Digital Program

Wed 28.05. Nicholas Carter

8 PM Konzerthaus

Edward Elgar

“In the South” (Alassio) – Concert Overture op. 50

Ignaz Moscheles

“Les Contrasts” – Grand Duo op. 115 arranged for two pianos, eight hands and orchestra by Lev & Levanon
(European Premiere)

Intermission

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy & Ignaz Moscheles

Fantasie & Variations on a theme of “Preziosa” by Weber for two Pianos and Orchestra c-minor MWV O 9 (German Premiere

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy

Symphony No. 4 in A major, op. 90 (“Italian Symphony”)

Cast

Tomer Lev
Berenika Glixman
Nimrod Haftel-Meiri
Lior Lifshitz

Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin

Concert Broadcast: The concert will be broadcast on Deutschlandfunk Kultur on June 13, 2025, at 8:00 PM.
Concert Introduction: 7:10 PM, Ludwig van Beethoven Hall, concert introduction by Steffen Georgi.

Turmoil on the Keys

In October 2024, it was released — the spectacular CD featuring works by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Ignaz Moscheles, Franz Liszt, and Franz Schubert under the title “Unplayed Stories … in 40 Fingers”. The Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Ivor Bolton, accompanies the four piano virtuosos who together form the Israeli piano ensemble MultiPiano. Four players at two pianos, that makes eight hands with five fingers each — 40 fingers!

This is not just something worth hearing – it simply must be seen! And now is your chance. Two of the works recorded on the CD will be performed live in concert for the first time in Germany, played by the same artists as on the CD, this time under the baton of Nicholas Carter. The pianist Ignaz Moscheles, born in Prague in 1794, found his adopted home in 19th-century London – although he rarely stayed there, as he was constantly touring the continent as a piano virtuoso. Around 1815, Vienna celebrated him as its most popular pianist; in 1839, Paris saw him perform alongside Fryderyk Chopin before the king; London regarded him as a peer of Muzio Clementi. No less a figure than the 15-year-old Felix Mendelssohn took lessons from Moscheles in Berlin, a connection that blossomed into a lifelong friendship. From the London dining rooms, where Moscheles was a generous host in both culinary and musical terms, his path led – at Mendelssohn’s invitation – to a professorship in piano at the Leipzig Conservatory in 1846. Among his students there was none other than Edvard Grieg. Robert Schumann called Moscheles the finest sonata composer of his generation.

An impressive testament to the hours Moscheles and Mendelssohn spent together at the piano is their jointly composed "Variations on a March" from Carl Maria von Weber’s opera "Preciosa". Mendelssohn and Moscheles created the variations together. Now, they will receive their German premiere with us!

Edward Elgar

“In the South” (Alassio) – Concert Overture op. 50

It calls for a symphony

Like a swarm of New Year’s Eve rockets, the flames of sound shoot up from the grand symphony orchestra—right from the very first second. Glorious tongues of tone lick the concert hall ceiling, manic symbols within reach, not unlike those in "Don Juan", Richard Strauss’s famous symphonic poem. But tonight, we are witnessing the heavenly assault of a different hero—Edward Elgar, who, in this work, composes himself into freedom

And he desperately needed it. By November 1903, the English composer—under enormous creative pressure since the major successes of the "Enigma Variations", the oratorio "The Dream of Gerontius", and the "Pomp and Circumstance" marches—had traveled to Italy with his wife, hoping that the charming surroundings would rekindle his inspiration. But the winter on the Italian Riviera turned out to be dreary—rainy and stormy. There was no trace of pastoral idylls or blooming flowers, only shivering English tourists everywhere, including the Elgars themselves ("the place is lovely but too cockney"). And on the horizon loomed what should have been a brilliant opportunity: a small Elgar Festival, arranged for mid-March 1904 at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden by his friend and patron Leo Frank Schuster. Schuster had even financed the engagement of the prestigious Hallé Orchestra from Manchester, under the baton of its chief conductor Hans Richter, to premiere Edward Elgar’s First Symphony. That was precisely what the composer himself had predicted before the trip. Hans Richter, whom Elgar held in the highest regard, had been chosen for this historic occasion, having already conducted several world premieres of Elgar’s works. Over the previous quarter-century, Richter had made a name for himself as a conductor of legendary premieres—including Wagner’s "Siegfried" and "Götterdämmerung" (1876), Brahms’s Symphony No. 2 (1877), Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto (1881), and Bruckner’s Symphonies Nos. 1, 4, 7, and 8. In 1883, to the delight of British audiences, he had “brought over” Dvořák’s "Slavonic Dances" to London

