Igor Stravinsky: l'histoire du soldat

Astor Piazzolla’s The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires  evokes the moods of the Argentine capital while paying subtle homage to Antonio Vivaldi. This is followed by Aram Khachaturian’s rhapsodic Poem,  Daniel van Goens’s energetic Scherzo,  and Toru Takemitsu’s Rain Tree Sketch,  written in memory of Olivier Messiaen. Toshio Hosokawa’s Trumpet Concerto “Im Nebel”,  inspired by the Hermann Hesse poem, conjures up a vision of man and nature, in which the trumpet slowly melts into the orchestral mist. The evening concludes with the celebrated The Soldier’s Tale,  a parable of deceit and fate that, in Igor Stravinsky’s neoclassical idiom, unites ragtime, tango, waltz and grotesque irony. The performers of this evening’s programme are an ensemble of distinguished chamber musicians and teachers.

Violinist Latica Honda-Rosenberg teaches at the Berlin University of the Arts; double bassist Rick Stotijn at the Robert Schumann Hochschule in Düsseldorf; clarinettist Harri Mäki at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki; and bassoonist Ole Kristian Dahl at institutions in Mannheim and London. Trumpeter Reinhold Friedrich has been a professor at the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe since 1989 and holds honorary professorships in London, Helsinki and Madrid, while Branimir Slokar is one of the leading trombone players. Pianist Eriko Takezawa teaches in Karlsruhe and Madrid and pianist Zsuzsa Bálint teaches in Berlin. The ensemble is joined by actor and reciter Boris Ostan, a long-standing member of the company of the Ljubljana City Theatre.