Askonas Holt

Askonas Holt Askonas Holt is one of the world’s leading arts management companies, specialising in the field of

Askonas Holt is one of the world’s leading arts management companies, specialising in the field of classical music.

This month, our Tours team once again joined forces with Cape Town Opera and Chineke! Orchestra to tour Gershwin’s Porgy...
16/09/2026

This month, our Tours team once again joined forces with Cape Town Opera and Chineke! Orchestra to tour Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess conducted by Enrique Mazzola.

Following performances at Philharmonie de Paris, Lucerne Festival and Berliner Festspiele, the production continues on to DE SINGEL this week before giving a final performance at Konzerthaus Dortmund.

Askonas Holt is proud to have worked with Cape Town Opera – widely regarded as the world’s foremost interpreters of Porgy and Bess – for nearly two decades, taking not only their signature work but also varied programmes around the world, including in 2024 to Shanghai and Beijing. We have also enjoyed a long collaboration with Chineke! and Chineke! Junior orchestras, touring the former extensively around Europe since 2017, and taking them across the Atlantic for their debut North American tour in 2023.

📸 Ondine Bertrand

The Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra embarked on their fifth tour last month in collaboration with Askonas Holt.Following an ...
09/09/2026

The Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra embarked on their fifth tour last month in collaboration with Askonas Holt.

Following an appearance in Poland, the orchestra – led by Music Director and founder Keri-Lynn Wilson - Conductor – gave a special performance of Verdi’s Requiem in St Paul’s Cathedral where they were joined by the Philharmonia Chorus and soloists Natalie Lewis, René Barbera, 𝐉 𝐎 𝐍 𝐆 𝐌 𝐈 𝐍 𝐏 𝐀 𝐑 𝐊 | 박 종 민 and Natalya Romaniw. They then travelled to the Het Concertgebouw, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg and Dublin’s National Concert Hall, Dublin for performances of Beethoven’s Symphony No.7, Mahler’s Rückert-Lieder with Emily Pogorelc as soloist, and the Dutch and German premieres of Bohdana Frolyak’s Gloria – commissioned by the orchestra.

From Dublin they headed across the Atlantic to New York for two concerts at David Geffen Hall. The first evening saw soprano Lise Davidson join the orchestra for Strauss’ Four Last Songs presented alongside the Beethoven and Frolyak, followed the next evening by a final performance in which A I L Y N P É R E Z and Soloman Howard joined Natalie and René as soloists for Verdi’s Requiem. The audience was also treated to a performance of Maxim Kolomiiets’ Suite from The Mothers of Kherson, which was premiered by the orchestra last summer. The work also featured on the orchestra’s February release on Deutsche Grammophon alongside a live recording of Beethoven’s Symphony No.5.

Askonas Holt is proud to have toured the UFO since its inception in 2022, working in partnership with the The Metropolitan Opera and Teatr Wielki - Opera Narodowa to bring the talent, courage and spirit of the musicians of Ukraine to some of the greatest stages across Europe and the US.

📸 Richard Termine, Frances Marshall and Sebastian Madej

“Ward led Henze’s Ninth with confidence and great sensitivity” – Tagesspiegel “Ward delivered a compelling interpretatio...
07/09/2026

“Ward led Henze’s Ninth with confidence and great sensitivity” – Tagesspiegel

“Ward delivered a compelling interpretation distinguished above all by its dynamic contrasts, varied tempi and precise articulation. Anyone who was not there missed something truly remarkable.” – Schabel Kultur

The reviews are in for Duncan Ward’s debut with the Konzerthausorchester Berlin in Henze’s Symphony No.9 last week.

The Berlin performance of Henze’s anti-fascist choral symphony will be repeated at Lucerne’s KKL tonight as part of the Lucerne Festival. Duncan’s association with the Festival stretches back more than 15 years, and includes a 2018 performance of Stockhausen’s Gruppen – a work he has also performed with the London Symphony alongside Sir Simon Rattle.

Recent highlights for Duncan have included a return to the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks as part of their Musica Viva series, and concerts with Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie at Klosters Festival. Earlier this year, he conducted Wolfgang Fortner’s Bluthochzeit at Oper Frankfurt to critical acclaim. Duncan returns to Lucerne later this season to conduct Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No.2 with the Luzerner Sinfonieorchester.

Konzerthaus Berlin

The Slovak State Philharmonic Košice today named John Fiore as their new Principal Guest Conductor with immediate effect...
07/09/2026

The Slovak State Philharmonic Košice today named John Fiore as their new Principal Guest Conductor with immediate effect.

John gave his first performance with the orchestra in 2025, conducting a concert that brought together American and European masterpieces, including Copland’s Appalachian Spring andGershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. Audiences in Košice will be treated to three subscription concerts this season with John at the podium, performing works by Shostakovich, Wagner, Bruckner, Beethoven and Brahms.

Of the position, John said, “My goal is to help the orchestra develop so that it is an ever-better body, and to play great concerts that will communicate the power of music to the Košice audience.”

