Concerts with works by

Grażyna Bacewicz

Oslo Philharmonic's Chamber Series Grażyna Bacewicz George Enescu

After Germany's invasion of Poland in 1939, life in Warsaw became extremely challenging, including for the composer and violinist Grażyna Bacewicz (1909–1969). Even during these difficult times, Bacewicz continued composing, as well as performing secret underground concerts, until she and her family escaped the city after the Warsaw Uprising. Four years after the war, she released what is today considered one of her most famous pieces—Quartet for Four Violins. The work is written in a neoclassical style but, like much of her music, also contains elements of Polish folk music.The child prodigy George Enescu (1881–1955) started composing at a young age—he took up the violin at four, composition at five, and by the time he was seven, he was admitted to the Vienna Conservatory. He later continued his composition studies at the Conservatoire de Paris, and just a year after graduating, he completed his Octet in C major. At the time, the piece was praised as an impressive achievement for a 19-year-old, and today it is considered one of his masterpieces. It is a melodically rich and complex work, written in a late Romantic style while also drawing inspiration from Romanian folk music.

Oslo Philharmonic's Chamber Series Grażyna Bacewicz George Enescu

After Germany's invasion of Poland in 1939, life in Warsaw became extremely challenging, including for the composer and violinist Grażyna Bacewicz (1909–1969). Even during these difficult times, Bacewicz continued composing, as well as performing secret underground concerts, until she and her family escaped the city after the Warsaw Uprising. Four years after the war, she released what is today considered one of her most famous pieces—Quartet for Four Violins. The work is written in a neoclassical style but, like much of her music, also contains elements of Polish folk music.The child prodigy George Enescu (1881–1955) started composing at a young age—he took up the violin at four, composition at five, and by the time he was seven, he was admitted to the Vienna Conservatory. He later continued his composition studies at the Conservatoire de Paris, and just a year after graduating, he completed his Octet in C major. At the time, the piece was praised as an impressive achievement for a 19-year-old, and today it is considered one of his masterpieces. It is a melodically rich and complex work, written in a late Romantic style while also drawing inspiration from Romanian folk music.

Chamber Music Concert

Vision String Quartet, photo: Harald Hoffmann Accustomed to the most canonical output by avant-garde composers, we sometimes react with amazement to their youthful works, which often attest to their perfect mastery of the principles of composition with which they were about to dramatically break. Such is undoubtedly the case with Langsamer Satz, a work without opus number for string quartet by Anton Webern. According to the critics, this lyrically atmospheric work, in the spirit of late romanticism, conveys the mood of the mountain trek on which the composer supposedly fell in love with his cousin and future wife, Wilhelmina Mörtl. Enchanted by the aura of Paris, Grażyna Bacewicz returned from her second stay in the French capital having composed there her String Quartet No. 3. This work is characterised by passionate vitality and a wealth of development techniques in the outer movements and a bold departure from the tonal path in the slow movement. Before Johannes Brahms considered any of his string quartets suitable for public consumption, he apparently destroyed some 20 youthful essays in the genre. His admiration for Ludwig van Beethoven’s quartets bordered on a paralysing creative phobia. The Quartet in C minor from Op. 51, sent to his publisher after years of work and revision, turned out to be one of the most groundbreaking works in his oeuvre. Even if it does contain discernible elements of the Beethovenian spirit, Brahms managed to keep a rein on them.

NOSPR concert at Klarafestival in Brussels

NOSPR / Alsop / Requiem as a tribute

“It is with greatest ease and willingness that I am working on this Concerto and, nota bene, I feel that this is going to be a first-class trick” – these words from a letter by Karol Szymanowski are proof of how important the Symphony No. 4 was for the composer. It was his unfulfilled dream of a “true” piano concerto. One of a pianistic tour de force, the first sketches of which he dropped to focus on the Stabat Mater he was working on back then. The moving „Peasant Requiem” (such was the title Szymanowski had originally intended for the work), born out of the pain he experienced after his niece’s death, it brings together religious ecstasy and a note of the Polish folklore to be heard in a recollection of the popular Bitter Lamentations resonating in the composer’s memory.How different was that world from the instrumental Chaconne by Krzysztof Penderecki! The latter is an expressive musical tribute to the memory of the late Polish Pope. It was this piece that provided a symbolic closure for the Polish Requiem, which Penderecki had been working on for a quarter of a century – a monumental chronicle of Poland’s modern history, the melancholic finale of which contains both a nostalgia for the baroque tradition and emotions of a surprisingly romantic nature.Róża ŚwiatczyńskaConcert duration (intermission included): approximately 90 minutes

Łucja Madziar & Thomas Hoppe

Łucja Madziar, first concertmaster of the ORF Symphony Orchestra, and her piano partner Thomas Hoppe have formed a musical duo since 2022. The multi-award-winning violinist is a regular guest at music festivals (Beethovenfest Bonn, Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Paderewski-Festival) and can look back on solo appearances, e.g. in the Grand Hall of the Vienna Konzerthaus. As a soloist, she has performed several times with the Essen Philharmonic Orchestra, the Lower Saxony State Orchestra Hanover, the Württemberg Chamber Orchestra Heilbronn, the Neubrandenburg Philharmonic Orchestra and the Folkwang Chamber Orchestra Essen. Thomas Hoppe is regarded as an outstanding piano partner and has performed as such with artists such as Itzhak Perlman, Antje Weithaas, Vilde Frang and Tabea Zimmermann. The Berlin pianist completed his training at the Juilliard School in New York City. As a member of the ATOS Trio, he performs worldwide and has won many prizes and awards.

Teatime Classics

The NOVO Quartet from Denmark currently commutes between Vienna and Copenhagen to get the final touch to its training in its studies with string quartet greats. The musicians have already scooped up many prizes. As the final concert of this season’s Teatime Classics, they combine a classic with a rare piece: one of the famous »Rasumovsky« quartets by Beethoven encounters a quartet by Grazyna Bacewicz, whose fascinating music borrows from Shostakovich, Stravinsky and Bartók – highly recommended listening! The NOVO Quartet, formed in Copenhagen in 2018, is one of the most promising young ensembles in Denmark. The quartet, which currently resides in Vienna and Copenhagen, consist of violinists Kaya Kato Møller and Nikolai Vasili Nedergaard, violist Daniel Sledzinski and cellist Signe Ebstrup Bitsch. The quartet was recently awarded the First Prize and four special prizes at the 77th Geneva International Music Competition, amongst others. The NOVO Quartet is currently studying at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna as part of the ECMAster programme under Professor Johannes Meissl. The quartet receives further musical inspirations from Hatto Beyerle (Alban Berg Quartett), Valentin Erben (Alban Berg Quartett), Heime Müller (Artemis Quartet), Asbjørn Nørgård (Danish String Quartet) and Fredrik Sjölin (Danish String Quartet). The NOVO Quartet gives concerts throughout Denmark and has also performed in countries such as China, the USA, the Netherlands, France, Switzerland, Germany, Norway, Sweden and Greenland.