The Basel Sinfonietta wind quintet presents a special short program for the 200th anniversary of the Stadtcasino Basel.

Anniversary of the Basel City Casino: Ligeti, Ishchenko, Kurtág

Stadtcasino Basel

EPSG:4326

Chamber Concert “In memoriam”

Evangelische Akademie Tutzing

Munich Residence

Jonathan Biss Plays Schumann’s Piano Concerto

Shepherd of The Valley Lutheran Church

Ordway Center for the Performing Arts

"The Fantastic" is the theme of this season's chamber concerts in the Apollosaal, based on the season's first opera premiere, Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann . Musicians of the Staatskapelle Berlin have developed programs that approach this idea and concept, which play a key role in music, in a variety of ways. Ranging from the Baroque to the present day, with a special focus on the Romantic period, "The Fantastic" will be explored with a variety of chamber music works in diverse ensembles.

Chamber Concert VIII

Berlin State Opera

Hungarian-American pianist Julia Hamos presents a program that bridges centuries and styles and features two of the most important composers from Hungary. Beginning with a selection from Kurtág’s Játékok, she navigates through Haydn’s Sonata in E minor, Ligeti’s Études (Arc-en-ciel, Der Zauberlehrling, Fanfares), and Mozart’s Sonata in A minor, culminating in Schumann’s beloved Fantasie in C Major. Hamos’s adventurous spirit and compelling artistry promise an evening of compelling musical exploration.

Julia Hamos, piano

Washington Performing Arts

Three piano concertos in a single evening – each one building a bridge to the past. Maurice Ravel composed his Piano Concerto in G “in the spirit of Mozart,” yet it also shimmers with hints of jazz and Basque folk music. In Credo, Arvo Pärt draws on the famous C major Prelude from Johann Sebastian Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, juxtaposing familiar tonality with avant-garde techniques. And György Kurtág – who celebrated his 100th birthday in February 2026 – looks back to the free associations of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Op. 27 piano sonatas in his mesmerizing spatial work … quasi una fantasia …, which positions the instruments all around the audience. These three strikingly different concertos are set alongside America – A Prophecy, a dark, apocalyptic vision by the British composer Thomas Adès, who conducts the performance himself. The work confronts the destruction of Mayan culture by the Spanish conquistadors, with a soprano cast in the role of a warning seer. And at the very start of the concert,  in György Ligeti’s Poème Symphonique, 100 metronomes will begin ticking at the same time. One by one, they gradually fall silent. When the last metronome stops, says Víkingur Ólafsson, it feels “like the end of life.”

Mahler Chamber Orchestra | MDR Radio Choir | Thomas Adès | Víkingur Ólafsson | Anna Dennis

KKL Luzern Concert Hall

IRCAM enables composers to push the boundaries of their compositional imagination to completely new horizons. Thus, Isabel Mundry positions the world of the mind and the world as a resonance space as coordinates for a comprehensive sound experience. By contrast, Márton Illés hones the force and energy of individual sounds to utmost sharpness. György Kurtág, entirely without digital-electronic means, translates the text’s poignancy into the implacability of the micro-detail. Precision that glows.

Light Spectra

Wiener Konzerthaus

Four people, perhaps the very last ones left: Hamm, his servant Clov, and his parents Nell and Nagg. They grapple with power and powerlessness, memory and repression, affection and humiliation, while the world outside falls apart. This standstill lays bare the depths of their relationships, but also reveals absurd humor. A lifelong fascination with Samuel Beckett’s ‹Endspiel› inspired Hungarian composer György Kurtág to write his first opera in 2018. Kurtág’s 100th birthday marks the occasion for the Swiss premiere of his work in Basel, where the composer regularly worked. Today, his estate is preserved here at the Paul Sacher Foundation. In his Basel debut, director David Marton frees the characters from the prison of Beckett’s dark room and transports them into the open air: onto a rooftop terrace in Márton Ágh’s post-apocalyptic urban landscape.

