Raskin and Fleishman

The Austrian Embassy Nicosia, in collaboration with the Municipalities of Limassol and Pafos and Pafos2017, presents two piano and violin recitals with the renowned Austrian Duo Raskin & Fleischmann. The concerts will take place at Rialto Theatre in Limassol on Monday, 15 September 2014 and at Markideio Theatre on Wednesday, 17 September 2014. Both performances will begin at 08:30pm. The concerts will include works by Ludwig van Beethoven, Christoph Ehrenfellner and Richard Strauss.

All proceeds will be donated to the Municipal Social Markets of Limassol and Paphos.

Programme:
Ludwig van Beethoven - Violin Sonata No. 5 in F major, Op. 24, - „Springsonata“
Christoph Ehrenfellner - Matsushima Fantasy, Op. 21
Richard Strauss - Violin Sonata in E flat major, Op. 18

About Raskin & Fleischmann:

Johannes Fleischmann and Philippe Raskin met in August 2009 during the Pablo Casals Festival in Prades. A year later, they gave their first performance together, collaborating as a duo in Vienna (November 2010) and since then have performed many concerts in Europe, Africa and South America.

Raskin & Fleischmann have undertaken many festivals and are supported by many well known musicians and pedagogic figures including Hatto Beyerle (Alban Berg Quartet), Johannes Meissl (Artis Quartet), Evgenia Epshtein (Aviv Quartet), Erich Höbarth (Quatuor Mosaïque), Marta Gulyas, Avedis Kouyoumdjian and Andras Keller (Keller Quartet).

In November 2011, they release their first debut album that features works by Beethoven, Brahms and Franck to much critical acclaim - «Magnificent duo (...), the first offering his round, gleaming and orchestral playing to the lyricism of the second - of whom we will underline as well the perfect intonation and the bright sonorities» (MDM, La Libre Belgique 2013).

Contemporary music is an extremely important aspect to their program which have led to several performances of world premiers. Raskin & Fleischmann regularly work with composers such as Serkan Gürkan and Christoph Ehrenfellner, who have dedicated the works «Mein Wien» and «Jagd Sonata» to them respectively.

The upcoming season 2013-2014 features among others, a concert tour in Colombia, Japan, in the Musikverein-Wien and as a special highlight - the recording of a new CD with works by Mozart, Korngold and Ehrenfellner. In addition, they were also selected by the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs as ambassadors for the NASOM «New Austrian Sound of Music» Program in 2014-2015.

Born in Brussels in 1982, Philippe Raskin obtained his first degree with the highest honours from the Royal Conservatorium of Brussels where he studied under Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden. He then joined the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel and graduated with the highest honours, and received his Masters degree from the the Brussels Conservatorium. Subsequently, he entered the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofia in Madrid where he worked from 2005 till 2009 with Dmitri Bashkirov and Claudio Martinez Mehner. As early as the first year, he received from H.M the Queen of Spain the Sobresaliente Prize at the Pardo Palace. Raskin has won several national and international competitions, among others the J.S. Bach Competition in Brussels, the International Piano Competition in Paris, and the International Andre Dumortier Competition. In 2012, he became Prizewinner at the Lyon International Piano Competition and First Prize-winner at the “Spanish Composers” International Piano Competition in Madrid. Philippe Raskin has played in several illustrious concert halls, such as the Palais des Beaux-Arts inBrussels, the Concertgebouw in Bruges, the Auditorio Nacional in Madrid and the Bulgari Hall in Sofia. At the invitation of the Chopin Foundation in Warsaw he had the opportunity to play in the house where the composer was born. Philippe regularly plays with orchestra, notably the Belgian National Orchestra, the Philharmonic Sofia Orchestra, the Flemish Radio Orchestra, de Filarmonie, the Music Chapel of Tournai, the Chamber Orchestra of Wallonia, the Sturm und Klank Orchestra, the Orquesta Filarmonica de Malaga and the Symfonie Orkest Vlaanderen conducted by Damian Lorio, Dian Tchobanov, Pierre Bartholomée, Philippe Gérard, Olari Elts, Paul Goodwin, David Angus and Manuel Valdivieso.

Born in Vienna in 1983, Johannes Fleischmann is the son of the famous singing teacher Margit Klaushofer. At a young age, he entered the Wiener Universität für Musik and workedwith Klaus Maetzi and Christian Altenburger. He also worked with other famous teachers such as Andras Schiff, Erich Hoebarth, Rainer Honeck, Marianne Piketty, Mauricio Fuks and many others. Johannes gives concerts in solo, chamber music and with orchestra all over the world. He especially played in the Wiener Philharmoniker and the Wiener Symphoniker conducted by prestigious conductors such as Riccardo Muti, Valery Gergiev, Simon Rattle, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Daniel Barenboim and Sir Colin Davis. He also played in the world most renowned halls: Carnegie Hall in New York, Musikverein in Vienna, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, Barbican Hall in London, La Scala in Milan, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, Berliner Philharmonie, and many others. Johannes Fleischmann has participated in many international festivals such as the Salzburger Festspiele, the Luzern Festival, the Europäischen Kulturtagen Frankfurt, the Attersee Klassik and the Steirischen Kammermusik Festival.