Leipzig Quartet and Christian Zacharias
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Date
- 20:00 / Cancelled 20:00 / Sold out Thursday, 20:00
Location
Grand Auditorium Calouste Gulbenkian FoundationPricing
25% – Under 30
10% – Over 65
Cartão Gulbenkian:
50% – Under 30
20% – Over 65
10% – 30 to 65
- Stefan Arzberger Violin
- Tilman Büning Violin
- Ivo Bauer Viola
- Peter Bruns Cello
- Piano
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Leipzig Quartet
The Leipzig Quartet has become one of the most sought-after and versatile ensembles of this genre in the 37 years of its existence. Founded in 1988, three of its members were active in the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra until they left the orchestra in 1993 upon completing intensive studies with Gerhard Bosse and Karl Suske in Leipzig, the Amadeus Quartet in London and Cologne, Hatto Beyerle in Hanover and Walter Levin in Lübeck. From then on, they devoted themselves exclusively to the art of chamber music.
Since then, the ensemble has received numerous international honors and awards. In 1991, they won the prestigious international ARD competition in Munich and the Brüder Busch Prize. The following year the ensemble was awarded the Siemens Music Prize, and also received a scholarship from the Amadeus Scholarship Fund and the Stiftung Kulturfonds.
For more than 25 years, the ensemble arranged its own concert series “Pro Quatuor” in Leipzig. In addition, they are regularly invited to perform at renowned festivals in over 40 European countries, as well as in the United States and South America, Australia, Japan, Israel, Africa and Asia. The ensemble keeps an active concert schedule.
Longstanding collaborations with musical partners have enriched the ensemble’s repertoire over many years. These collaborations include clarinetist Karl Leister, cellist Michael Sanderling, violists Barbara Buntrock and Hartmut Rohde, pianists Alfred Brendel, Menahem Pressler, Andreas Staier and Christian Zacharias, sopranos Juliane Banse and Christiane Oelze, baritone Olaf Bär as well as the “King of Klezmer”, Giora Feidman.
Since 1992, the ensemble records its extensive repertoire on CD exclusively for the company Musikproduktion Dabringhaus und Grimm. These include complete recordings of works by Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and the entire Second Viennese School.
To date, the ensemble has released around 100 recordings, which are highly acclaimed by international critics and have received numerous awards, such as the Diapason d‘Or, the Premios CD-Compact, the Indie Award and five ECHO-Klassik Prizes.
Another important focus has always been the work with contemporary composers – this has resulted in numerous world premieres of works by Beat Furrer, Jörg Widmann, Wolfgang Rihm, Steffen Schleiermacher, Christian Ofenbauer, Siegfried Thiele, Bernd Franke, Cristóbal Halffter and many others.
Invited by Claudio Abbado, the LSQ served as a member of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra for ten years and held a fellowship at Tokyo University of the Art (Geidai) for many years.
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Christian Zacharias
Piano
Zacharias is a narrator among the conductors and pianists of his generation. In each of his elaborate, detailed and clearly articulated interpretations, it's clear what is important to him: Zacharias is interested in what lies behind the notes.
With a unique combination of integrity and individuality, brilliant linguistic expressiveness, deep musical understanding, and a sure artistic instinct, paired with his charismatic and engaging artistic personality, Christian Zacharias has established himself not only as a world-class conductor and pianist, but also as a musical thinker. Numerous acclaimed concerts with the world's best orchestras and outstanding conductors as well as multiple honors and recordings characterize his international career.
Since 2021/2022 Christian Zacharias is Principal Guest Conductor at the Orquesta Ciudad de Granada. He is also Associate Conductor of the Orchestre National Auvergne Rhône-Alpes. Zacharias has also been associated for many years with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and the Orquestra Sinfonica Do Porto Casa da Musica and performs regularly with the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, the Orchestre National du Toulouse, the Frankfurt Opera and Museum Orchestra, the Poznań Philharmonic, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo as well as the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. Furthermore, he is a welcome guest at the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, the Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra as well as the National Orchestra of Lyon.
Piano recitals, which are rare exceptions to his full schedule these days, have taken him to major European cities—including Paris, London, Madrid, and Frankfurt—as well as to prestigious festivals such as the Schubertiade, La Roque d’Anthéron and Piano aux Jacobins in Toulouse. In addition to recitals, Zacharias offers his audience impressive musical insights in piano lectures on topics such as From Couperin to Poulenc, From Madrigals to Edith Piaf, Why does Schubert sound like Schubert? or Haydn, a Creation from Nothing?.
A particular fondness of opera has led to him directing productions of Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito and The Marriage of Figaro, as well as Offenbach's La Belle Hélène. The production of Nicolai's The Merry Wives of Windsor, which he conducted at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie in Liège, was awarded the Prix de l’Europe Francophone 2014 by the Association Professionnelle de la Critique Théâtre, Musique et Danse in Paris.
Since 1990, the following films have been produced featuring Christian Zacharias: Domenico Scarlatti in Seville, Robert Schumann - the Poet Speaks (both for INA, Paris), Zwischen Bühne und Künstlerzimmer (for WDR-arte), De B comme Beethoven à Z comme Zacharias (for RTS, Switzerland) and the complete Beethoven piano concertos (for SSR-arte).
The musical work of Zacharias has been honored many times, for example with the Midem Classical Award Artist of the Year 2007, the Officier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of the French state and a tribute from Romania for his services to culture. In addition, he was appointed a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music in 2016, and in 2017 received an honorary doctorate from the University of Gothenburg.
Numerous internationally acclaimed recordings were made during his time as Principal Conductor of the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra. Particularly noteworthy are the recordings of all Schumann symphonies and the complete Mozart piano concertos which were awarded the Diapason d'Or de l’Année, Choc du Monde de la Musique and ECHO KLASSIK. In 2022/2023 two solo albums with sonatas by Haydn as well as partitas and suites by Bach were finally released by MDG after a long pause.
Niels Wilhelm Gade
String Quartet in F major, “Welcome and Farewell” (Willkommen und Abschied)
Johannes Brahms
String Quartet No. 2 in A minor, op. 51 no. 2
— Intermission of 20 min. —Robert Schumann
Piano Quintet in E flat major, op. 44
Total approximate duration: 110 min.
For more than two decades, the Leipzig Quartet and pianist Christian Zacharias have developed an amazing artistic partnership, which has taken them to the world’s biggest stages and has been imprinted on unmissable recordings. Together for one last time on this farewell tour – Zacharias is stepping away from the piano and devoting himself to his acclaimed career as a conductor – this is a unique opportunity to see one of the most captivating string quartets and one of today’s most talented pianists collaborate.
Sponsor Gulbenkian Music
The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation reserves the right to collect and keep records of images, sounds and voice for the diffusion and preservation of the memory of its cultural and artistic activity. For further information, please contact us through the Information Request form.
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