ŠFK General Director Lucia Potokárová said, “I greatly appreciate that John Fiore accepted our invitation for closer cooperation. It is extremely important for the orchestra to have a personality with his experience, artistic authority and at the same time the ability to work systematically with the orchestra. In our joint projects so far, we felt that a mutual understanding and trust had developed between John and the orchestra, on which we can continue to build.”

Slovenská filharmónia

The Edinburgh International Festival opened last week with Nicola Benedetti in her fourth year as Festival Director. On ...
17/08/2026

The Edinburgh International Festival opened last week with Nicola Benedetti in her fourth year as Festival Director. On Monday night, Nicola was joined by musicians from across the festival for a surprise late-night lineup at First Night at The Hub with Karina Canellakis putting down the baton to perform violin alongside her.

Karina’s return to the festival began earlier that evening conducting NYO-USA / NYO2 / NYO Jazz in a programme of 20th-century masterpieces as part of the festival’s collaboration with Carnegie Hall. She returns this weekend she leads the BBC SSO in a concert performance of R. Strauss’ Elektra.

📸 Tommy Ga-Ken Wan

The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra today announced the appointment of Matthias Pintscher (Matthias Pintscher)as their nex...
10/08/2026

The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra today announced the appointment of Matthias Pintscher (Matthias Pintscher)
as their next Music Director. Matthias begins the initial four-year term from the start of the 2027/28 season after serving as Music Director Designate in 2026/27.

Matthias’ relationship with the LACO spans nearly a decade, beginning in 2018 when he served as Artist-in-Residence and conducted the orchestra in works ranging from Berlioz, Debussy, Fauré, Ravel and Mahler. He also led education initiatives and curated programs of Grisey, Berg, Ravel, Xenakis and Mahler. He returns next spring for a programme that features Haydn’s Symphony No.44 Trauer, Kayhan Kalhor’s Blue as the Turquoise Night of Neyshabur and Mozart’s Symphony No.36 Linz.

Matthias takes up the role alongside his duties as Music Director of the Kansas City Symphony, who recently announced the extension of their collaboration through the 2033/34 season. He is also Creative Partner with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, having recently concluded a successful decade-long tenure as Music Director of Ensemble Intercontemporain.

Read full story via link in bio.

📸 Franck Ferville

Opus 3 Artists

The Casa da Música Foundation today announced the appointment of Oscar Jockel as Principal Conductor of the Remix Ensemb...
04/08/2026

The Casa da Música Foundation today announced the appointment of Oscar Jockel as Principal Conductor of the Remix Ensemble and Conductor in Residence at Casa da Música commencing in January 2027.

On the appointment, Casa da Música’s Artistic and Education Director François Bou says “Oscar Jockel’s appointment marks the beginning of a new chapter for the Remix Ensemble, one that builds on its outstanding legacy in European contemporary music while pursuing an ambitious exploration of new repertoire, new musical languages and new forms of dialogue between composers, performers and audiences.”

From 2022 to 2024, Oscar served as Assistant Conductor to Kirill Petrenko at the Berliner Philharmoniker, following his success at the Philharmonie Berlin Conducting Competition and his participation in the Karajan Academy. In 2021 he was appointed Assistant Conductor to Matthias Pintscher at the Ensemble intercontemporain, and in 2023 he was awarded the Herbert von Karajan Prize in recognition of his achievements as both conductor and composer.

Following his Korean debut last week, the 2026/27 season sees Oscar debut with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, and at Opernhaus Zürich, where he will conduct a new production of Péter Eötvös’s Angels in America with the Musikkollegium Winterthur. Further invitations take him back to the Brussels Philharmonic, Prague Philharmonia and the Sinfonieorchester Casa da Música in Porto.

The season will also see premieres of his own works at the Kölner Philharmonie with the Gürzenich-Orchester Köln, at the Philharmonie Berlin and at several venues of the European Concert Hall Organisation (ECHO), including the Wiener Konzerthaus.

📸 Simon Pauly

31/07/2026

July’s New Release Playlist is here! Follow the link in our bio to hear a selection of new recordings by Askonas Holt artists.

Bruckner: Symphony No. 4, ‘Romantic’
and


Beethoven: Violin Sonatas 4, 5 & 7



The Leipzig Collegium Musicum Vol. 1: Music before Bach
Reinhard Goebel and Neues Bachisches Collegium Musicum Leipzig


Brahms: Violin Concerto, Glazunov: Violin Concerto
and


Dialogues: Schubert / Errollyn Wallen
Dylan Perez


“a brilliant mixtape of English song from the Baroque period to the present day” - Limelight ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️“a natural stage ...
29/07/2026

“a brilliant mixtape of English song from the Baroque period to the present day” - Limelight ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“a natural stage presence whether playing, speaking or singing” - Sydney Morning Herald

“His ardent expressivity and the eager collaboration of the Australian Chamber Orchestra made for a fascinating musical journey.” - The Age

Last month Lawrence Power made his Australian Chamber Orchestra debut play-directing on their ten-date tour, with a critically acclaimed programme ranging from Tallis, Purcell, Maconchy and Vaughan Williams to Kate Bush and Jonny Greenwood. The concert also featured the world premiere of Garth Knox’s Viola Concerto inspired by Coleridge’s The Ancient Mariner and co-commissioned by ACO.

📸 Nick Walker

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