Afternoon on 3 - Summer Festivals 2010 - Episode 1

This week Afternoon on 3 celebrates the riches and diversity of 2010's musical summer, with performances from leading festivals in Europe and beyond, by some of the world's great singers, instrumentalists and ensembles. You can hear the best concerts from 25 festivals in fifteen countries - as far afield as Finland, Moldova and Canada. At the heart of the week will be concerts from top festivals in Austria and Switzerland, including the Martha Argerich Project in Lugano and Nikolaus Harnoncourt's Styriarte Festival in Graz. The Thursday Opera Matinee is Bellini's Norma, conducted by Fabio Biondi with his period-instrument ensemble Europa Galante at the Chopin and his Europe Festival in Warsaw. Large choral works will be a particular feature throughout the week - from Bach's B minor Mass through Haydn's Creation and Beethoven's Missa solemnis to Rachmaninov's Vespers and a celebration of Arvo Pärt's 75th birthday in his native Estonia. Presented by Jonathan Swain Smetana: Vysehrad, from Ma Vlast Chamber Orchestra of Europe Nikolaus Harnoncourt, conductor (Styriarte Festival, Graz, Austria) Biber: Battalia European Union Baroque Orchestra Lars Ulrik Mortensen, conductor (Echternach Festival, Luxembourg) Schumann: Piano Concerto in A minor Martha Argerich, piano Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana Alexander Vedernikov, conductor (Martha Argerich Project, Lugano, Switzerland) Alessandro Scarlatti: Cantata - Bella Dama di Nome Santa Barbara Kozelj, mezzo-soprano Musica Cubicularis Domen Marincic, director & baroque cello (Radovljica Festival, Slovenia) Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5 Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Manfred Honeck, conductor (Vienna Festival, Austria) Alessandro Scarlatti: Songs Karina Gauvin, soprano Michael McMahon, piano (Ste-Pétronille Chamber Music Festival, Sainte-Pétronille de Beaulieu, Orleans Island, Quebec, Canada) Chopin: Mazurka in F minor, Op. 68 no. 4 Janusz Olejniczak, piano (Chopin and his Europe International Music Festival, Warsaw, Poland) Bach: Mass in B minor Johannette Zomer, soprano Maarten Engeltjes, alto Thomas Walker, tenor Peter Harvey, bass Capella Amsterdam Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin Daniel Reuss, director (Chopin and his Europe International Music Festival, Warsaw, Poland).