Season 2024/25 Forthcoming Concerts

Thursday 6 February 2025, 7:30pm
West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge CB3 9DP

NAREK HAKHNAZARYAN, cello • GEORGY TCHAIDZE, piano

Chopin
Introduction et Polonaise brillante, Op. 3
Beethoven
Sonata in A, Op. 69
INTERVAL
Rachmaninov
Sonata in G minor, Op. 19

Described by the San Francisco Chronicle as ‘nothing short of magnificent’ and by the Los Angeles Times as a cellist ‘whose command of the instrument is extraordinary’, Armenian-born Narek Hakhnazaryan is one of the most exceptional musical talents to have emerged in recent decades. Since shooting to international fame on winning the Cello First Prize and Gold Medal at the XIV International Tchaikovsky Competition in 2011, he has established himself as a true virtuoso with an innate musicality and an exceptional talent for connecting with his audience.

Mentored earlier by the legendary Mstislav Rostropovich, Hakhnazaryan has enjoyed a truly global career since his triumph in the Tchaikovsky Competition and has played with orchestras such as the Orchestre de Paris, London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Frankfurt Radio, Berlin Konzerthaus, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Finnish Radio, Helsinki Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and worked with conductors of the stature of Marin Alsop, Valery Gergiev, Vladimir Jurowski, Tom Koopman, Tugan Sokhiev, Manfred Honeck, and Gianandrea Noseda among others. He made a sensational debut at the BBC Proms in 2016 and the following year was invited by the Vienna Konzerthaus to be a ‘Great Talent’ in residence. Since then, he performed there regularly in recital, chamber music and with orchestra, most notably with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra under Jakub Hrůša (the Music Director-elect of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden).

Recent recital tours have included concerts in New York’s Carnegie Hall, Boston’s and Jordan Hall, as well as regular appearances at the Vienna Konzerthaus. He has recently released two albums of chamber music for Deutsche Grammophon. Narek Hakhnazaryan is a Larsen Strings Artist. He can be heard in the YouTube film, below, in Tchaikovsky's Rococo Variations, with the Orchestre National du Capitole du Toulouse, conducted by Tugan Sokhiev.

‘Fine sensibility and perfectly honed technique’ wrote the Telegraph’s critic of Georgy Tchaidze’s London debut. Since winning the First Prize in 2009 at the triennial Honens International Piano Competition, one of North America’s most prestigious competitions, Tchaidze has performed throughout Europe, North America, and Asia to great acclaim, including debuts at Berlin’s Konzerthaus, the Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing, and at Carnegie Hall in New York. In 2015, Georgy Tchaidze was awarded First Prize at the Top of the World International Piano Competition in Tromsø, Norway, and received further international notice when he was asked to stand in for the indisposed Sir Andras Schiff. Since 2016, he has been Artist in Residence at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel, a centre for outstanding young musicians based in Waterloo, Belgium, under the direction of Louis Lortie.

As a chamber musician, Tchaidze has performed with the Brentano, Cecilia, and Borodin Quartets and with fellow pianists Piotr Anderszewski, Stephen Kovacevich, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Marc-André Hamelin, Nikolai Lugansky, among others.

Born in 1988 in St Petersburg, Georgy Tchaidze was educated at the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory and at the Berlin University of the Arts. He records for the Honens label.

 

 

 

Sunday 23 February 2025, 7:30pm
West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge CB3 9DP

MITSUKO UCHIDA, piano

A work to be announced
Beethoven
Sonata in E minor, Op. 90
INTERVAL
Schubert
Sonata in B-flat, D. 960

Legendary pianist Dame Mitsuko Uchida brings profound insight into all the music she plays through her own quest for truth and beauty. Renowned for her interpretations of Mozart, Schubert, Schumann and Beethoven, she has also illuminated the music of Berg, Schoenberg, Webern and Boulez for a new generation of listeners. She is a former Visiting Fellow of Peterhouse, Cambridge, and her February 2023 recital is her seventh for Camerata Musica Cambridge.

She has enjoyed close relationships over many years with the world’s most renowned orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Symphony, London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, and – in the US – the Chicago Symphony and The Cleveland Orchestra, with whom she recently celebrated her 100th performance at Severance Hall.  Conductors with whom she has worked closely have included Bernard Haitink, Sir Simon Rattle, Riccardo Muti, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Vladimir Jurowski, Andris Nelsons, Gustavo Dudamel, and Mariss Jansons.

Since 2016, Mitsuko Uchida has been an Artistic Partner of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, with whom she is currently engaged on a five-year touring project in Europe and North America.  She also appears regularly in recital in Vienna, Berlin, Paris, Amsterdam, London, New York and Tokyo, and is a frequent guest at the Salzburg Mozartwoche and Salzburg Festival.

