Pianist Peter Donohoe talks about the music of Florent Schmitt and recording the composer’s stunning Symphonie concertante (1932).

“Florent Schmitt’s music is very extravagant and complex, and he often wrote for immense forces — the Symphonie concertante being a prime example. Overall, the piece possesses a very powerful originality …” — Peter Donohoe, English pianist On October 30, 2025, English pianist Peter Donohoe joined the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and its conductor emeritus Yan […]

Experiencing Florent Schmitt’s Antony & Cleopatra (1920) in a dramatic adaptation: An eyewitness report from London.

In 2010, the American conductor JoAnn Falletta resurrected a Florent Schmitt rarity: The Suite No. 1 from the incidental music the composer had written for Andre Gide’s adaptation of William Shakespeare’s play Antony & Cleopatra.  It was an Ida Rubinstein production done in her characteristically outré style: an entire-evening extravaganza mounted at the Paris Opéra. […]