On Friday, 28 October, Joanna Talarkiewicz, Sojeong Son and Hanna Raniszewska will premiere my composition Tiefes Herz, a setting of a Sarah Kirsch poem for voice, flute and piano, performed in a public masterclass of my dear colleague Karola Theill along with music by Lachner, Brahms, Saint-Saëns and Vaughan Williams. It’s going to be a delicate pleasure, and I’d be delighted to see you in the audience.
Events
University Choral Concert
The Kammerchor der UdK Berlin recently gave, with my humble participation, an acclaimed concert of beautiful motets by Johann Hermann Schein and Max Reger. Listen and enjoy Reger’s magical Die Nacht ist kommen, Op. 138 No. 3, one of my all-time favourites in choral literature.
St Petersburg Medtner Competition
The First International Nikolai Karlovich Medtner Competition will be held at the end of November 2016 in St Petersburg, organised by Nota Bene Association. The competition is open for pianists, vocalists and musicological research and review in English or Russian language. Applications are accepted until 15 October. The submission guidelines can be found here; they didn’t announce them in translation for whatever reason, but I was told that contributions in English are welcome.
Update November 2016: The competition’s musicological research and review section was cancelled due to an insufficient number of contributions. This fact was communicated only upon request.
Eckardstein and Gurdal Piano Recital
Life is so full of contrasts. Only two days after appearing as a jury member in the OneBeat SampleSlam at Kantine am Berghain, gladly evaluating some amazing productions of electronic music, I was lucky enough to witness another outstanding Medtner experience today. Severin von Eckardstein and Michèle Gurdal were playing his 3rd Piano Concerto at Piano Salon Christophori, leaving me completely stunned. Apart from enjoying one of the very rare occasions to hear this piece performed live, it has been an overwhelming encounter with intelligent, emotional, and simply breathtaking musicianship. Besides, eavesdropping on what people chat after listening to what they consider to be just another late-Romantic virtuoso concerto makes me feel even more grateful to belong to a curious species—a company of some assorted, enlightened, and inaugurated bastards acquainted with Nikolai Karlovich Medtner‘s music. Thank you for an unforgettable evening!
Digitalisation Symposium in Detmold
Feels good to be back in Detmold again. Taking part in a symposium on digitalisation routines in teaching, performance, and research at music universities. Glad to be here, and looking forward to meeting some old Detmoldian acquaintances tomorrow!