Fin de partie

Theater Basel

Quartetto Noûs - 35° Festival Milano Musica

Teatro alla Scala

Dénes Várjon and Nicolas Altstaedt compete in Kurtág’s commanding Double Concerto, as Thomas Adès conducts. ‘One of the most unusual pieces written for cello’ (Bachtrack), Kurtág’s brilliant Double Concerto engages both soloists and an orchestra divided into two sparring sections, physically separated within the performance space, in an intense dialogue. What results is an extraordinary listening experience: surrounded by music from several directions at once. Ives’ The Unanswered Question also immerses the listener in sound, with druid-like strings beneath the questioning trumpet and increasingly chaotic woodwind. In contrast, Thomas Adès’ peaceful Lieux retrouvés (Rediscovered Places) explores natural and man-made landscapes whilst Debussy’s revolutionary Images, three orchestral montages combining harmony, texture and colour, creates musical paintings that changed orchestral writing forever.

The Hallé – The Unanswered Question

The Bridgewater Hall

‘One of the most unusual pieces written for cello’ (Bachtrack), Kurtág’s brilliant Double Concerto engages both soloists and an orchestra divided into two sparring sections, physically separated within the performance space, in an intense dialogue. What results is an extraordinary listening experience: surrounded by music from several directions at once.

The Unanswered Question

We open this program of mostly French and Australian music with a birthday tribute to a Hungarian composer. György Kurtág turns one hundred this year, and these miniatures from Játékok (‘Games’) feel apt for a piano duo concert. Deceptively small in scale, they are large in wit and meaning. Flowers we are… (embracing sounds) asks two pianists to lean into one another, arms overlapping, sound pooling across the keyboard: an embrace made audible. Quarrelling is exactly what it sounds like: two voices jostling for position, each insisting on its own territory as the keyboard’s ‘real estate’ becomes fiercely contested. And in Hommage à Paganini, one pianist is unceremoniously banished to a second instrument altogether. We put these three pieces together deliberately, to sketch a little portrait of duo life: closeness, conflict, and the occasional need for separate rooms.

Viney-Grinberg Duo

Zelman Cowen Building (51)

How do we handle artificial intelligence in our industry? Do we go along with it and use it, or do we let others do it and pretend everything is the way it has been for so many years?

Science

Unitarisk Kirkesamfund

Grammy® Award winner and sought-after violinist Augustin Hadelich makes his San Francisco Performances debut at the peak of an impressive international career. According to Bachtrack, he “is most definitely the man of the moment and is quite rightly earning a reputation as one of the finest violinists on the circuit.” The Times of London called Francesco Piemontesi’s artistry, “playful, assertive, intelligent music making, with bone-china clarity.”

Augustin Hadelich and Francesco Piemontesi (The Shenson Great Artists & Ensembles Series/Herbst)

War Memorial and Performing Arts Center

Conductor Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla is joined by violinist Vilde Frang for Elgar’s Violin Concerto, a work featuring passionate expression from the soloist and a rich orchestral palette. György Kurtág’s Brefs messages is performed on the composer’s centennial, and spring arrives with Robert Schumann’s Symphony No. 1 — with brass fanfares and pastoral interludes that lead to an ecstatic ending.

Gražinytė-Tyla Conducts Elgar & Schumann

David Geffen Hall

Learn to ‘listen differently’ as the Philharmonia’s Featured Artist Víkingur Ólafsson celebrates the 100th birthday of György Kurtág. 

Ólafsson’s meticulous and deeply personal performances and recordings have encouraged his many fans to listen anew to music ranging from the 17th century to the present day. And the music of Hungarian composer György Kurtág, the concentrated essence of an era-defining career spanning seven decades, addresses the phenomenon of sound and the act of listening itself.  

In this 45-minute concert, explore a web of composers from across the centuries paying tribute to those who came before them.  

