Dörken - Schroeder - Kloeckner

Having prepared an exciting programme to mark the new season, the Pharos Arts Foundation welcomes 2020 on Tuesday 21 January, at The Shoe Factory, Nicosia / 8:30pm, with a piano trio concert with pianist Danae Dörken, violinist Wolfgang Schröder and cellist Benedict Kloeckner. Called “the discovery of the year” by Crescendo classical music, Danae Dörken is one of the most internationally acclaimed pianists of her generation, electrifying the audiences with her stunning technical skills, exceptional charisma and great profundity of her musicianship. Championed by such maestros as Daniel Barenboim (“Remarkable, really remarkable, perfect playing!”) and Sir Simon Rattle (“I really love his playing”), Benedict Kloeckner is a highly regarded representative of the new generation of cellists, a great voice for his instrument, which he performs worldwide. The two artists will join forces with the charismatic and very well-known to Cyprus audiences violinist Wolfgang Schröder, in a programme of piano trios by Schubert, Schumann and Ravel.

PROGRAMME:

Robert Schumann: Six Pieces in Canonic Form Op.56
Claude Debussy: Piano Trio in G major
Franz Schubert: Piano Trio No.1 in B-flat major, D.898

DANAE DÖRKEN piano

Called “the discovery of the year” by Crescendo classical music magazine, German-Greek pianist Danae Dörken is one of the most internationally acclaimed artists of the new generation, electrifying the audiences with her stunning technical skills, exceptional charisma and great profundity of her musicianship.

Her unique talent was evidenced early on, when at the age of seven, Danae received the support of Yehudi Menuhin and subsequently causing a stir at major European venues. Following her studies with the internationally venerated professor Karl-Heinz Kämmerling and Lars Vogt, she has appeared with major orchestras including the Munich Symphony Orchestra, Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Dusseldorf Symphony Orchestra, Las Vegas Philharmonic, the Norrlandsoperan Symphony Orchestra, the Antalya Symphony Orchestra and the Residenz Orchester Mark Brandenburg.

Danae Dörken has performed to great critical acclaim at London’s Wigmore Hall, the Vienna Konzerthaus, Mozarteum Salzburg, KKL Lucerne, the Cologne Philharmonie, Philharmonie Essen, Konzerthaus Berlin, Staatstheater Darmstadt, the Elbphilharmonie and Laeiszhalle Hamburg, Tonhalle Dusseldorf, Frankfurt Alte Oper, Bozar in Brussels, Museum Villa Rot and Beethoven-Haus Bonn. Dörken participates regularly in important festivals such as Kissinger Sommer, Lucerne, Lugano, PianoEspoo Festival in Finland, Schleswig-Holstein Musikfestival, Schwetzingen, Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, ‘Spannungen’ festival in Heimbach, Festival Piano aux Jacobins in Toulouse, Rheingau Musik Festival.

Being a passionate chamber musician, she has performed together with leading artists such as Lars Vogt, Gustav Rivinius, Sharon Kam, Artur Pizarro, Christiane Oelze, Carolin Widmann and Katia & Marielle Labèque. Together with her sister pianist Kiveli Dörken, Danae founded the Molyvos International Music Festival (MIMF) in 2015 and the two of them regularly present outstanding four-hand piano programmes throughout the world. Together with oboist Philippe Tondre, Danae Dörken performed recently-discovered masterworks in a SWR Stuttgart Radio production.

Danae Dörken’s ground-breaking recording of the Piano Concerto No.21 by Mozart and of the rarely performed Piano Concerto No.2 by Mendelssohn (with Royal Northern Sinfonia) was released in 2016, to raving critical acclaim. Previously, her solo recording of fantasies by Schumann, Schubert und C.P.E. Bach (on ARS Produktion) was nominated for an International Classical Music Award (ICMA). Her 2012 debut CD, featuring solo works by Leoš Janáček (also on ARS Produktion), received equally enthusiastic reviews.

WOLFGANG SCHRÖDER violin

“…wonderfully elevated quality of Wolfgang Schröder’s violin…” The Strad

At the early age of 17, Wolfgang Schröder won the first prize at the German state competition Jugend musiziert (Youth makes Music) and subsequently a scholarship at the International Menuhin Music Academy (IMMA). He has performed together with Yehudi Menuhin and Alberto Lysy, both as a soloist and a chamber musician, all over the world, including the Barbican Center in London and Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires. After graduating from IMMA, he continued his studies at the Mozarteum University of Music in Salzburg under Prof. Sandor Vegh, and thereafter at the Mannes School of Music in New York under Prof. Aaron Rosand.

