Jutting from the waters of the Elbe like an iceberg, Hamburg’s stunning new Elbphilharmonie concert hall (familiarly known as Elphi) is another dazzlement from the unfettered imagination of the Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron. The high-tech aquatic surroundings seem made to order for a concert performance of Rusalka, Antonín Dvořák’s tale of a little mermaid who gives up her voice for love and reclaims her false beau with a poisoned kiss. Alan Gilbert, the American principal conductor of the resident NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, has assembled a starry international cast. Top names include Gilbert’s compatriots Rachel Willis-Sørensen, soprano, in the title role and Michelle DeYoung (mezzo) as the witch Ježibaba, who brews some wicked moonshine. The Russian mezzo Ekaterina Gubanova portrays the imperious Foreign Princess. The Ukrainian tenor Dmytro Popov is heard as the inconstant Prince. World leaders, take note. Music binds nations. —Matthew Gurewitsch