Víkingur Ólafsson celebrates Kurtág at 100

Southbank Centre

Concert in New York

Carnegie Hall

North East musical royalty, Royal Northern Sinfonia, with conductor Dinis Sousa and guest soprano Louise Alder.

Mozart's Symphony No. 39

The Glasshouse International Centre for Music

Music from Salem brings together musicians of international reputation to prepare and perform chamber music in the peace and beauty of rural Washington County, New York, and environs. Chamber music is classical music written for a small group of performers, and includes a range of styles, from the 18th century to today. Music from Salem also leads educational workshops and conducts violin, viola, and cello seminars for emerging young artists.

Music From Salem Winter Concert

Hubbard Hall - Center for the Arts and Education

This evening brings a much-anticipated premiere: the first encounter between Isabelle Faust and Adam Fischer – a musical summit that dispenses entirely with classical music and Mahler, yet captivates from the very first note. Together, the two invite you to an evening dedicated entirely to the dazzling soul of Hungary. Béla Bartók's Second Violin Concerto is a fascinating expression of existential struggle, in which anger, melancholy, but also deep love of one's homeland can be felt. Isabelle Faust plays the piece with an intensity as if she had shared the last glass with Bartók himself on the evening before his escape from Budapest.

Kodaly

Tonhalle Düsseldorf

The programme starts from highly complex works through more sparse, but not less quizzical music, and ends with Bach's Fugues.

Tamara Stefanovich in Recital

Milton Court Concert Hall

Concert in the Wiener Konzerthaus

Benjamin Appl is one of the most expressive artists of the young generation of singers and has been a household name among Hamburg's song fans since October 2023 at the latest. With full vocal commitment, he sang Robert Schumann's "Dichterliebe" in the Grand Hall of the Elbphilharmonie as a replacement for the ill Matthias Goerne. The verdict was unequivocal: "Breathtaking!" (Hamburger Abendblatt). Now he returns with this cycle and can unfold his "vast range of colors" (Süddeutsche Zeitung) all the more effectively in the intimacy of the Recital Hall. He will be joined by his longtime piano partner and one of the most renowned accompanists, James Baillieu.

Benjamin Appl / Song Recital

Elbphilharmonie Hamburg

One of Norway's leading chamber music ensembles plays popular classics by Haydn and Beethoven in beautiful harmony with newer works by Kurtag and Anna Berg.

The Senses Trio

Lille Sal Musikhuset

Hungarian musician Áron Horváth began playing his country’s national instrument – the cimbalom – at the age of seven. He initially performed traditional Hungarian folk music, but over the years has broadened his scope to include both classical and jazz. In 2023, he was admitted to the prestigious Liszt Academy in Budapest to study classical cimbalom, and in the same year became a member of two prominent ensembles: Elán, which explores the folk music of Central and Eastern Europe, and Intergeese, a jazz trio performing original compositions.

Soup with Cimbalom

Stockholm Concert Hall

Watch This Space | Steven Isserlis x BRSO

Industrial park IVG Business Park, Media Works Munich

The explorative Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes gives a recital focused on Central European music by Kurtág, Janáček, Bartók, and Liszt—all radically inventive composers of their eras. Works by Robert Schumann frame the program, including his dizzying piano cycle Carnaval. Andsnes was named one of Classic FM’s 25 best pianists of all time and called “a pianist of magisterial elegance, power, and insight” by The New York Times.

Leif Ove Andsnes

Stanford University

The cimbalom is a true chameleon: Like only the piano, the Hungarian dulcimer feels at home in all genres and styles. And so does Áron Horváth, who, as the European Concert Hall Organization's "Rising Star," tours the continent's major concert halls. With his World Music Quartet, the young cimbalom virtuoso will explore jazz and folk music from Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria at the Elbphilharmonie.