Mitsuko Uchida records exclusively for Decca, and her multi-award-winning discography includes the complete Mozart and Schubert piano sonatas.  She is the recipient of two Grammy Awards – for Mozart Concertos with The Cleveland Orchestra, and for an album of lieder with Dorothea Röschmann – and her recording of the Schoenberg Piano Concerto with Pierre Boulez and the Cleveland Orchestra won the Gramophone Award for Best Concerto.

Friday 14 March 2025, 7:30pm
West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge CB3 9DP

QUATUOR VAN KUIJK

Nicolas Van Kuijk, violin

Sylvain Favre-Bulle, violin

Emmanuel François, viola

Anthony Kondo, cello

Haydn
Quartet in G minor, Op. 74 No. 3, 'The Rider'
Mendelssohn
Quartet in F minor, Op. 80
INTERVAL
Beethoven
Quartet in E minor, Op. 59 No. 2, ‘Rasumovsky’

The Quatuor Van Kuijk burst upon the international scene a decade ago when they made a clean sweep of the top prizes at the 2015 Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition, winning the First Prize as well as the prizes for the best Beethoven and Haydn interpretations. Similar success followed at the Trondheim International Chamber Music Competition, where they won the Audience Prize as well as the First Prize. They went on to become laureates of the Aix-en-Provence Festival Academy, BBC New Generation Artists of 2015-2017, and ECHO Rising Stars for the 2017/18 season, one of the most prestigious of the German chamber-music awards.

Since then, the Quatuor Van Kuijk has become an established presence at major international venues including the Philharmonie de Paris, Auditorium du Louvre, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, and Salle Gaveau, Paris; the Tonhalle, Zurich; Wiener Konzerthaus and Musikverein, Vienna; Royal Concertgebouw, Amsterdam; the Philharmonie in Berlin; and Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, among many others. Upcoming tours will see the quartet make highly anticipated debuts at the Carnegie Hall in New York City, Sydney Opera House, and Shanghai Symphony Hall. 

The Quatuor Van Kuijk records exclusively for Alpha Classics. Their debut recording of Mozart was released to outstanding critical acclaim, winning the Choc de Classica, Diapason d’or découverte awards of the two leading French Classical music reviews. Following celebrated discs of Debussy, Ravel, and Schubert, they return their exploration of Mozart with two further releases this season. The first features the Quartets K. 421 and K. 387, and the second presents the Quintets K. 515 and K. 516 with violist Adrien La Marca. The Van Kuijk Quartet is supported by Pirastro and Spedidam, and is grateful to Anima Music Foundation and Mécénat Musical Société Générale for their sponsorships.

 

 

Thursday 10 April 2025, 7:30pm
Peterhouse Theatre, Trumpington St, Cambridge CB2 1RD

VÍKINGUR ÓLAFSSON, piano

Generously sponsored by Mr Dilip Chandra
Beethoven
Sonata in E, Op. 109
Beethoven
Sonata in A-flat, Op. 110
Beethoven
Sonata in C minor, Op. 111

Hailed by The Economist in 2020 as the pianistic superstar who 'is revitalising Classical music', Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson has made a profound impact with his remarkable combination of musicianship at the highest level and visionary programmes. His recordings for Deutsche Grammophon – Philip Glass Piano Works (2017), Johann Sebastian Bach (2018), Debussy Rameau (2020), Mozart & Contemporaries (2021) From Afar (2022), and J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations (2023) – captured the public and critical imagination and have led to streams of over 600 million.

Ólafsson dedicated his entire 2023-24 season to a Goldberg Variations world tour, performing the work across six continents throughout the year, and bringing Bach’s masterpiece to major concert halls including London’s Southbank Centre, New York’s Carnegie Hall, Wiener Konzerthaus, Philharmonie de Paris, Tokyo’s Suntory Hall, Harpa Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House, Walt Disney Hall, Sala São Paulo, Shanghai Symphony Hall, Tonhalle Zurich, Philharmonie Berlin, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, and the Alte Oper Frankfurt, to name but a few.

Now one of the most sought-after artists of today, Ólafsson’s multiple awards include CoScan’s International Nordic Person of the Year (2023), the Rolf Schock Prize for Music (2022), Gramophone magazine’s Artist of the Year (2019), Opus Klassik Solo Recording Instrumental (twice), Album of the Year at the BBC Music Magazine Awards (2019), and most recently, Ólafsson was presented with the Opus Klassik Instrumentalist of the Year award at the annual ceremony in Berlin. A captivating communicator both on and off stage, Ólafsson’s significant talent extends to broadcast, having presented several of his own series for television and radio. He was Artist in Residence for three months on BBC Radio 4’s flagship arts programme, Front Row, and broadcast live during lockdown from an empty Harpa Concert Hall in Reykjavík, reaching millions of listeners around the world.

