Past Concerts 2011 to the present (click the year, below right, to navigate back from the most recent)

« 2018 — 2019 — 2020 »
Saturday 7 December 2019, 5:00pm
Peterhouse Theatre (please note early start)

KRISTIAN BEZUIDENHOUT, fortepiano - Beethoven 250th (1770-2020)

Generously sponsored by Mr Dilip Chandra

PLEASE NOTE THE EARLIER START TIME OF 5:00 PM

 

Beethoven
Rondo No.1 in C and No. 2 in G, Op. 51
Beethoven
Sonata in D minor, Op. 31, No. 2, ‘The Tempest’
Beethoven
Sonata in D, Op. 10, No. 3
Beethoven
Sonata in C minor, Op. 13, ‘Pathétique’

Kristian Bezuidenhout is one of today’s most notable and exciting keyboard artists, equally at home on the fortepiano, harpsichord, and modern piano. Born in South Africa in 1979 and now resident in London, he first gained international recognition at the age of 21 after winning the prestigious first prize, and audience prize in the Bruges Fortepiano Competition. Kristian Bezuidenhout is a regular guest with the world’s leading ensembles including the Freiburger Barockorchester, Les Arts Florissants, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Orchestre des Champs Elysées, Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest, Chicago Symphony Orchestra & the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester; and has guest-directed (from the keyboard) the English Concert, Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, Tafelmusik, Collegium Vocale, Juilliard 415 and the Kammerakademie Potsdam, & Dunedin Consort (Bach St. Matthew Passion).

He has performed with celebrated artists including John Eliot Gardiner, Philippe Herreweghe, Frans Brüggen, Trevor Pinnock, Giovanni Antonini, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Isabelle Faust, Alina Ibragimova, Rachel Podger, Carolyn Sampson, Anne Sofie von Otter, Mark Padmore & Matthias Goerne.

Kristian's rich and award-winning discography on Harmonia Mundi includes the complete keyboard music of Mozart (Diapason d’Or de L’année, Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik, & Caecilia Prize); Mozart Violin Sonatas with Petra Müllejans; Mendelssohn and Mozart Piano Concertos with the Freiburger Barockorchester (ECHO Klassik); Beethoven, & Mozart Lieder, and Schumann Dichterliebe with Mark Padmore (Edison Award). In 2013 he was nominated as Gramophone Magazine’s Artist of the Year. Recent releases include Volume 2 of Mozart Piano Concertos with the Freiburger Barockorchester.

For this concert, Kristian Bezuidenhout plays a Broadwood grand piano made in late 1816 . The instrument is identical in design and technical specification to Beethoven's own piano in his later years, a Broadwood grand piano made shortly after the instrument played in this concert, which was despatched by John Broadwood to Beethoven in Vienna in December 1817.

Camerata Musica and the Master and Fellows of Peterhouse record their gratitude to Mr Dilip Chandra and Mr Fred Shahrabani, whose generosity has made the acquisition and restoration of this historic instrument possible.

 

Thursday 28 November 2019, 5:15pm
Peterhouse Theatre

Public Lecture PROFESSOR TIM BLANNING, FBA

To mark the upcoming 250th anniversary of the composer's birth in 1770

 

BEETHOVEN

and the German Nation

Beethoven’s genius was so bright that it would have shone forth in any day or age. Yet his impact on both his immediate contemporaries and posterity was greatly magnified by developments beyond his control. Using music, images and video clips, Tim Blanning shows how Beethoven benefited from being the right person in the right place at the right time.

Tim Blanning is the author of a number of major works on eighteenth century Europe, including The Pursuit of Glory : Europe 1648-1815, The Culture of Power and the Power of Culture and Joseph II. He is Emeritus Professor of Modern European History at the University of Cambridge, a Fellow of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge and a Fellow of the British Academy. His latest book, Frederick the Great, won the British Academy Medal 2016.

The lecture will be followed by a drinks reception in the Lubbock Room, Peterhouse, to 7:15 pm.

TICKETS ARE WITHOUT CHARGE, but should be booked online via the link above.