The knot bursts

But things turned out differently. "This trip was and still is an artistic complete failure & I accomplish absolutely nothing. […] The symphony will not be composed in this sunny (?) country. Instead of the symphony, I am trying to finish a concert overture for Covent Garden." This was revealed to Alfred Jaeger, Elgar’s friend and publishing editor, as well as the Nimrod of the "Enigma Variations", in a letter dated February 3, 1904. So no symphony after all, but at least a concert overture, which, with its lush 22-minute performance time, represents an opulent hybrid of genres.

After all, a walk to the small village of Moglio above Alassio, which Edward Elgar took together with his 13-year-old daughter Carice on January 6th, turned out to be the initial spark for the new work. The two of them playfully toyed with the village’s name—Mooo-gli-o—like two little children, and its melodic rhythm became the model for a dotted main motif in Elgar’s emerging overture.

Three days later, while visiting the archaeological remains of an ancient Roman military road nearby, the composer encountered a shepherd with his flock. Finally, he had found the perfect bucolic scene for his musical inspiration. Elgar, theatrically: “The shepherd with his flock and his self-invented music: the mighty bridge and still usable road, awe-inspiring to a receptive mind: music unfolded that painted the relentless and commanding forward drive of antiquity and a soundscape of battle and wars (‘the drums and march rhythms’) … Suddenly, everything came vividly to mind—the long-past military conflicts at exactly this spot where I now stood—the contrast between the ruins and the shepherd—and then, suddenly, I returned to the present. In the meantime, I had ‘composed’ the overture—the rest was merely writing it down.”

Rome, the Monster of Power

The quote “the drums and tramplings,” comes from a book by Thomas Browne, who in 1658 described the discovery of Roman graves in Norfolk, England. Thus, even in Britain, the Roman Empire has left its marks, and the more distant these traces, the more martial and threatening they appeared to the British Romantics of the 19th century. For Elgar, the Romans offered a perfect backdrop on which to project his "Grandioso" fantasies. On the Italian Riviera, he imagined himself into a mighty Roman army, acting as a musical frontline reporter of their ambitions for dominion over all of Europe. At the same time, he was enchanted by the shepherd and his flock, “roaming around the ruins of the old church—he playing softly and nasal on his flute and occasionally singing his folk song (‘Canto popolare’), and peace and sunshine once again take precedence in the scene.”

Thus, the main ingredients for the concert overture "In the South (Alassio)" are identified. Elgar spices the juxtaposition of alternately swollen fanfares and pastoral idylls (viola solo!) with his characteristic "Nobilmente". Nevertheless, he cannot help but look toward his much-admired yet deeply disliked contemporary Richard Strauss, who, with his own symphonic fantasy "Aus Italien" (1886), set an Italy inspired by tradition and folklore to music. On the other hand, Elgar cannot bypass Hector Berlioz with his "Canto popolare". Berlioz’s symphony "Harold en Italie" (1834) embarks on a musical journey through Italy—embodied by the solo viola. The well-read Elgar was, of course, aware of Berlioz’s literary inspiration, Lord Byron’s "Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage". In this way, Elgar’s "Nobilmente" intertwines with the muscular display of the Edwardian Empire reflected upon the ancient Romans, the grand opulence of the orchestral magician Strauss, the noble lament of Berlioz, and last but not least, the lighthearted bel canto style of all those Italian cliché Rossinis, Donizettis, and Bellinis—as an outsider regularly associates with Italy...

„Canto popolare“

Whether the solo viola melody called" Canto popolare" is an original shepherd’s tune or a nostalgically idealized invention by Edward Elgar remains uncertain. “I don’t know who wrote this melody & I did not write it down exactly as I heard it,” he himself obscured its origin. However, as early as 1904, he extracted the melody from the orchestral work and arranged it for various smaller ensembles. In this way, his “folk melody” took on a second life in chamber music circles and musical salons. A third return to the "Canto popolare" came some time later, when Elgar set the memorable melody to poems by the English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, who drowned at the age of 29 off the Ligurian coast, and published the song cycle under the title "In Moonlight".

