Arvo Part, born in Estonia in 1935, is today known as one of the living legends of contemporary music, whose long path as a composer began with his adherence to radical avant-garde movements in music in the mid-twentieth century, only for the composer, wondering about the nature of music and its future, to experience the so-called "silent period" in the XNUMXs, in which he studied Renaissance music. He emerged from it with a new musical language, returning to the sound of diatonic, consonant music, although still devoid of tonal relationships and traditional harmony. This music is based on his unique "tintinnabuli" style, the sound of a fifth chord, the distant impression of the echo of a bell with its overtones, on which he builds his harmonies. His style belongs to the spectrum of minimalism in music, and the spiritual mystical quality of his music introduces him to the circle of so-called holy minimalists – spirituality in his music, and indirectly the musical material itself stems from the influence of orthodox liturgical music (Pärt converted from Lutheranism to the orthodox Christian religion). One of the first works to be created after the period of silence was Fratres, from 1977, composed for a free choice of instruments. It is a series of variations on a six-bar theme, in which, according to Pärt, two extremes, the moment and eternity, struggle. The tintinnabuli style is reflected in the three-part composition, in which the high and low voices play overtones of D minor, and the middle voice is limited to the tones of the minor triad of A minor. The entire action takes place over the ostinato tones of ai and e.
The composition is most often performed on violin and piano, but it exists in numerous versions for smaller and larger ensembles.
A great composer crisis hit Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) at the very beginning of his composing career. The failure of his First Symphony in 1897 shook his self-confidence and caused a severe state of depression, which he got rid of only after three years, with the help of hypnotherapy.
One of the first works he wrote after this crisis was Sonata for cello and piano in G minor, Op. 19, in November 1901, was composed at about the same time as he premiered his masterpiece, the Second Piano Concerto in C minor, Op. 18. The sonata, although less ambitious, is in many ways a direct echo of the concerto, with similar expression, as well as harmonic and motivic material. He dedicated it to Anatoly Brandukov, a distinguished cellist who had also premiered a number of Tchaikovsky's works. Although much older than Rachmaninoff, Brandukov was a good friend of Rachmaninoff and his best man at his wedding. Rachmaninoff premiered the work with him, playing the equally demanding and in this sonata an equal piano part.
The broad textures, the repeated tones, which create a specific echoing tone, come from Rachmaninoff’s important spiritual-sound inspiration – the sound of church bells, which, like some church chants, inspired many of his works. The sonata is built on classical formal principles, which allow for a long and meaningful journey. The feeling of struggle experienced during the years of crisis permeates the first movement of the sonata, as well as the dark Scherzo, while the distinctive rich breadth of phrases spreads through the third movement. The last brings a sense of victory and celebration.
I Sonata for cello and piano in D minor, Op. 40 by Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) uses classical form to tell a long story of Beethovenian proportions, built on contrasts between deeply emotional romantic expression and sharp, intellectual energy. It was a rather conservative work by the young Shostakovich, who was the most progressive Russian composer of his time. But, just as he was performing this sonata in Arkhangelsk, in January 1936, his wings were suddenly clipped: from being the strongest hope of Russian music, public opinion suddenly turned against him, after notorious criticism in Justice, "Confusion Instead of Music" - said to have been written by Stalin himself - directed against his opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District. From that moment on, Shostakovich's arduous journey as a composer who would have to mold his talent into the rules prescribed by the empty, bureaucratic apparatus of Soviet cultural policy would begin. The Sonata, written earlier, was still a free work by a composer who confidently chose his own musical language and rules. Although it is relatively close to tradition, that is, musical rules, it emerged from and reflects a turbulent period in his private life: the sonata is a kind of short chronicle of his extramarital affair that he experienced while working on the rehearsals for Lady Macbeth in 1934, when he briefly separated from his wife. Filled with passion, turbulent feelings, self-irony, sharp tones that echo from the piano and cello like punishment - the sonata depicts this short period. He premiered it in December of the same year, with his friend, the cellist Viktor Kubatsky, to whom he dedicated it.
Zrinka Matić
Pianist Martina Filjak With her simultaneously passionate and lyrical playing and technical perfection, she regularly delights the international public and critics as an 'artist of galvanizing power' with a 'magnetic stage presence'.
She attracted the attention of the wider international public in 2009, when she won the Gold Medal and a number of special awards at the renowned international competition in Cleveland, and soon after made her debut in the Konzerthaus in Berlin, the Musikverein in Vienna and the Zankel Hall in Carnegie Hall ('A vibrant and engaging stage presence.... resourcefulness of technique and naturalness of musicality...A pianist worthy of attention', The New York Times). Immediately before Cleveland, she was the winner of first prizes at the Viotti (2007) and Maria Canals competitions in Barcelona (2008) and was a laureate of the Busoni competition in Bolzano.
Born into a musical family, she began learning the piano at the age of five and gave her first public performance at the age of six. She received her musical education at the Zagreb Academy of Music and the Vienna Conservatory, and then completed it in the renowned soloist class in Hannover. She also attended master classes at the prestigious Piano Academy on Lake Como in Italy.
She has received numerous awards and recognitions, including the 'Vladimir Nazor' award for performances of Brahms's 1st Concerto and Kelemen's Concerto, the 'Milka Trnina' award from the Croatian Society of Musicians, the 'Orlando' for her performance at the Dubrovnik Summer Festival, the "Judit" for her performance of Dora Pejačević's concert at the Split Summer Festival, and in 2009 she was awarded the Order of the Croatian Weave for achievements in music.