 

Friday 8 November 2019, 7:30pm
West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge

CUARTETO CASALS & ALEXANDER MELNIKOV, piano

Vera Martínez Mehner, violin

Abel Tomàs, violin

Jonathan Brown, viola

Arnau Tomàs, cello

 

Mozart
Quartet in B-flat, K. 589
Beethoven
Quartet in F minor, Op. 95, ‘Quartetto serioso’
Brahms
Piano Quintet in F minor, Op. 34

‘A quartet for the new millennium if I ever heard one’, wrote a reviewer for Strad Magazine on hearing Cuarteto Casals for the first time, shortly after its inception in 1997 at the Escuela Reina Sofía in Madrid. Since its debut, Cuarteto Casals has been a repeated guest at the world’s most festivals and prestigious concert halls including Wigmore Hall, Carnegie Hall, Musikverein Vienna, Philharmonie Cologne, Cité de la Musique Paris, Schubertiade festival in Schwarzenberg, Concertgebouw Amsterdam and the Philharmonie in Berlin, among many others throughout Europe, North America and Japan. This summer, they share a stage at the Salzburg Festival with the pianist Igor Levit, who played for Camerata Musica Cambridge last term.

The quartet has compiled a substantial discography with the Harmonia Mundi label, including to date eleven CDs, with repertoire ranging from the lesser known Spanish composers Arriaga and Toldrá to the Viennese classics Mozart, Haydn, and Schubert, and on to Brahms, and the 20th-Century greats: Bartók, Kurtág and Ligeti. Since 2015, the quartet has been recording its first Beethoven CDs, and has released a five-DVD set of the compelete Schubert quartets, recorded live at L’Auditori in Barcelona in 2013.

It has ‘a sonic signature entirely its own,’ enthused the New York Times, describing Cuarteto Casals’ distinctive range of expression. In recognition of Cuarteto Casals’ unique position as the first Spanish string quartet with a truly international profile, the quartet has been honoured with Spain’s Premio Nacional de Música as well as the Premi Ciutat Barcelona. The quartet has accompanied the King of Spain on diplomatic visits, and often performed on the peerless collection of decorated Stradivarius instruments in the Royal Palace in Madrid. Cuarteto Casals often appears on television and radio throughout Europe and North America and is Quartet in Residence at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz, Cologne, and at the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya in Barcelona, where all four members reside. 

 

Alexander Melnikov graduated from the Moscow Conservatory and his career was much influenced by an early encounter with Sviatoslav Richter, who thereafter regularly invited him to festivals in Russia and France. As a soloist, Melnikov has performed with orchestras including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, and the Philadelphia Orchestra, among others, and under conductors such as Mikhail Pletnev, Charles Dutoit, and Valery Gergiev.  His recording of the complete Preludes and Fugues by Shostakovich was named by the BBC Music Magazine as one of the ‘50 Greatest Recordings of All Time’.  His superlative recording of the Schumann Piano Concerto with the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra was a Gramophone ‘Editor’s Choice’ for 2015.

Tuesday 15 October 2019, 7:30pm
Peterhouse Theatre

CHRISTIAN GERHAHER, baritone, & GEROLD HUBER, piano

Generously sponsored by Mr Julian Metherell
Mahler
Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (1885)
Mahler
Des Knaben Wunderhorn (1887-1901)
Mahler
Kindertotenlieder (1904)

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. 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 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.

Wednesday 8 May 2019, 7:30pm
Peterhouse Theatre

PIOTR ANDERSZEWSKI, piano

Please note a further change of programme, as of 3 May.

Bach
Well-Tempered Clavier, Book II, Prelude and Fugue in E-flat, BWV 876
Bach
Well-Tempered Clavier, Book II, Prelude and Fugue in A-flat, BWV 886
Bach
Well-Tempered Clavier, Book II, Prelude and Fugue in G-sharp minor, BWV 887
Schumann
Sieben Klavierstücke in Fughettenform, Op. 126
Beethoven
Diabelli Variations, Op. 120

Piotr Anderszewski is widely regarded as one of the very greatest pianists performing today. In recent seasons he has given recitals at London’s Barbican Centre and Royal Festival Hall, the Wiener Konzerthaus, Carnegie Hall New York and the Mariinsky Concert Hall in St Petersburg. His collaborations with orchestra have included appearances with the Vienna Philharmonic, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Chicago and London Symphony Orchestras, the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Orchestra of the Royal Concertgebouw.

