Shostakovich and Pejacevic

Hrůša conducts Beethoven and Shostakovich

The Year 1905: Shostakovich’s monumental symphony meets Beethoven at his brightest. Unchained energy from conductor Jakub Hrůša, pianist Jonathan Biss and the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

Shostakovich Quartets: Intimate Portraits, Part 2

Sofia Gubaidulina contemplates unfinished J S Bach as the Carduccis survey Shostakovich in triplicate across some two decades.

Shostakovich Quartets: Intimate Portraits, Part 3

The multinational young Kyan Quartet joins the Carduccis as Gubaidulina’s compact Quartet No 2 is stitched into a Shostakovich sequence including the penultimate quartet, with its focus on the cello.

Shostakovich Quartets: Intimate Portraits, Part 4

Three quartets unite to perform the Chamber Symphony enlargement of Shostakovich’s 8th quartet, crowning a programme including Firsova’s ardent, deftly-plotted Quartet No 4.

Shostakovich Quartets: Intimate Portraits, Part 5

Our Shostakovich cycle began with the Quartet No 1, and ends, inevitably, with No 15, staring death resolutely in the face, a work heart-stopping in its searing intensity.

Shostakovich Quartets: Intimate Portraits, Part 1

Marking 50 years since the composer’s death, the Carduccis inaugurate a five-concert odyssey through the complete string quartets – works that enshrine his inner life, loves and closest friendships.

Commemorating Shostakovich: Evgeny Kissin and friends

A glittering constellation of string players joins Evgeny Kissin for an immersive dive into three sonatas that together span Shostakovich’s creative evolution – the last a soul-searing farewell.

Works by Sibelius, Shostakovich and Beethoven

Thomas Oliemans & Olga Pashchenko: Schubert, Wolf & Shostakovich

For lovers of chamber music the Recital Hall is the venue of choice. You can hear the musicians breathe and you can practically touch them. This hall is also cherished by musicians for its beautiful acoustics and direct contact with the audience. In the Recital Hall you can hear the best musicians of our time. Buy your tickets now and experience the magic of the Recital Hall for yourself!

Jukka-Pekka Saraste conducts Mozart and Shostakovich

There are some instruments that are particularly good at touching the innermost – among them is the clarinet. As early as 1784, a journalist raved: »Whoever plays the clarinet soulfully seems to declare his love to the whole world, to the heavenly beings themselves«. Mozart had quickly understood that gripping music was possible with the then newly invented woodwind instrument – and so in 1791, shortly before his untimely death, he composed his famous Clarinet Concerto. Especially in the Adagio, the chanting tone becomes fully effective: in a magical way, the clarinet »sings« of love, joy, beauty and perhaps even of the premonition of the end of life – the dedicatee Anton Stadler is said to have remarked: »Let him sing once more, even if it be his swan song«. Before our solo clarinettist Christoph Müller takes over the soulful performance for this hauntingly beautiful work, we play a piece from the Finnish homeland of our guest conductor Jukka-Pekka Saraste: »Hit & Run« was penned by Sauli Zinovjev, born in 1988, who is causing a stir with his emotional orchestral works and was recently a guest in Bamberg for a year on a Villa Concordia scholarship. We conclude with a journey into the cosmos of Shostakovich, who also wanted to reflect current feelings and thoughts with his music – and said: »When I learn that someone is being tortured, I feel the pain myself.« We play his touching Eighth Symphony, with which he did not deliver the heroic work his fatherland wanted in the middle of the war in 1943, but cast the suffering of his soul in mostly gloomy sounds – a conductor friend said that Shostakovich thereby set »the horror of the life of an intellectual at that time« into music.