean, however, that the pieces must necessarily be sad, somber music. The genre is also varied by the fact that a Tombeau can actually take on any type of movement - mourning takes place in major and minor, fast or slow. Michael D�cker, lutenist, music researcher, editor and spiritus rector of the ensemble nuovo aspetto, reveals to us here in exemplary fashion the sheer inexhaustible inventiveness and originality with which composers in the Baroque period could mourn.

The excellent violist Ursula Sarntheim presents a diverse sounding panopticon on the famous Stradivarius viola 'Gibson' from 1743, ranging from Baroque masterpieces to folk music and new music. At first glance, the pieces do not seem to fit together in the classical sense, but in fact there are strong connections to be discovered alongside the contrasts. Ursula Sarntheim studied in Cologne from 1991 to 1998 and in Copenhagen from 1996-1997. She has been a member of the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich since 1998. She is also a member of Trio Oreade, who were awarded First Prize at the International String Trio Competition in Munich in 2012.

Something new by Haydn? Yes and no... None of the works presented here has ever been heard in this form in our time. Michael Dücker, director and spiritus rector of nuovo aspetto, has searched in libraries and archives and has found Haydn works that are ideally suited for the chamber-musical instrumentation of the ensemble nuovo aspetto. Michael Dücker has carefully re-edited the originals and adapted them to today's musical requirements. The result is a fascinating project with amazingly contemporary-sounding chamber music versions of various Haydn works.

'A Song in the Wood' takes the listener on a journey through the most diverse aspects of love, loss and loneliness. For this journey, the young Swiss tenor Remy Burnens and his piano accompanist Clemence Hirt have immersed themselves in the, for many, unknown world of songs by British composers in the early 20th century.

It was a matter of concern for the artists not only to record music that they personally like very much and that is close to their hearts, but also to bring composers who have unfortunately fallen into oblivion, such as Roger Quilter (1877-1953), back into the musical consciousness and thus also onto the current programs of the recitals and lieder evenings.

Johann Sebastian Bach's Six Solo Cello Suites are some of the most iconic classical music works. They have inspired not only cellists and audiences but other artforms as well, and they have been featured in ballet and theatre productions, even in films. The Swiss cellist Maja Weber performs the complete cycle of six suites on an outstanding instrument: on the legendary Stradivari cello "Bonamy Dobrée-Suggia" (1717). Among those who have performed on this instrument is the English violoncellist Hancock, while it's owners include the English scholar Bonamy Dobrée, after whom the instrument is named. But the touching story of this valuable violoncello really begins with the mysterious and diva-like Portuguese violoncellist Guilhermina Suggia (1885-1950), whose playing on her favorite instrument combined technical perfection and great emotionality, allowing her to cast a spell on her listeners with her warm, deep tones. Outwardly eccentric and volatile, Suggia was essentially an intelligent, warm- hearted woman. The instrument was sold on her death and the proceeds used to support a scholarship at London's Royal Academy of Music. The Bonamy Dobrée-Suggia Violoncello is currently part of the collection of the Swiss Habisreutinger Stradivari Foundation. Maja Weber has played it all over the world at countless concerts during the last two decades.

The music of Johann Sebastian Bach has brought accordionist Viviane Chassot out of a serious personal crisis. Since she discovered how well the music of the Thomaskantor can be reproduced on the accordion, she has now created a Bach album - after Haydn and Mozart. With works from the Woltemperierte Clavier, the well-known ''Italian Concerto'' as well as other suites and partitas. The artist explains: ''The liveliness and power may jump out at us first when we hear Bach's music. But the composer did not have an easy life and anything but a straight path through life - he had to put up with many strokes of fate, became an orphan at the age of ten, lost his first wife at an early age; children also died. Death accompanied him throughout his life - and I think that these aspects of pain and loss always resonate in his music, even when it is superficially dancing or simply cheerful''. Bach and accordion - this combination is not exactly obvious. But Viviane Chassot says: ''What is very much in favor of the accordion as a possible instrument for Bach's music for keyboard instruments are the wind-like shaping possibilities that I have thanks to the bellows. With it and with differentiated articulation, I can make the music breathe and speak; I achieve dynamics and a variety of colors through diverse registration possibilities. And the virtuoso dance movements are given a musical - even archaic - touch on the accordion''.