Áron Horváth, Cimbalom

Kaleidoscope

Wallraf-Richartz Museum

The renowned British musician Thomas Adès has put together an evening dedicated to the 100th anniversary of Pierre Boulez’s birth. Perhaps as a tribute to Boulez, he will appear in both roles for which Boulez was known: as a composer and a conductor.

Czech Philharmonic • Thomas Adès

Rudolfinum

Henry Lewis is a pianist known for his original and thoughtful approach, performing internationally as both a soloist and chamber musician.

Henry Lewis piano

“It is a real treat to hear with what panache, what witty playfulness, what youthful energy the [Modigliani Quartet] plays, yet never yielding to casualness. The balance of the four voices, the delicacy of sounds is always impressive, with constant attention to dynamics, harmony and rhythmic precision. It sounds effortless, sovereign and extremely supple” (Süddeutsch Zeitung). This vibrant and popular ensemble always delivers rewarding interpretations of compelling repertoire.

Modigliani Quartet (Chamber/Herbst)

Jonathan Brown was the violist of the Cuarteto Casals, with whom he performed in all of the major concert halls in Europe, North America and Asia, as well as making numerous recordings on the Harmonia Mundi label including repertoire ranging from Bach through Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven to Bartók, Ligeti and Shostakovich. This performance is presented in collaboration with SFCM alumni, faculty, and students.

Chamber Music Tuesday with Jonathan Brown

San Francisco Conservatory of Music

This concert is included in these packages: Chamber Music Dialogues, Fantasy and Fury: Music of the Romantic, and Season Sampler.

Musical Dialogues: Bach and Beyond

Colburn School

Hamm, in a wheelchair, is served by Clov. Hamm's parents Nell and Nagg have been living in (garbage) cans since they lost their legs in a cycling accident. These four move between the continuous return of the unchangeable and the memory of "the past" by bullying and cajoling each other, conjuring and cursing, narrating and interrupting.

Vienna State Opera

Kirill Gerstein Recital

Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival

Matinée des Jeunes Etoiles III – Metamorphosis

Gstaad Chapel

Bergkirche Abländschen

Symphony Orchestra in the Palace

For decades, Mitsuko Uchida has been one of the leading international piano performers. Time and again, the »Grande Dame of subtle notes«, as BR-Klassik once described the musician, has been celebrated for her Schubert interpretations. Therefore, her recital at the Kulturpalast, which has proven itself a commendable location for top pianists appearing at the Musikfestspiele (such as Hélène Grimaud and Igor Levit last year), also features this composer.

Piano Recital Mitsuko Uchida

Kulturpalast Dresden

Mitsuko Uchida is the grande dame of the piano – and one of the Berliner Philharmoniker’s  close artistic companions. Her elegant, gripping and sensitive playing makes her an ideal interpreter of the piano works of Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert. In the final concert of our piano series, we will hear her perform Beethoven's Piano Sonata in E minor, which journeys between contemplative calm and passionate forward momentum, as well as Schubert's last sonata - a work full of intense emotions: sometimes rapturous and reflective, sometimes comforting; and at times, offering a terrifying glimpse into a psychological abyss. Arnold Schönberg and György Kurtág contribute poetic miniatures from the 20th and 21st centuries.

Piano recital Mitsuko Uchida plays Beethoven and Schubert

Berliner Philharmonie

Musicians From Marlboro

“Not only is the virtuosity of Musicians from Marlboro consistently jaw-dropping, but the freshness, rich imagination, and sheer vitality of their playing is enough to make even the most jaded concertgoer edge to the front of their seat” (Washington Post). The second Marlboro touring program of the season shines a light on Schumann before concluding with Brahms’s Clarinet Quintet, one of his great autumnal masterworks and a piece of extraordinary emotional depth.

Musicians from Marlboro II

 Benjamin Franklin Hall

Two towering choral works face each other across the centuries in London Philharmonic Orchestra Conductor Emeritus Vladimir Jurowski’s programme.

