ConcertPulse
Watch This Space | Kirill Gerstein & HK Gruber
The Austrian composer, conductor, and singer HK Gruber and the Russian-American pianist Kirill Gerstein combine their wonderfully free-spirited forces for a program that harks back to Berlin in the 1920s, when the First World War was over, the lights were dim, and cabaret was all the rage. Gruber (who, incidentally, is a descendant of Franz Xaver Gruber, the composer of Silent Night) is undisputedly one of the greatest living interpreters of this style. His artistic role models are Kurt Weill and Hanns Eisler, whom he credits for making his career as a composer possible. As for Gerstein, he illuminates Bertolt Brecht’s infectious melodies and sometimes caustic texts with his lively, dance-like piano playing.