 

Tuesday 29 April 2025, 7:30pm
West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge CB3 9DP

CHRISTIAN GERHAHER, baritone • GEROLD HUBER, piano

Generously sponsored by Mr Julian Metherell
Schumann
Liederkreis [Song Cycle], Op. 24
Schumann
Aus dem Liederbuch eines Malers [From the Songbook of a Painter], Op. 36
INTERVAL
Schumann
Romanzen und Balladen [Romances and Ballads] Book II, Op. 49
Schumann
Dichterliebe [A Poet's Love], Op. 48

German-born baritone Christian Gerhaher is widely acknowledged as among the finest singers performing today. His exemplary song interpretations with Gerold Huber have set new standards for the German Lied and their recordings have repeatedly won prizes — among them The Gramophone Classical Music Award 2015, and one of Germany's most prestigious awards, the Opus Klassik Award for 2019 as 'Male Singer of the Year'. He can be heard on the stages of major international recital centres, among them Carnegie Halle New York, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, and the Cologne and Berlin Philharmonie. He is a frequent guest in the Konzerthaus and the Musikverein in Vienna as well as in the Wigmore Hall in London; and a regular guest at the Edinburgh and Lucerne Festivals as well as the Salzburg Festival.

Besides his principal activity giving concerts and recitals, Christian Gerhaher is also a highly sought-after performer on the opera stage and has received numerous prizes for his work in music drama, among the Laurence Olivier Award and the theatre prize Der Faust. Under Riccardo Muti, he sang Papageno in a production of The Magic Flute at the Salzburg Festival, and his roles range from Don Giovanni to Alban Berg’s Wozzeck (for the Zurich Opera House). In June and July 2019, he will appear in the Royal Opera House's production of Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro. His partnerships with conductors include some of the most distinguished names of the last thirty years, among them Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Sir Simon Rattle, Herbert Blomstedt, Mariss Jansons, Bernard Haitink and Christian Thielemann. He records exclusively for Sony Music.

Munich-born pianist Gerold Huber studied with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and has worked with Christian Gerhaher since their schooldays together. In the role of Lied pianist he regularly appears at festivals such as Schubertiade Schwarzenberg, Schwetzingen Festival and Rheingau Music Festival and major venues including Philharmonie Cologne, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Konzerthaus and Musikverein in Vienna, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Wigmore Hall London, Großes Festspielhaus Salzburg, Lincoln Center and Armory or Carnegie hall in New York and Musée d'Orsay in Paris.

Gerold Huber’s activities as a soloist focus on the works of Bach, Beethoven, Brahms and Schubert, and in recent years he has given a series of highly acclaimed master classes, at Yale University, the Aldeburgh and Schwetzingen Festivals. Gerold Huber is also artistic director of the music festival, Pollinger Tage: Alter und Neuer Musik.

 

Saturday 31 May 2025, 7:30pm
West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge CB3 9DP

EMANUEL AX, piano

Beethoven
Sonata quasi una fantasia in E-flat, Op. 27 No. 1
Corigliano
Fantasia on an ostinato (1985)
Beethoven
Sonata quasi una fantasia in C-sharp minor, Op. 27 No. 2, ‘Moonlight Sonata’
INTERVAL
Schumann
Arabesque in C, Op. 18
Schumann
Fantasie in C, Op. 17

Born to Polish parents in what is today Lviv, Ukraine, Emanuel Ax is one of the most revered of all pianists performing internationally today. He moved to Winnipeg, Canada, with his family when he was a young boy and was early recognized as an artist of prodigious musical gifts. He made his New York debut in the Young Concert Artists Series, and in 1974 won the first Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Competition in Tel Aviv. The following year he won the Michaels Award for Young Concert Artists, followed four years later by the Avery Fisher Prize.

Recent performances have included concerts with the Colorado, Pacific, Cincinnati and Houston Symphony Orchestras, as well as the Minnesota, Los Angeles, New York Philadelphia and Cleveland Orchestras. His 2022/23 season included a tour with violinist Itzhak Perlman ‘and Friends’ and a continuation of the ‘Beethoven for Three’ touring and recording project he has with partners violinist Leonidas Kavakos and cellist Yo-Yo Ma.

Emanuel Ax has been a Sony Classical exclusive recording artist since 1987 and following the success of the Brahms Trios he recorded with Leonidas Kavakos and Yo-Yo Ma, the trio launched an ambitious, multi-year project to record all the Beethoven Trios and Symphonies arranged for trio, of which the first two discs have recently been released. He has received Grammy® Awards for the second and third volumes of his cycle of Haydn’s piano Sonatas. He has also made a series of Grammy-winning recordings with cellist Yo-Yo Ma of the Beethoven and Brahms sonatas for cello and piano.

Emanuel Ax is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and holds honorary doctorates of music from Skidmore College, New England Conservatory of Music, Yale University, and Columbia University.