On the Transmigration of Souls

### Event Description: On the Transmigration of Souls - LPO

**Event Title:** On the Transmigration of Souls - LPO

**Date and Time:** Saturday, 18 January 2025, 7:30 PM

**Location:** Royal Festival Hall, London

**Tickets:** £7 - £70 (Book Now)

**Event Overview:**
Join the London Philharmonic Orchestra for an evocative evening of choral masterpieces under the baton of Conductor Emeritus Vladimir Jurowski. This concert, part of the "Moments Remembered" theme, features two monumental choral works that span centuries, offering a profound exploration of memory and meaning.

**Programme:**
1. **Haydn - Missa in tempore belli (41')**
   - A joyous Mass setting that subtly hints at the distant rumble of conflict.
   
2. **György Kurtág - Petite musique solennelle (6')**
   - A moment of solemn reflection, inviting the audience to delve into their own memories.

3. **John Adams - On the Transmigration of Souls (25')**
   - A poignant tribute to the victims of 9/11, contrasting yet complementing Haydn's work with its modern resonance.

**Performers:**
- **Vladimir Jurowski** - Conductor
- **Anna Devin** - Soprano
- **Hanna Hipp** - Mezzo-soprano
- **Rupert Charlesworth** - Tenor
- **Trevor Eliot Bowes** - Bass
- **London Philharmonic Choir**

**Special Pre-Concert Event:**
- **Time:** 6:15 PM - 6:45 PM
- **Location:** Royal Festival Hall
- **Details:** A free talk by LPO 2024/25 Writer-in-Residence Jeremy Eichler on the evening’s programme.

**Offers & Discounts:**
- **Multi-Buy Series Discounts:** Save up to 30% on full-price tickets at the Southbank Centre, London.
- **Group Bookings:** Book 10 or more seats to access discounted tickets for Southbank Centre concerts.

**Critical Acclaim:**
"Magnificently played and totally cogent account . . . with the London Philharmonic providing razor-sharp accompaniment under Vladimir Jurowski's superb direction." - The Times

**Additional Information:**
For more details and to book tickets, visit the London Philharmonic Orchestra's website. Sign up for the mailing list to stay updated on future events and offers.

Royal Festival Hall

Join us for an unforgettable evening with the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra as we present the November MainStage event, featuring the extraordinary talents of cellist Sterling Elliott. Making his Ann Arbor debut, Elliott will perform Antonín Dvořák’s Cello Concerto, a masterpiece considered by many to be the greatest concerto ever composed for the instrument. This event will take place on Saturday, November 9, 2024, at 8 PM at the Michigan Theater, with a pre-concert talk scheduled for 7 PM.

Sterling Elliott, recipient of the 2021 Avery Fisher Career Grant and winner of the 2019 National Sphinx Competition, is celebrated for his striking stage presence and eloquence of expression. His performance is eagerly anticipated as he brings his unique interpretation to Dvořák’s concerto. In addition to Elliott's performance, the evening will be under the baton of Music Director Earl Lee, featuring György Kurtág’s Ligatura Message-Hommage à Frances-Marie Uitti The Answered Unanswered Question, and Johannes Brahms’s Symphony No. 3, a work praised for its artistic perfection.

Seats for this captivating concert are available now as part of a subscription, with single ticket booking opening on July 18, 2024. Don’t miss the opportunity to experience the artistry of Sterling Elliott and the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra in what promises to be a memorable night of music.

November Mainstage

Michigan Theater

For nearly 60 years, the Musicians from Marlboro touring program has presented eminent artists with exciting young musical leaders. This ensemble pairs Marlboro Music Co-Artistic Director Mitsuko Uchida and St. Louis Symphony Principal Violist Beth Guterman Chu with two outstanding emerging string players: violinist Stephanie Zyzak and cellist Oliver Herbert. Their program includes beloved works by Schumann and Beethoven, as well as selections from Signs, Games, and Messages by 1997 Marlboro Composer-in-Residence György Kurtág.