Wolfgang Schröder has appeared as a soloist with numerous orchestras, including, the Bavarian Chamber Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra, Czech Symphony Orchestra, Basel Chamber Orchestra, Salzburg Chamber Philharmonic and Camerata Salzburg, Nuremberg Symphony, Cairo Symphony Orchestra. He was also the Artistic Director of the European Community Chamber Orchestra (ECCO) from 1993-1995 and has performed a number of highly acclaimed concert tours worldwide. He has collaborated with conductors like Vladimir Ashkenazy, Andrey Boreko, Daniel Raiskin, Simon Gaudenz, to name but a few.

As an active chamber musician, he founded, in 1992, the Belcanto String Trio and from 1996 to 2005, he regularly performed as the violinist of the Trio Parnassus, which – in 2001 – received the prestigious Echo Classic Award for their recording of the complete Schumann piano trios. As a soloist and chamber musician Wolfgang Schröder has appeared in venues such as the Philharmonie in Berlin, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Vienna Konzerthaus, Lincoln Center in New York, the Frick Collection Museum in New York, the Wigmore Hall and the Barbican Hall in London, Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, and the Athens Megaron.

Wolfgang Schröder has made recordings for MDG, Divox, Ars Production, Thorofon, Symicon and CPO labels. Since 1998 he has been Artistic Director of the Camerata Stuttgart, and since 2005, the First Concertmaster of the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra. He plays on a violin by Jean Baptist Vuillaume from 1857.

BENEDICT KLOECKNER cello

Championed by such maestros as Daniel Barenboim (“Remarkable, really remarkable, perfect playing!”) and Sir Simon Rattle (“I really loved his playing”), Benedict Kloeckner is a highly regarded representative of the new generation of cellists, a great voice for his instrument, which he performs worldwide.

Kloeckner has appeared as a soloist with renowned orchestras including the Royal Philharmonic, German Radio Philharmonic Orchestras, the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, the NDR and Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestras, the Kremerata Baltica, Slovak Radio Orchestra, Slovak National Orchestra, Munich Chamber Orchestra, Prague Chamber Orchestra, Korean Chamber Orchestra, Rheinische Philharmonie and the Philharmonic Orchestras of Russia, Poland and Buenos Aires, under the baton of conductors such as Christoph Eschenbach, Howard Griffiths, Ingo Metzmacher, Michael Sanderling, Daniel Raiskin, Karl Heinz Steffens, Christoph Poppen and Heinrich Schiff.

Benedict Kloeckner appears regularly in major venues such as Berliner Philharmonie, Carnegie Hall in New York, Symphony Hall in Chicago, Kennedy Center in Washington, Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, Tonhalle Zurich, Cadogan Hall and Barbican Centre in London, Athenäum Bucharest, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Musikverein Wien and Seoul Arts Center.

A keen chamber musician, Benedict Kloeckner joins forces with leading artists such as Sir András Schiff, Anne Sophie Mutter, Emmanuel Ax, Anna Fedorova, Gidon Kremer, Antoine Tamestit, the Carducci and Kuss String Quartets, Fazil Say, Lisa Batiashvili, Yuri Bashmet, to name but a few. Since 2014, Benedict Kloeckner is the Founder and Artistic Director of the International Music Festival Koblenz presenting high level chamber music concerts with artists such as Vilde Frang, Tianwa Yang, Boris Giltburg and the Georgian and Munich Chamber orchestras. Benedict Kloeckner also collaborates with contemporary composers, including Eric Tanguy, Wolfgang Rihm, Eun-Hwa Cho and Howard Blake, who composed a cello sonata for him – in celebration of his 75th birthday, Howard Blake invited Kloeckner to record his entire repertoire for cello and piano, with him on the piano, for the Genuin label in cooperation with the SWR.

Kloeckner’s discography includes a highly acclaimed recording of Schumann’s Cello Concerto, which was nominated for the German Record Critics Prize, and collaborations with Gidon Kremer, conductors Heinrich Schiff and Michael Sanderling, pianists José Gallardo and Anna Fedorova. Future recordings include a CD with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and a recital CD with Danae Dörken.

Benedict Kloeckner studied with Martin Ostertag, and as a young soloist of the Kronberg Academy Masters with Frans Helmerson and Gary Hoffman. He plays an Italian cello by Francesco Rugeri (Cremona 1680) kindly on loan to him by the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben.

Tickets:
€15 / €10 Concessions & members of the Pharos Arts Foundation,
Box Office: Directly from the Foundation’s website www.pharosartsfoundation.org/Tickets_online.htm or Tel. +35722663871 / (Monday - Friday 10:00am-3:00pm)