Elisabeth Leonskaja | Jerusalem Quartet

ELISABETH LEONSKAJA

Echoing her acclaimed solo recital in May 2023, Elisabeth Leonskaja’s latest program once again combines music of the Second Viennese School with major works of the Romantic repertoire. This season, she has chosen Schoenberg’s Op. 25 Suite and Op. 19 Piano Pieces, framing these revolutionary compositions with a pair of Schubert’s piano sonatas that are just as innovative: the A-minor Sonata D 845 and the “Gastein” Sonata D 850, both written in 1825.

Elisabeth Leonskaja

Die drei letzten Klaviersonaten von Ludwig van Beethoven gleichen einer Tour durchs Hochgebirge: drei Gipfel auf einmal. Elisabeth Leonskaja, die Grande Dame des Klavierspiels, ist dafür mit ihrer Wärme und Wahrhaftigkeit eine ideale Interpretin.Ihr Motto klingt einfach: »Nicht sich in der Musik suchen, sondern Musik in sich.« Die Pianistin Elisabeth Leonskaja kann auf eine erfüllte Karriere zurückblicken. Mit ihrer stilistischen Vielfalt, ihrer von keinerlei Moden abgelenkten Kunst und ihrer menschlichen Nähe hat sie sich ihren Platz im Olymp des Klavierspiels erobert. Da wirkt es folgerichtig, dass sie sich in ihrem Solo-Abend mit Beethovens Sonaten-Triptychon einer der größten Herausforderungen an den Tasten widmet. ​​Gefördert vom Kuratorium KölnMusik e.V.

Jerusalem Quartet

The Jerusalem Quartet, founded in 1996, dedicates the first concert in this season's “String Quartet International” series to Haydn's first “Prussian Quartet”, which the composer wrote for the cello-playing King Frederick William II of Prussia, and Mozart's “Dissonance Quartet”, whose unusual harmonies shocked contemporary audiences. After the intermission, the Jerusalem Quartet proves that there is more than just Dvořák's famous melodious “American” String Quartet No. 12: after his second return from the New World, the composer initially had a kind of composer's block and was unable to continue what he had begun. He overcame it working on String Quartet No. 13.

Jerusalem Quartet

The Jerusalem Quartet, known for tackling challenging pieces, excels in performing classical composers like Mozart, Beethoven, and Bartók. While other ensembles explore new repertoire, the Jerusalem Quartet thrives on classical works, including those of Dmitri Shostakovich, whose string quartets offer personal and often censored perspectives.

Portraitkonzert Elisabeth Leonskaja

Elisabeth Leonskaja, one of the great artists of our time, celebrates her 80th birthday in November a little ahead of schedule. For the portrait concert, the pianist has been given »carte blanche by agreement«, so to speak, by the Kammermusikfreunde Hamburg. She is coming to the Elbphilharmonie with close musical friends from the Staatskapelle Berlin and the young pianist Mihály Berecz.

Elisabeth Leonskaja / Piano Recital

Elisabeth Leonskaja is acknowledged as one of today’s eminent authorities at the piano keyboard. Since her breakthrough at the 1979 Salzburg Festival, the Russian pianist, who has been living in Vienna for more than 40 years, has enjoyed one international success after another. In 2006 she was awarded Austria’s Medal of Honour for Science and the Arts, first class, for her services to music – a distinction awarded 110 years before to no lesser figure than Johannes Brahms. At the Elbphilharmonie Leonskaja now plays all three Brahms sonatas on one evening. A truly impressive undertaking: the Brahms piano sonatas have a reputation as not only some of the most beautiful, but also some of the most demanding works of their genre. This much was already evident in 1853 to perhaps the most influential composer and music critic of his time: Robert Schumann. He met the 20-year-old Brahms in Düsseldorf, who played Schumann the sonatas he had just completed on the piano. The wildly enthusiastic Schumann took up his pen without further ado and wrote: »These sonatas were more like veiled symphonies. He seemed as a raging current to unite them all in a waterfall, bearing a peaceful rainbow aloft as the water surged over the edge, carrying them to the shore accompanied by butterflies and the song of nightingales.«

Elisabeth Leonskaja | Concertgebouw kamerorkest

Demut vor dem Komponisten und die Erfahrung eines ganzen Pianistinnenlebens machen Elisabeth Leonskaja zu einer idealen Mozart-Interpretin. Besonders in einem Konzert, das im an Höhepunkten reichen Schaffen des Salzburger Genies einen besonderen Stellenwert einnimmt: das berühmte »Jenamy«-Konzert.Es ist ein Quantensprung in der Geschichte der Gattung, noch während Mozarts Zeit in Salzburg entstanden, und der Ausgangspunkt für die späteren Meisterkonzerte der Wiener Jahre. Nicht nur die Aufwertung des Klavierparts, auch der typische Mozart-Ton in den Bläserstimmen des Orchesters hebt das Konzert auf ein völlig neues Niveau. Gestalten Pianistin und Orchester die erste Konzerthälfte gemeinsam, gehört die zweite ganz dem Concertgebouw kamerorkest. Nach dem Klassiker Mozart wird es darin romantisch mit Tschaikowskys »Souvenir de Florence«, in dem sich der Komponist voller Glücksgefühle an seinen überaus erfüllten Sommeraufenthalt in der Toskana erinnert. ​Gefördert vom Kuratorium KölnMusik e.V.

Jerusalem Quartet Schostakowitsch Streichquartette

In 2025, the 50th anniversary of Dmitri Shostakovich's death, his music, offering emotional refuge against the Soviet regime, is remembered. This concert frames Antonín Dvořák's masterpiece with Shostakovich's first and ninth string quartets, performed by the Jerusalem Quartet, praised for "passion, precision, and warmth." A late-night performance by the Paterok Quartet follows in the "Philharmonie Club" restaurant.

Académie Piano-Piano : Elisabeth Leonskaja