Musicians from Marlboro I

Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts

Praised for her imagination and exceptionally vivid playing, Einav Yarden returns to PCMS following her 2018 recital debut. A student of the late Leon Fleisher, the Berlin-based pianist brings a “sense of immense majesty, tempered by gentleness and quiet grace” (Washington Post) to a program that features Robert Schumann’s Kreisleriana, Op. 16—one of the major piano works of the Romantic era, in which the composer sought to capture the contrasting sides of his own character, as well as the essence of his future wife, Clara Wieck.

Einav Yarden, piano

Charlotte Spruit returns to perform a solo recital at Wigmore Hall. A YCAT artist since 2023, and winner of the First Prize at the Leipzig International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition, Charlotte plays frequently at chamber music festivals across Europe. Her work intertwining music with different art forms led her to first prize at the Goodmesh Concours in 2022.

Charlotte Spruit violin

Wigmore Hall

Ilumina, the São Paulo-based artist collective, was founded by the American violist Jennifer Stumm. It has quickly become a model for 21st century creativity and the advancement of diverse talent. Uniting leading soloists with gifted young musicians from Latin America, it nurtures rising artists and gives them a chance to shine.

Ilumina Residency: In The Light Of The Shadow

Usher Hall

Two brilliant artists come together as a chamber music duo for the first time on the Series: violinist Christian Tetzlaff and pianist Kirill Gerstein join forces for a program featuring sonatas by Janáček, Bartók, and Brahms, as well as a work by György Kurtág. The program also includes a new piano suite by Thomas Adès based on his opera The Tempest; these artists premiered the work in Europe in 2022, and will give the Boston premiere of the suite at this concert. 

Christian Tetzlaff, violin and Kirill Gerstein, piano

New England Conservatory

Two of today’s most distinctive musical interpreters form a chamber-music dream duo. The program includes three major violin sonatas: Brahms’s third, Bartók’s second, and the sole surviving Janáček work of the form. Also included is György Kurtág’s Tre pezzi—a spacious work with careful interplay perfectly suited for the pair—and the New York premiere of a suite from Thomas Adès’s The Tempest. This new suite adds to Gerstein’s history as a champion of Adès’s, a collaboration that already includes “new music as technically exhilarating in its modern way as any disc of Chopin or Liszt” (Financial Times).

Christian Tetzlaff, Violin Kirill Gerstein, Piano

Pre-College Composition Students – Secondary Instrument Recital

The Juilliard School

Faculty members Vivian Hornik Weilerstein, piano, Donald Weilerstein, violin, Cameron Stowe, piano, and guest artist Sari Gruber, soprano, join forces in a chamber music recital.

Faculty Recital: Vivian Hornik Weilerstein, Cameron Stowe, Sari Gruber, Donald Weilerstein

György Kurtág’s ‘unforgettable’ adaption of Samuel Beckett’s absurdist play has its highly anticipated UK premiere, given by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and its Chief Conductor Ryan Wigglesworth.

Prom 43: György Kurtág’s Endgame

Royal Albert Hall

Pianist Shai Wosner, known for his “remarkable blend of the intellectual, physical and even devilish sides of performance” (Chicago Sun Times), joins members of ECCO for a program of music from the spiritual to the spooky: J. S. Bach’s heavenly chorale preludes; Hungarian composer György Kurtág’s alternately serene and demonic miniatures; and Beethoven’s hair-raising “Ghost” Trio. The program ends back on earth with Max Bruch’s lush, romantic Octet for Strings.

Angels & Ghosts

First Presbyterian Church of Skaneateles

First Presbyterian Church

Soprano Tony Arnold and violinist Movses Pogossian partner for a signature work they’ve recorded and performed live to great acclaim: György Kurtág’s mid-’80s masterpiece Kafka Fragments, a work of staggering expressive range that draws its text from the iconic, early-20th-century author’s personal letters, notebooks, and diary entries.