Piotr Anderszewski has been an exclusive artist with Warner Classics-Erato (previously Virgin Classics) since 2000. His first recording for the label was Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations, which went on to receive a number of prizes including a Choc du Monde de la Musique and an ECHO Klassik award. He has also recorded a Grammy-nominated CD of Bach’s Partitas 1, 3 and 6 and a critically-acclaimed disc of works by Chopin. His affinity with the music of his compatriot Szymanowski is captured in a highly-praised recording of the composer’s solo piano works, which received the Classic FM Gramophone Award in 2006 for best instrumental disc. His recording devoted to solo works by Robert Schumann received an ECHO Klassik Award in 2011 and two BBC Music Magazine awards in 2012, including Recording of the Year. Anderszewski’s latest disc of Bach’s English Suites Nos. 1, 3 and 5 was released in November 2014, going on to win both a Gramophone award and an ECHO Klassik Award in 2015. 

Recognized for the intensity and originality of his interpretations, Piotr Anderszewski has been singled out for several high-profile awards throughout his career, including the prestigious Gilmore Award, given every four years to a pianist of exceptional talent. Recent appearances include a highly regarded performance of the Mozart Piano Concerto in C, K. 503, with the Vienna Philharmonic at the 2018 Salzburg Mozart Week, and recordings of this concerto and the Piano Concerto in B-flat, K. 595, with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, which was named as an ‘Editor’s Choice’ in The Gramophone magazine.

Tuesday 5 March 2019, 7:30pm
West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge CB3 9DP

Master Pianists V: ARCADI VOLODOS, West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge

Please note the change of programme (18 January 2019).

Schubert
Sonata in E, D. 157
Schubert
Moments musicaux, D. 780
Rachmaninov
Prelude in C-sharp minor, Op. 3 No. 2; Prelude in G-flat, Op. 23 No. 10; Prelude in B minor, Op. 32 No. 10, Romance, Op. 21 No. 7 (arr. Volodos); Serenade, Op. 3 No. 5; Étude-tableaux in C minor, Op. 33 No. 3
Scriabin
Mazurka, Op. 25 No. 3; Caresse dansée, Op. 57 No. 2; Enigme, Op. 52 No. 2; Deux danses, Op. 73
Scriabin
Vers la flamme, Op. 72

Born in St Petersburg in 1972, Arcadi Volodos is amongst the most sought-after pianists of our day. Since making his New York debut in 1996, Volodos has performed throughout the world in recital and with the most eminent orchestras and conductors. Since his Gramophone Award-winning debut recital at New York’s Carnegie Hall, released by Sony Classical in 1999, Arcadi Volodos has recorded a series of critically acclaimed albums. These include revelatory interpretations of Schubert sonatas and Rachmaninov solo pieces, and live performances with the Berliner Philharmoniker of Rachmaninov’s Third Piano Concerto, conducted by James Levine, and Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto, conducted by Seiji Ozawa. His Vienna Musikverein recital from 2010 was released on CD and DVD to rapturous international critical acclaim. Volodos Plays Brahms, released in April 2017 –  an album of thirteen piano pieces by Johannes Brahms, including Opus 117 and 118 and a selection of Op. 76 – was immediately considered a landmark on the music scene, and has since been awarded the Edison Classical Award and the Diapason d’Or.

He has worked with, among others, the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonia, the New York Philharmonic and Munich Philharmonic Orchestras, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Dresden Staatskapelle, Orchestre de Paris, Leipzig Gewandhausorchester, Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra, and the Boston and Chicago Symphony Orchestras, collaborating with conductors such as Myung-Whun Chung, Lorin Maazel, Valery Gergiev, James Levine, Zubin Mehta, Seiji Ozawa, , Paavo Järvi, Christoph Eschenbach, Semyon Bychkov and Riccardo Chailly.