"In this music, border crossings become audible to me: from baroque to contemporary music, from music to religion, from the secular to the divine. That is why it is also about life and death, resurrection, enlightenment and remembrance - as in Bach's Chaconne in memory of his first wife Maria Barbara Bach". With these words, pianist Alexandra Sostmann describes her album Grenzgänge on PROSPERO, co-produced with Bayerischer Rundfunk, which cleverly combines music by Bach, Pachelbel and Frescobaldi with works by Ligeti and Pärt to create a fascinating musical journey from the beginnings of music for keyboard instruments to the composers of our day.

The pianist Alexandra Sostmann is not only known for her polished Bach playing, but also for her concert and CD programmes that trace developments and cross-connections in music history. In her latest CD recording, she remains true to this approach as she spans the period from the Baroque to the present day, seeking to shed light on the concept of music as a medium between immanence and transcendence that can be found in almost every culture. It is above all the transformations and transitions reflected in the music that fascinate the pianist. But silence also plays an important role - as an integral part of music and as a cipher for that which cannot be expressed in words.

The instrument 'flute' is closely associated with the Prussian king Frederick the Great and his residence Sanssouci, as the Prussian king was a passionate flutist and numerous works were composed for him. For the recorder player Isaac Makhdoomi, it is a special challenge to transfer these works, which were actually composed for a transverse flute, to his instrument. The idea behind this was to bring new aspects and facets to the works originally composed for the transverse flute, which he actually succeeds in doing brilliantly.

Franz Schubert's famous String Quintet, one of the major works of classical chamber music, in a stunning version for five Saxophones.

The Gottingen Symphony Orchestra under Nicholas Milton combines Dvorak's well-known symphony From the New World with the orchestral work Frozen in Time by Avner Dorman. This unusual combination results in an exciting musical journey that challenges the performers to present a broad spectrum of styles and techniques, thus opening up a "new world".

Baritone Daniel Di Prinzio sings Neapolitan songs, accompanied by guitar player Ihor Kordiuk. Also has been recorded: the cycle "My Favorite Flowers" for solo guitar, composed by Mauro Giuliani.

Young Chinese pianist Ran Jia plays an appealing program with works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Fantasy in C Minor, K 475, and the piano sonatas 3, 6 and 8.

A former master student of Rudolf Buchbinder, Irina Georgieva performs regularly in Switzerland, Italy, France, England, Morocco, the Balkans, and recently in South America. Whether Stefan Lano, Michal Nesterowicz, Pablo Gonz�lez or Sascha Goetzel - the list of conductors Irina Georgieva has worked with is impressive. Just as impressive is her repertoire, which comprises classical music from the Baroque to the present. She loves the virtuoso piano music of the late 19th and 20th century, which is characterized by an expressive tonal language, special moods, and differentiated timbres. For her debut with Prospero Classical, she has chosen her favorite composer, Sergei Rachmaninoff. Together with the Basel Symphony Orchestra, she interprets two of his best-known works. The Third Piano Concerto in D minor as well as the incredibly virtuosic "Paganini Variations".

Singer Sarah Brady on the genesis of the album: "We grasped the idea of an album entitled "Matters of the Heart" in the spring of 2020, at the time of the first lockdown during the Covid 19 pandemic. Stephen made the suggestion to put together a concert program for future performances. Women's Love and Life had been on my mind earlier, as I had wanted to work on this cycle since college. So it was soon clear that we both wanted to rehearse these Schumann songs. But what should we add? Stephen initially thought of a combination of several composers in the sense of a crossover album - including songs by the Beatles, for example! We came up with several program ideas and ultimately thought songs by Richard Strauss were best suited to expand on the emotional themes of the Schumann songs."

This album focusses on the year 1824 and brings it to life through the marvelous music of four composers who gave the cello a special role in their compositions, and by the text which tells the story of the year 1824 based on original sources from journals, newspapers, letters, recollections, historic objects and works of art. The text is a loose collection of well-known, newly discovered, strange and everyday happenings, anecdotes, moods and opinions which throw light on a year in which much else happens, not least of all the first performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.