Tony Arnold & Movses Pogossian Recital

New Mexico Museum of Art

Leon Botstein unearths more rarely heard masterpieces in this concert examining Eastern European music through the rise and fall of Soviet communism, from Szymanowski’s 1918 Songs of the Infatuated Muezzin to Russian composer Boris Tishchenko’s Fifth Symphony, and György Kurtág’s early-21st-century …concertante…. Hear this program at the Fisher Center just days before TŌN performs it at Carnegie Hall.

Carnegie Hall Preview: Before and After Soviet Communism

Bard College

The Musicians from Marlboro touring program has been lauded as a “virtual guarantee of musical excellence” (Washington Post). Some of the most outstanding Marlboro performances from recent years share this program with compelling contemporary works by Amy Beth Kirsten and past Marlboro participant Paul Wiancko.

Musicians from Marlboro III

American Philosophical Society

Immerse yourself in the exquisite world of chamber music with the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, as they present a captivating Chamber Concert series. This enchanting musical journey will unfold over two evenings, each promising an intimate and unforgettable experience.

The first concert will take place on Saturday, 25th February 2023, at 8:00 pm in the majestic Max Joseph Saal of the Munich Residence. The series continues with a second performance on Sunday, 26th February 2023, at 6:00 pm at the serene setting of the Evangelische Akademie in Tutzing.

The program for these concerts is a tribute to the rich tapestry of chamber music, featuring works by Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms, György Kurtág, and Béla Bartók. Highlights include Schumann's "Fairy Tale Narrations for clarinet, viola, and piano, op. 132," Brahms' "Variations on a Theme by Robert Schumann for piano four hands, op. 23," Kurtág's "Hommage à R. Sch. for clarinet, viola, and piano," and Bartók's "Sonata for 2 pianos and percussion."

The performances will showcase the exceptional talents of Bettina Faiss on clarinet, Benedict Hames on viola, Lukas Maria Kuen and Julian Riem on piano, with Guido Marggrander on percussion and Raymond Curfs on timpani.

Don't miss this opportunity to experience the profound beauty and emotional depth of chamber music, performed by some of the finest musicians of our time. Tickets are available online, ensuring your place in this musical haven. Join us for an evening that promises to be a highlight of the cultural calendar, celebrating the timeless appeal of chamber music.

Chamber Concert

Evangelische Akademie

Adrian Brendel’s eloquent artistry, praised by the Guardian for its ‘quiet, unobtrusive musicality,’ will be familiar to Wigmore Hall audiences, thanks not least to his performances as a long-serving member of the Nash Ensemble and frequent collaborations with like-minded artists. He is joined this evening by Hungarian pianist Dénes Várjon, a consummate chamber musician renowned for the clarity and singing line of his playing.

Adrian Brendel cello; Dénes Várjon piano

Ilumina fully lives up to the meaning of its name, which comes from the Portuguese verb ‘to illuminate’ or ‘to enlighten’. Founded in 2015 by violist Jennifer Stumm to offer world-class training and opportunities to talented musicians from disadvantaged backgrounds, the ensemble travels far from its home on an organic coffee farm near Sao Paolo, Brazil to reach the world’s leading concert halls. Only a poet could do justice to the combustible energy, collective commitment and life-enhancing artistry cultivated by Ilumina’s amazing players.

Ilumina

Musik für 3 Streicher, a product of the composer’s mid-20s, sets out to encompass the span of human emotions and experience. Ilya Gringolts, Lawrence Power and Nicolas Altstaedt begin their expedition through the string trio repertoire with two movements from Wolfgang Rihm’s monumental work. Their programme also includes the remarkable Ricercari by Roman Haubenatock-Ramati, who escaped Nazi and Stalinist persecution to join General Anders’s Polish Army and survived the Second World War to become editor of new music for Universal Edition in Vienna.

