Concert information
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Humor and wit shape this concert programme by the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. The mood is set by Dmitri Shostakovich’s Concerto for Piano and Trumpet, which opens with a cheeky Beethoven quote. The Russian composer mixes styles, playfully quotes familiar melodies, and delights in surprising. At the piano and conducting: Alexander Lonquich. Beethoven also subverts expectations in his energetic Symphony No. 8. Leading the orchestra is Adam Fischer, who opens the evening with Beethoven’s Coriolan Overture – a dramatic tale of a tragic hero.
Artists
Mahler Chamber Orchestra
Adam Fischer conductor (Beethoven)
Alexander Lonquich piano and direction (Shostakovich)
Jeroen Berwaerts trumpet
Programme
Ludwig van Beethoven
Coriolan Overture in C minor, op. 62
Adam Fischer conductor (Beethoven)
Dmitri Shostakovich
Concerto for Piano, Trumpet and String Orchestra in C minor, op. 35
Alexander Lonquich piano and direction (Shostakovich), Jeroen Berwaerts trumpet
Interval
Ludwig van Beethoven
Symphony No. 8 in F major, op. 93
Adam Fischer conductor (Beethoven)
Additional information
Duration ca. 2 hours (incl. 20 minutes interval)
Chamber Music Hall
17 to 40 €
Series O: International Chamber Orchestras
Remaining tickets are available by telephone via +49 30 254 88-999 or at the box office.
Biographies
Mahler Chamber Orchestra
With its nuanced, transparent, and powerful sound, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra is regarded as one of the world’s finest chamber ensembles. It was founded in 1997 by former members of the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra, whose then chief conductor, Claudio Abbado, played a decisive role in shaping the ensemble in its early years. The Mahler Chamber Orchestra is an independent, self-governing ensemble that describes itself as a “nomadic collective,” coming together regularly for projects and tours across Europe and around the world. Its core consists of 45 members from 20 different countries. The orchestra’s distinctive sound emerges from an intense artistic dialogue, characterized by a chamber music approach to playing.
The orchestra has a long-standing artistic partnership with Daniel Harding, now its Conductor Laureate. Other close collaborators include pianists Mitsuko Uchida and Yuja Wang. While the Mahler Chamber Orchestra initially focused on the classical and romantic repertoire, contemporary music has increasingly become part of its identity. In 2012, for example, George Benjamin composed his opera Written on Skin specifically for the ensemble, which was performed in the Philharmonie Berlin in 2018. Today, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra is a frequent guest in the concerts of the Berliner Philharmoniker Foundation.
Adam Fischer
Coming from a Hungarian family of musicians, Adam Fischer – like his brother Iván Fischer – ranks among the leading conductors of our time. When he made his debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker in February 2018, both audience and press hailed his performance. According to the Tagesspiegel, his gripping interpretation of Dvořák’s Symphony “From the New World” was one to which “hardly anyone could remain indifferent.” Fischer studied at the Vienna Academy of Music with the legendary Hans Swarowsky and in 1987 founded the Austro-Hungarian Haydn Philharmonic with musicians from his two home countries, Austria and Hungary. With this ensemble, he recorded an award-winning complete cycle of all 104 Haydn symphonies. At the same time, he co-initiated the Haydn Festival in Eisenstadt, which became an international center for the composer’s legacy.
As Artistic Director of the Danish Chamber Orchestra, Fischer shaped a distinctive sound culture over many years of collaboration. Always open to new ideas, he founded the Budapest Wagner Days in 2006, described by The New York Times as “Bayreuth on the Danube.” Together with the renowned architect Gábor Zoboki, he realized the concept of performing Wagner’s works in a concert hall with the entire space integrated into the staging. A guarantor of compelling concert and opera performances, Fischer appears with leading orchestras and at major opera houses worldwide. He has a particularly close relationship with the Vienna State Opera, which appointed him an honorary member in 2017.
Alexander Lonquich
In earlier times, says Alexander Lonquich, there was “much more flexibility” in piano playing. Performers “played in a completely different way than today, in terms of irregular phrasing, the ‘after-striking’ of melodic lines, or the use of arpeggiation.” With this freedom – often inspired by historic recordings – the pianist, who lives in Italy, succeeds in captivating his audiences within just a few bars of music, whether in Japan, the United States, Australia, or in Europe’s leading musical centers. Alexander Lonquich studied with, among others, Astrid Schmid-Neuhaus, a niece of the famous pianist and pedagogue Heinrich Neuhaus, and with Paul Badura-Skoda.
At the age of sixteen, he won First Prize at the Concorso Pianistico Internazionale “Alessandro Casagrande” in Terni, Italy – the start of his international career. Yet Lonquich has never wished to limit himself to a purely soloist path: he also conducts from the keyboard, is highly active as a chamber musician, and collaborates with renowned violinists such as Vilde Frang, Joshua Bell, Isabelle Faust, and Carolin Widmann. In addition, he is Principal Conductor of the Orchestra del Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza and, in July 2020, was appointed Artistic Director of the Fondazione Scuola di Musica di Fiesole.
Jeroen Berwaerts
“The trumpet,” says Jeroen Berwaerts, “is really just an extension of the voice. I don’t literally sing into the trumpet, but the imagination I put into the instrument is always connected with my voice.” Celebrated worldwide for his outstanding technical mastery and sensitive musicianship, Berwaerts came relatively late to classical music. He studied with Reinhold Friedrich in Karlsruhe – “a stroke of luck,” as he recalls, “because he has such a wide range. He plays Baroque trumpet, contemporary music, orchestra – he does everything, and he passed that on to each of his students.” In parallel with his trumpet studies, Jeroen Berwaerts also studied jazz singing at the Royal Conservatory in Ghent.
This explains why he often sets the standard repertoire in dramaturgically sophisticated and unusual contexts – for example, combining Handel’s Music for the Royal Fireworks and dances from Rameau’s Dardanus with chansons by Jacques Brel, frequently taking on the vocal part himself. The Belgian-born musician, who gave up his post as principal trumpet of the NDR Symphony Orchestra to pursue a solo career, has since appeared with many of the world’s leading orchestras, performing works from all periods, including jazz. His strong commitment to contemporary music is reflected in numerous premieres and first performances. Alongside his concert activities, he teaches at the Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media and serves as Professor in Residence at the Royal Academy of Music in London.
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