In the last few seasons, Martina has performed with the world's leading orchestras such as The Cleveland Orchestra, Sand Diego Symphony, The Florida Orchestra, Strasbourg Philharmonic, Barcelona Symphony, Bilbao Symphony, Deutsche Radio Philharmonie, Staatskapelle Weimar, Staatskapelle Halle, Bremen Philharmonic, Lübeck Philharmonic, Robert - Schumann Philharmonie Chemnitz, Slovenian Philharmonic, Japan Century Symphony Orchestra, Israel Chamber Orchestra and Orchestra Simfonica La Verdi from Milan. She has also performed on the stages of famous halls such as Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Konzerthaus Berlin, l'Auditori and Palau de la Música Catalana/ Barcelona, Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall/ New York, Boston/ Jordan Hall, Teatro San Carlo, Sala Verdi, Salle Gaveau, Musikverein and Konzerthaus in Vienna, NDR Hall/ Hannover, Residenz in Munich, Auditorio Nacional - Madrid, and Ravinia Festival in Chicago.
In recent years, Martina has frequently collaborated with renowned conductors such as JoAnn Falletta, Stanislav Kochanovsky, Alexander Shelley, Hans Graf, Markus Poschner, Sebastian Lang–Lessing, Josep Caballe-Domenech, Tito Munoz, Carlos Miguel Prieto and Stefan Sanderling. She nurtures her love of chamber music through regular performances and collaborations with artists such as the Szymanowski Quartet, Ensemble Berlin, Dmitry Sinkovsky, Radovan Vlatkovic, Marija Pavlovic, Tatjana Vassiljeva, Felix Klieser and Monika Leskovar.
She began the 2018/19 concert season with a performance of Brahms's 2nd Piano Concerto with the Staatskapelle Halle orchestra at the Chorin music festival, and continued it with performances at the Samobor Music Autumn, and a series of performances with orchestras and conductors: Orquesta Filarmonica de Bogota and Diego Naser, the New West Symphony and Fawzi Haimor, the Norddeutsche Philharmonie Rostock and Nicholas Milton, the Colorado Springs Philharmonic and Josep Caballe Domenech, the Malaga Philharmonic and Guillermo Garcia Calvo, the Capella Quileia and Paul Goodwin, the Philharmonic Orchestra of Teatro Colon and Manuel Hernandez Silva, as well as with the Zagreb Soloists ensemble.
Martina's broad repertoire includes literature from Bach to Berio and over thirty piano concertos.
Martina is fluent in 7 languages. Fortunately for her, as an active performer, she loves to travel.
Martina Filjak: “I love nature. I am truly happy in nature. I am delighted by music that evokes the sounds of nature and folk melodies – for example, Bartók’s suite Outdoors, Six Encores by Beria (Wasserklavier, Earth piano, Fire piano i Air piano) and Ravel Une barque sur l'océan - are certainly among my favorite works. At the same time, I am attracted to chamber music, but also to technically and intellectually demanding and complicated works such as Beethoven's Hammerklavier Sonata and Bartók's Piano Concerto No. 2."
Croatian cellist Monika Leskovar (Kreutztal, Germany, March 15, 1981) began playing the cello at the age of six in the class of Dobrila Berković Magdalenić at the Elly Bašić Music School in Zagreb. At the age of 13, she attracted public attention by winning first prize at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Sendai, Japan in 1995. In Zagreb, she was also a student of Valter Dešpalj before continuing her studies in Germany, where she earned a diploma and completed postgraduate studies in the class of David Geringas at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler in Berlin. In 2006, she became his assistant at the same school. Monika Leskovar attended master classes with Mstislav Rostropovich and Bernard Greenhouse. She was a winner of many international competitions, such as the ARD in Munich (2001), Mstislav Rostropovich in Paris, Robert Caruana in Milan (1999) and Adam in New Zealand (2003). She was the first Croatian representative at the Eurovision Song Contest for young musicians and a finalist at the concert in Vienna in 1998.
Having gained a notable reputation, Monika Leskovar has given numerous concerts in Japan, Belgium, France, Germany, Denmark, Hungary, Great Britain, New Zealand and Australia. As a soloist, she has performed with important orchestras such as the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, the Moscow Philharmonic, the Sendai Philharmonic, the Slovenian Philharmonic, the St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra, the Zagreb Philharmonic, the Essen Philharmonic, the Prague Chamber Orchestra, the Latvian Chamber Orchestra, the Kremerate Baltica, the Zagreb Soloists and others, under the baton of Valery Gergiev, Thomas Hengelbrock, Krzysztof Penderecki and many other renowned masters. As a frequent guest at festivals around the world, Monika Leskovar has performed at the Manchester International Cello Festival, the Kronberg Academy Festival, the Rostropovich Festival, the Casals Festival, the Dubrovnik Summer Festival, the Schleswig-Holstein Musikfestival, the Mozartfest Würzburg and other important music festivals.
As a chamber musician, Monika Leskovar has had numerous highly successful collaborations with artists on an international level, including Giovanni Sollima, Ivana Švarc Genda, Boris Berezovsky, Sofiya Gubaidulina, Yuri Bashmet, Julian Rachlin, Stefan Milenkovich, Mischa Maiskog, Itamar Golan, Gidon Kremer, Mario Brunello, Patti Smith, Janine Jansen and others. During the 2010/2011 season, Monika Leskovar was the first cellist of the Munich Philharmonic. Since 2012, she has taught at the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana in Lugano, and since 2017, she has been an assistant professor at the Academy of Music of the University of Zagreb. She plays a cello by the Neapolitan master Vincenzo Postiglione from 1884, which was given to her by the City of Zagreb and the Zagreb Philharmonic.
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Arvo Pärt: Fratres
Sergei Rachmaninoff: Sonata for Cello and Piano in G minor, Op. 19
Dmitri Shostakovich: Sonata for Cello and Piano in D minor, Op. 40