Ilya Gringolts violin; Lawrence Power viola; Nicolas Altstaedt cello

Exploring new paths – this is one way to sum up the background to the three pieces offered at the concert. The concert will open with music by Schubert, who, in addition to inventing the genre of German songs – writing more than 600 of them –, after six symphonies arrived at an entirely new orchestral language, even if the piece ultimately remained unfinished. The colorful program will continue with the Bartókian Movement for Viola composed by György Kurtág, who was also searching for his own voice but had not found it just yet. The soloist will be Lawrence Power. 

Tour: Salzburg Festival

Felsenreitschule, Salzburg

Kafka Fragments, completed 40 years ago, comprises aphoristic pieces built from the composer’s collection of fragments from the writings of Franz Kafka, with their haunting imagery and searching analysis of the human condition in the face of modernity. Rebecca Hardwick and Tamsin Waley-Cohen are sure to bring out the work’s visceral theatricality and quicksilver contrasts of mood.

Rebecca Hardwick soprano; Tamsin Waley-Cohen violin

Described by their composer as ‘pedagogical performance pieces’, György Kurtág’s Játékok (Games) has evolved from its beginnings in 1973 as a response to the spontaneity of children playing piano to become one of the most important landmarks of contemporary classical music. Pierre-Laurent Aimard, described by the Guardian as ‘the perfect guide’ to the collection’s enigmatic, exquisitely beautiful miniatures, begins his day-long journey into the work’s myriad colours and moods with the first of three deep ‘breaths’. He is joined by his former student Lorenzo Soulès, winner of the 2022 Concours International de Piano d’Orléans.

Pierre-Laurent Aimard piano; Lorenzo Soulès piano

Pierre-Laurent Aimard’s second ‘breath’ of Kurtág’s Játékok, fortified with the condensed energy of Beethoven’s Bagatelles, turns to pieces inspired by everything from close friends, memorable conversations and powerful visual imagery to God’s test of Abraham’s faith and Cain’s murder of his brother, Abel.

Pierre-Laurent Aimard piano

Reflections on the nature of time and its passing, often expressed in profoundly personal pieces written in memory of deceased friends or conceived as dialogues with the past, run through the most recent books of Kurtág’s Játékok. The anthology’s latest additions include compositions written for pianino, the ‘little piano’ famously used by Chopin to create some of his Préludes. Miniatures from Robert Schumann’s Bunte Blätter collection provide playful interludes in Pierre-Laurent Aimard’s third and final ‘breath’ of Kurtág.

Celebrated for his warm stage presence, compelling musical personality, and cutting-edge programming, Canadian pianist Carter Johnson’s playing is described as “sincere, communicative, and intelligent”, “drop-dead gorgeous”, and even “the greatest thing since sliced bread” (Gramophone). Johnson’s competition laurels include finalist at the 2025 Van Cliburn International Competition (the first Canadian in history), silver laureate of the 2025 Honens International Competition, first prize winner of the 2025 Dublin International Competition, and silver medalist in the 2024 Gina Bachauer International Competition.

György Kurtág

Events

Upcoming events

Jul 12, 2026

Adrian Brendel cello; Dénes Várjon piano · Wigmore Hall

Jul 25, 2026

Ilumina · Wigmore Hall

Jul 28, 2026

Ilya Gringolts violin; Lawrence Power viola; Nicolas Altstaedt cello · Wigmore Hall

Aug 8, 2026

Tour: Salzburg Festival ·

Sep 18, 2026

Rebecca Hardwick soprano; Tamsin Waley-Cohen violin · Wigmore Hall

Past events

Jun 14, 2026

Anniversary of the Basel City Casino: Ligeti, Ishchenko, Kurtág · Basel Sinfonietta

13 - 14 Jun, 2026

Chamber Concert “In memoriam” · Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra

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