Name: Ema Nikolovska mezzo-soprano; Jonathan Biss piano
Start: 2026-09-17T19:30:00
Location: Wigmore Hall

Jonathan Biss

Ema Nikolovska

Wigmore Hall

Quatuor Agate’s biography tells the story of how its four players joined forces to prepare for a concert that was destined never to happen. The French string quartet, inspired by the rehearsal process, overcame that initial setback to make its debut a decade ago and progress to become one of the finest among today’s young chamber groups. It pairs Haydn’s tuneful Op. 20 No. 4 with the equally melodious second of Korngold’s string quartets, written shortly before he made his first visit to Hollywood in 1933.

Quatuor Agate

Claudio Monteverdi’s Vespers, first published in 1610, harnessed ancient and modern styles of sacred music to create a sublime setting of the Latin service of evening prayer. Using one voice per part and a company of ace period instrumentalists, Vox Luminis and Lionel Meunier direct their exceptional collective artistry and long experience of music from the early Baroque to the performance of one of western classical music’s richest achievements.

Vox Luminis; Lionel Meunier artistic director, bass

Grammy Award-winner Linda May Han Oh, known for her rhythmically complex, melodically enchanting music, has beguiled critics and audiences alike with her distinctive musical voice. The Malaysia-born, New York-based Australian bassist and composer returns to Wigmore Hall for a red-letter date with her regular duo partner and husband, the Cuban American artist Fabian Almazan, hailed by DownBeat for his ‘remarkable piano virtuosity’.

Linda May Han Oh jazz bass; Fabian Almazan piano

Elisabeth Leonskaja’s recording of the complete works of Schubert stands among the finest in the catalogue. ‘No question about it,’ notes Gramophone, ‘Leonskaja’s Schubert … should provide you with a lifetime’s worth of musical nourishment.’ The esteemed Austrian pianist opens her recital with the 20-year-old composer’s Piano Sonata in B, a delightful companion to the poetic nuances of his four late Impromptus D935. Post-interval, she turns to the radiant charm and playfulness of the sonata Schubert composed during a summer visit to the spa town of Bad Gastein.

Elisabeth Leonskaja piano

Tamara Stefanovich offers a programme that reflects music’s power to transcend the ordinary and touch aspects of the human spirit that words cannot express. The Grammy Award-nominated pianist, hailed by the Guardian as ‘Fearless, dazzling, exceptional’, creates a feeling of sacred space and intimacy with a lunchtime recital that rises from Bach’s Aria variata and embraces Messiaen’s tender meditations on the infant Christ.

Tamara Stefanovich piano

The works in Clare Hammond’s recital demand a union of exceptional technical skills and deep artistic sensibility, qualities she possesses in abundance. The British pianist’s programme reflects her profound interest in the music of Poland and determination to broaden the keyboard repertoire with new work, present here in the form of the world première of two études by Emma-Ruth Richards, a composer praised by Musical Opinion for the ‘exceptional refinement and subtlety’ of her music.

Clare Hammond piano

The Danish String Quartet, known for its adventurous programming and heartfelt artistry, is joined by Johannes Rostamo in an engrossing programme. Schubert’s String Quintet in C, completed just weeks before his death in 1828, is a magical work suffused with inventive brilliance and an astonishing breadth of moods. Thomas Adès’s Wreath – for Franz Schubert, a single-movement composition commissioned by the Danish String Quartet, echoes elements of Schubert’s Quintet as it explores the complexities of existence.

Danish String Quartet; Johannes Rostamo cello

Join Ian Page to discuss the evening concert.

Pre-Concert Talk: Ian Page

Zee Zee’s Piano Festival programme combines coruscating examples of the art of transcription and original compositions by Schubert and Liszt. Schubert’s C minor Piano Sonata combines the composer’s lyricism with the energy and dramatic contrasts he absorbed from the music of Beethoven. The Chinese American pianist ends with Liszt’s near-mystical vision of the Villa d’este fountains and fiendishly difficult Tarantella.

Zee Zee piano

Friedrich Klinger’s play Sturm und Drang, which retrospectively gave its name to the emotionally turbulent movement that swept through literature, art and music in the 1760s and 1770s, was written 250 years ago in 1776. To mark this anniversary, Ian Page and The Mozartists present a characteristically dynamic and highly-charged programme, culminating with Haydn’s celebrated and darkly dramatic ‘Farewell’ Symphony.

The Mozartists; Ian Page conductor; Alexandra Lowe soprano

Julia Hamos’s debut album, including Bartók’s Hungarian Peasant Songs together with works by Ligeti and Schubert, prompted Gramophone’s reviewer to praise the ‘sheer finesse, innate musicality and total commitment informing every note she plays.’ The Hungarian American artist, Sir András Schiff’s assistant at the Kronberg Academy in Germany, offers an equally satisfying lunchtime repertoire menu with her vibrant programme.

Julia Hamos piano

200 years after its first performance, Beethoven’s String Quartet Op. 130 with its original Grosse Fuge finale has lost none of its revolutionary force and power to shock. The Belcea Quartet prefaces the composer’s late masterwork with the first of his string quartets, itself a radical statement of musical democracy in which all four players serve as equals.

Belcea Quartet

From supernatural imagery and unsettling feelings of desire to the hope in darkness of Blondel zu Marien and the deathbed scene of Abschied von der Erde, Ema Nikolovska’s recital probes a nocturnal world of shadows and complex emotions. The mezzo-soprano, an alumna of Deutsche Oper Berlin’s renowned Opera Studio, is joined by Jonathan Biss, ‘a natural musical poet’, according to Gramophone.