The three piano sonatas Waldstein, Appassionata and Les Adieux date from the middle of Beethovens career as a composer. He had fallen into a personal crisis due to his increasing deafness, and was writing major work expressing heroism and conflict. The Russian pianist Olga Pashchenko, praised as one of the most talented all-round pianists of the younger generation by the pianist Aleksander Melnikov, will give an enthralling performance on the fortepiano.

20 January, 2017 21:00 -- amuz

Mozarts 25th and 29th symphonies radiate pure Mozart, with rich, expressive melodies and an impressive orchestration that underline the genius and maturity of the composer, even at a young age. The clarity and light elegance of the galant style in which the symphonies are written contrasts with the dignified strictness of the Baroque. Bach Concentus juxtaposes Mozart with Anton Fils, a German composer and cellist who died in 1760 at the age of only 26, but who left behind an impressive repertoire of inventive, unrivalled symphonies.

22 January, 2017 15:00 -- amuz

The Abendmusiken were a legendary series of concerts that Buxtehude organised in Lübeck. Even J.S. Bach travelled a long way to attend these evenings of religious and instrumental music. The music composed especially for those occasions has been lost, but the cantatas that Vox Luminis and Ensemble Masques will perform at AMUZ must surely have been among the pieces heard there.

27 January, 2017 21:00 -- amuz

The talented young musicians of the European Union Baroque Orchestra & Barock Vokal Mainz conducted by Alfredo Bernardini present three cantatas by the great master J.S. Bach, of which two were written for the Christmas season. Liebster Immanuel, Herzog der Frommen was the finale in a series of three Christmas cantatas for the festival of Epiphany. Süßer Trost, mein Jesus kömmt was intended for the third day of Christmas.

28 January, 2017 21:00 -- amuz

The Euskal Barrokensemble paints a cosmopolitan picture of the culture of Euskel Herria the Basque people with their own identity, one of the oldest languages in the world, which is also one of the most difficult to classify, and a culture strongly influenced by Jewish, Islamic and Christian traditions. The little-known but fascinating repertoire of early Basque music has its roots in folk music and uses a highly characteristic set of instruments.

03 February, 2017 21:00 -- amuz

Beautiful productions often generate more beauty in turn. Veronika Skuplik and Kris Verhelst met in 2011 and have been involved in a range of musical projects since then. In November 2015, they performed at AMUZ with Bruce Dickey and Hana Blažíková, after which we immediately asked them to come back for this recital. The duo have a deep affinity with the musical sensitivity and virtuoso precision of the Italian style of music that spread across the continent, from Naples in the south as far as London in the north, in the first half of the 18th century.

05 February, 2017 15:00 -- amuz