LISE is a cinematic opera encounter – a hybrid between recorded concert and film – with soprano Lise Davidsen, the Norwegian National Opera Orchestra and conductor Edward Gardner. Viewers get to experience Lise Davidsen in the roles of three strong women from Richard Strauss’ operas: the Marschallin (from Der Rosenkavalier), Arabella and Ariadne, all created by the composer who is particularly famed for his writing for the soprano voice. The three women are at different stages of life, but all reflect on who they are, where they are going, and what they have become: ‘This I still must find: the young woman that I was’ says the mature Marschallin, while the young Arabella wonders what or who she is really longing for and Ariadne longs to lose herself in order to find what has been lost. (Barbican, 2022)

Inspired by Pushkin's masterpiece of Russian literature, Tchaikovsky’s opera provides a sublime portrait – both ironic and sympathetic – of a character embittered by society life, rejecting love out of vanity, killing his friend the poet Lenski out of pride and spending the rest of his days in abject despair. A repertoire classic, Willy Decker’s streamlined production makes the Paris Opera echo once more to the strains of Russian romantic music. Edward Gardner conducts an exceptional cast including Peter Mattei in the title role and Anna Netrebko as Tatiana.

Mahler's 8th is one of the greatest orchestral and choral works in the classical repertoire and is rarely performed. The work has been called the 'Symphony of a Thousand', and requires eight soloists and several choirs, in addition to the orchestra. Edward Gardner's last concert in the role of Chief Conductor of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra was during the Bergen International Festival, with the monumental Mahler's 8th Symphony in E-flat major on the programme. The concert won the Critics' Prize for Music 2023–2024, and what has been described as a "heavenly finale" has been captured for the big screen. 'Try to imagine the whole universe beginning to ring and resound. There are no longer human voices, but planets and suns revolving.' the composer said of his eighth symphony. When the work was premiered in 1910, with Mahler conducting, it broke all the rules and boundaries of what symphonies could and should be.

The virtuoso pianist Víkingur Olafsson electrifies the Bremen Festival with Edvard Grieg's “Piano Concerto in A minor” (1868).