Migros-Culture-Percentage-Classics 180°

When Jordi Savall and his wife Montserrat Figueras founded "Le Concert des Nations" in 1989, it was Spain's answer to the many ensembles for historical performance practice that already existed in England and Germany. The French name of the ensemble refers to the artistic range of the orchestra, which extends from the early Baroque to the Romantic period, from Monteverdi, Lully and Biber to Arriaga and Mendelssohn. The programme includes purely orchestral pieces as well as operas and choral symphonic works. The more than 50 CDs recorded by "Le Concert des Nations" have been honoured with numerous prizes, such as the Midem Classical Award and the German Record Critics' Award. More recently, the releases of Haydn's "Creation" and all of Beethoven's symphonies have caused a sensation in the specialised press.

The Catalan gambist and conductor Jordi Savall was recently labelled a "world musician" by a critic. Because he is interested in other continents and cultures, such as the indigenous peoples of South America or the Arab world. Because, thanks to his musicological background, he always has the big picture in mind. Because he is a decidedly political musician who organises concerts on the themes of slavery, Judaism, war and peace - and who sometimes gives back a national prize to protest against cultural policy in his own country. To realise all these different aspects and activities, Savall has founded ensembles such as Hesperion XX, La Capella Reial de Catalunya and Le Concert des Nations since 1974, as well as the extraordinarily successful CD label AliaVox.

Alongside the capital Ljubljana, Maribor, with its 100,000 inhabitants, has established itself as the cultural centre of Slovenia. The National Theatre, founded in 1852, is the largest cultural institution in the country and the only theatre to combine drama, opera, orchestra and ballet under one roof. The ballet ensemble in particular has achieved international renown in recent decades under the direction of Edward Clug. It has received invitations to all major European theatres, as well as to the USA and Asia. Current productions include "Faust", a co-operation with the Zurich Opera House, and "Peer Gynt", which has been performed in Vienna, Leipzig and Dortmund, among others.

Edward Clug has been working for the Slovenian National Theatre Maribor for over 30 years, first as a solo dancer and since 2003 as ballet director. During this time, Clug, who was born and trained in Romania, has succeeded in leading his ensemble to the top of the European dance scene. Choreographies for Stravinsky's "Sacre du Printemps" and Grieg's "Peer Gynt", as well as "Radio and Juliet", a combination of Shakespeare and Radiohead, made him famous. He has since worked with renowned theatres such as the Nederlands Dans Theater, the ballets of Stuttgart and Zurich and the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. He has been nominated for prestigious dance theatre awards in Germany and Russia and has also received national awards both in his native Romania and in his adopted country of Slovenia.

After a long break, the 80-year-old Rameau created his last opera, "Les Boréades", in which he combined all his stage experience. The arias and dances are as varied as ever, with the addition of a new overall dramaturgical concept that creates musical connections across scenes, as well as a flair for illustrative effects. The plot of the work also anticipates ideas from the French Revolution: a pair of lovers come together despite unclear social conditions, and the old gods are left out in the cold. However, it is unclear whether this was the reason why the premiere of the opera was cancelled at short notice.

Christoph Willibald Gluck went down in music history as an opera reformer: By combining a realistic plot with dramatic conciseness, he replaced baroque bombast with psychological credibility. However, this new concept was first tried out in a ballet. In 1761, the choreographer Gasparo Angiolini brought the Don Juan story to the stage in Vienna: not a loose sequence of dances as usual, but a complex story told with pantomime. This required music that was extremely varied in terms of gesture, emotion and drama - and none other than the experienced Gluck came into question for this.