Especially for this festival, the four musicians of the Salagon Quartett have taken up the challenge of playing late Romantic string quartets by composers clearly influenced by Brahms.

The String Quartet in D major, written in 1897, is the earliest of Schönbergs major works. Bathed in a pastoral atmosphere, this quartet clearly shows how Schönberg embraced Brahms compositional style. Schönbergs friend Alexander von Zemlinsky advised the self- taught composer on the quartet and even sent a draft of it to Brahms, already a legend in his own lifetime, who gave the piece his approval. Brahms influence is also still clear in the style and texture of Langsamer Satz, composed in 1909, even though Anton Webern would later become famous as one of the standard bearers of dodecaphony. Finally, Zemlinskys string quartet is proof of his ability to create his own idiom within a typical late nineteenth- century melody and harmony.

04 March, 2016 21:00 -- amuz

In Verklärte Nacht, Schönberg builds on the 19th-century tradition of programme music. The string sextet is based on the poem of the same name by Richard Dehmel that tells the story of a couple walking in the forest at night. Schönberg combines the mysterious atmosphere of the poem with music in Wagnerian style: with expansive melodies and rich harmonic language, he creates a quintessentially late Romantic work. The poem Die Magd, also by Richard Dehmel, provided the inspiration for Zemlinskys lied Maiblumen blühten überall for soprano and string sextet, a piece in an entirely different mood to the high drama of Verklärte Nacht. No dark tableaux here, but instead a warm, embracing melody for the soprano, performed by the young talented Belgian soprano Soetkin Elbers.

The musicians of Les Solistes des Siècles have turned heads in the past with their interpretations and recordings of orchestral works by Liszt, Dukas, Debussy and Stravinsky on historic instruments. All this bodes well for these gems of late Romantic Viennese chamber music.

04 March, 2016 23:00 -- amuz

Mahler put lieder on a par with symphonies, using material from one composition for the others as well. One of the highlights of his oeuvre is probably the masterly Lied von der Erde. In September 1908, he wrote to Bruno Walter: I cannot say myself what to call the whole thing, I believe it is the most personal work I have ever written. Mahler had been contending with a number of serious personal difficulties: the death of his young daughter, dismissal from the Viennese Opera in 1907, health problems and a crisis in his relationship with his wife Alma. He recognised himself in an anthology of Chinese poems published by Hans Bethge, and translated the awe of nature, melancholy and misery of human existence into a gripping collection of six lieder.

Schönberg arranged this masterpiece for a small ensemble. Oxalys, Jennifer Johnston and Mati Turi have turned it into an enthralling performance.

Please note: the British mezzo soprano Jennifer Johnston will be replacing Christianne Stotijn. Christianne Stotijn was programmed for this concert with Mati Turi and Oxalys, but she will be expecting a baby at that time.

05 March, 2016 21:00 -- amuz

The spring festival inPRIMETIME is dedicated to Vienna in 2016. On Sunday 6 March, the AMUZ foyer will be transformed into a typical Viennese coffee house with different kinds of coffee, tea and cakes. * On Sunday 6 March from 10.00 to 17.00 (in parallel with the weekly breakfast) * Place: AMUZ foyer, Kammenstraat 81, 2000 Antwerp * Different kinds of cake at various prices depending on availability that day * No reservations

06 March, 2016 10:00 -- amuz

Sigmund Freud published his book The Interpretation of Dreams with its pioneering theories of psychoanalysis in 1899. Might we also interpret late Romantic lieder, with their multiple layers and intense intertwining of words and music, as an attempt to solve the mysteries of the unconscious? The production of lieder was at an all-time high at the turn of the 20th century; minor and major masters of the genre occupied themselves with these profound little treasures. Hugo Wolf dedicated his entire career to this most intimate of musical genres. Even little things can delight us: the poem by Paul Heyse that Wolf set so enchantingly to music might well serve as a motto for this evening of Viennese delight.

In the closing concert of WIENinPRIMETIME, Sarah Wegener will perform lieder by Hugo Wolf, Richard Strauss, Gustav and Alma Mahler and Alban Berg with her warm, supple and engaging voice. She will be accompanied on historical keyboard by Michael Gees, a master of subtlety on the piano.

06 March, 2016 15:00 -- amuz

The Violin Sonatas, opus 23 and 24, were originally intended as a highly contrasting duo. They appeared together in October 1801, but ultimately ended up being published separately. The Violin Sonata in A minor, opus 23 is one of his most sober works, linear in construction with an intimate pianissimo at the end of the first and third parts. The Violin Sonata in F major, opus 24 opens with the familiar lyrical melody in a style that was new to Beethoven. In the Appassionata Sonata, Beethoven has the piano break out into exuberant, expressive passion.

Cecilia Bernardini is considered one of the most versatile violinists of her generation, unsurprisingly when you realise she has inherited her musical genes from her father, Baroque oboist Alfredo Bernardini. Hungarian pianist Petra Somlai is no stranger to Belgium. In 2010 she won first prize in the prestigious International Fortepiano Competition in Bruges, and had created a furore at AMUZ before that. Somlai will play two different fortepianos: a copy built by Walter and an original instrument by Graf.

13 March, 2016 15:00 -- amuz