Piano recitals have played a central role in Volodos’s artistic life since he began his career. His repertoire includes major works by Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Beethoven, Liszt, Rachmaninoff, Scriabin, Prokofiev and Ravel together with less often performed pieces by Mompou and de Falla. Volodos is a regular guest of the most prestigious concert halls of Europe and appears regularly in Berlin, Vienna, London, Amsterdam, Paris, Rome, Madrid, Zurich, Brussels, Munich as well as at the Klavierfestival Ruhr, the Festival La Roque d’Anthéron and the Salzburg Festival.

 

Saturday 2 February 2019, 7:30pm
Peterhouse Theatre

Master Pianists IV: LEON McCAWLEY

Beethoven
Sonata in E, Op. 109
Beethoven
Sonata in A-flat, Op. 110
Beethoven
Sonata in C minor, Op. 111

One of Britain’s foremost pianists, Leon McCawley has forged a highly successful career since winning First Prize in the 1993 International Beethoven Piano Competition in Vienna, building on his earlier success as Winner of the Piano Section of BBC Young Musician of the Year in 1990. Since then, McCawley’s impressive discography has established him as a pianist of great integrity and variety, bringing freshness and vitality to classical, romantic and twentieth-century repertoires. His recent CD of Haydn’s Sonatas and Variations for SOMM Recordings was awarded a Diapason d’Or in July 2017.

As a concerto soloist, McCawley performs with many of the world’s leading orchestras, among them the London Philharmonic, the Philharmonia, BBC Philharmonic, City of Birmingham Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Netherlands Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, St Petersburg Symphony and Vienna Symphony and has worked with conductors such as Sir Mark Elder, Daniele Gatti, Paavo Järvi, Andrew Litton, Kurt Masur, Gianandrea Noseda, Sakari Oramo, and Sir Simon Rattle.

McCawley’s discography includes Schumann piano music (Avie Records) selected as Editor’s Choice in The Gramophone; the complete Mozart Piano Sonatas (Avie), awarded a Diapason d’Or; Barber piano music (SOMM), awarded Critic’s Choice in The Gramophone in 2011; Brahms piano music (SOMM), selected as Classic FM ‘CD of the Week’ in 2012; Schumann Piano Music (SOMM); Rachmaninov’s complete Preludes (SOMM); and many other major works.

Saturday 19 January 2019, 7:30pm
Peterhouse Theatre

Master Pianists III: RAFAŁ BLECHACZ - SOLD OUT

Generously sponsored by Mr David Kitson
Mozart
Sonata in A minor, K. 310
Beethoven
Sonata in A, Op. 101
Schumann
Sonata in G minor, Op. 22
Chopin
Four Mazurkas, Op. 24
Chopin
Polonaise in A-flat, Op. 53

In October 2005, Rafał Blechacz emerged as the unquestioned winner of the 15th Frédéric Chopin International Piano Competition in Warsaw (to underscore his distinguished performance among the remaining Competition participants, the international jury decided not to award the 2nd prize). Since this triumph, Blechacz has built an impressive reputation as a pianist of exceptional intelligence and spontaneity, combining flawless technique with a highly distinctive sense of musical poetry.

He has performed in the world’s most renowned concert halls, among them the Royal Festival Hall and Wigmore Hall in London, the Berliner Philharmonie, the Herkulessaal in Munich, Alte Oper in Frankfurt-am-Main, Liederhalle in Stuttgart, Konzerthaus in Vienna, Tonhalle in Zurich, Victoria Hall in Geneva, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Salle Pleyel in Paris, Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, the Avery Fisher Hall in New York, La Scala in Milan, and Suntory Hall in Tokyo, to name but a few.

He has performed with some of the most distinguished orchestras under the direction of such conductors as Charles Dutoit, Valery Gergiev, Daniel Harding, Pavo Järvi, Fabio Luisi, Kent Nagano, Andris Nelsons, Viktor Pablo Perez, Trevor Pinnock, Mikhail Pletnev, Antoni Wit, and David Zinman.

Rafał Blechacz records exclusively for Deutsche Grammophon.