B'Rock, violinist Dmitry Sinkovsky and the mezzo-soprano Mary-Ellen Nesi prove that virtuosity need not be gratuitous – not even in the music of Vivaldi.

In Il Giardino d'Amore: it is not only the characters of Venus and Adonis that come emphatically to life, but also nature. Forests, fields, rocks and a chorus of chirruping birds, seemingly inspired with life, listen to the two sweethearts as they sing of how they miss and are reunited with one another.

Mozart had more success in this 'golden city' than anywhere else, especially with his opera buffa. It was between Le Nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni that he composed what came to be called the Prague Symphony.

In his orchestral suite Les Elements, the French composer Jean-Féry Rebel illustrates how earth, water, fire and air rise up out of the universal chaos to form a new and harmonious order. B'Rock proves how modern early music can sound, and vice versa. A surprising and exciting concert for those out to make musical discoveries.

Georg Philipp Telemann oeuvre includes a wealth of musical surprises, such as the 1755 Passion oratorio Der Tod Jesu, which effortlessly holds its own against other compositions of the same genre.

In the Stabat Mater that embodies Boccherini's musical magic, solo bravura makes way for intimacy. Grand gestures step aside in favour of detail and nuance, sensual melancholy and heartfelt lyricism. Robin Johannsen and B'Rock will translate into sound Mary's lamentations at the cross.

When you hear the joyous words «Jauchzet, frohlocket!», you know that it's time for your annual rendezvous with the finest Christmas music of all time. Bach's Christmas oratorio is a cycle of six Christmas cantatas, some of which are rooted in works written specially for royal birthdays.

In the 1720s Bach and several of his contemporaries together wrote an everlasting repertoire of orchestral music full of virtuoso fireworks and sonorous expressiveness.

The semi-opera King Arthur by Henry Purcell unites theatre, dance and opera as a tribute to love and country. The original libretto by the English poet John Dryden tells the story of the quest of the Breton king Arthur to free his fiancé.

Orlando is desperately in love with the pagan princess Angelica, who is in turn in love with an African prince. In this hopeless situation Orlando is driven to madness from which only the magician Zoroastro can save him.

Despite the symbolic role it played in early opera, for a long time the harp remained quite an uncommon instrument in 18th-century orchestral composition. So it is quite remarkable that Handel should have written several works for it.