In the end, even for the concert overture, time had become tight, as Elgar received an honorable invitation from London for February 3rd. His admired idol, King Edward VII, personally invited him to a dinner at Marlborough House, the king’s private residence. Thus, the Elgars cut their trip to Italy short, but at least the composer was able to write the dedication “To my Friend, Leo F. Schuster” beneath the final notes of "In the South" on February 21st in England. The printing of the score and rehearsals now had to proceed in great haste, forcing Elgar to manage everything himself—without the help of copyists and without the assistance of the revered Hans Richter, who was unable to study the score in the short time before the festival. Nevertheless, the three-day festival became a great success for Elgar, and the king raised him to the nobility.

Four years later, Elgar finally achieved his symphonic goal: 1908 became the year of Symphony No. 1, which adopted the key of E-flat major from the overture composed in Alassio. This time, Hans Richter conducted the premiere. The nearly hour-long work was celebrated by the press as "England's first symphony."

Ignaz Moscheles

“Les Contrasts” – Grand Duo op. 115 arranged for two pianos, eight hands and orchestra by Lev & Levanon

Moscheles – From Prague to London

The pianist Ignaz Moscheles, born in Prague in 1794, spent his formative years in Vienna, where he studied under the court composer Antonio Salieri. Frequently interrupted by concert tours, he lived in the Danube metropolis from 1808 to 1820. There, he formed a close association with his idol and role model, Ludwig van Beethoven. Around 1815, Vienna celebrated him as the most popular pianist; in 1839, Paris witnessed him perform alongside Fryderyk Chopin before the king; and in London, he was seen as a peer of Muzio Clementi. No less than the 15-year-old Felix Mendelssohn received instruction from Moscheles in Berlin in 1824—a connection that grew into a lifelong friendship. From the elegant London dining rooms, where Moscheles, from 1825 on, was a generous host both musically and gastronomically, his path led—at Mendelssohn’s invitation in 1846—to a professorship in piano at the Leipzig Conservatory. Among his students there was, notably, Edvard Grieg. Robert Schumann called Moscheles the finest sonata composer of his generation.

Neo-Baroque power

It goes without saying that among the many compositions of Ignaz Moscheles, those for the piano hold a place of special prominence. In addition to piano études—still valued today for their pedagogical merit, combining technical demands with melodic charm—Moscheles composed piano sonatas praised by Schumann, as well as a series of piano variations. Among them is the "Les Adieux" Variations, Op. 50 (1838), a homage to Beethoven and his variation style, which joined a number of Moscheles’ piano concertos.

The Grand Duo “Les Contrastes” for two pianos with eight hands—meaning four performers at two pianos—bears the opus number 115. Moscheles’ 27-page original manuscript, now preserved in the manuscript collection of the Schumann House in Düsseldorf, is dated June 1847. The work draws thematically and formally on both German and French Baroque models, making it an early 19th-century example of a neo-Baroque suite. In order to add color and clarity to the dense, at times difficult-to-penetrate texture of the original piano version, two Israeli musicians—the pianist Tomer Lev (*1967) and the composer Aryeh Levanon (1932–2023)—collaborated on an orchestral arrangement of the Grand Duo. Their aim was to distribute the richly layered piano writing between soloists and orchestra, thereby expanding the range of sonic possibilities without sacrificing the monumental character of Moscheles’ composition.

“The grandly conceived prelude quotes the characteristic rhythms of a French overture and lingers in the sound world of Rameau and Couperin, interwoven with the more modern tone of salon music from Moscheles’ time. The second movement is a monumental fugue that, in all its breadth, follows the models of Handel and Bach. The third movement is a deeply devout chorale with variations, leading directly into the finale, which begins with another Baroque gem: a noble Sicilienne. As it progresses, the movement develops into a virtuosic tour de force, in which Moscheles quotes themes from both the chorale and the fugue. In doing so, he creates a cyclical framework for the entire work.”
(Tomer Lev, from the liner notes to the CD, 2024)

Ignaz Moscheles & Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy

Fantasie & Variations on a theme of “Preziosa” by Weber for two Pianos and Orchestra

"Felix is as if cut from my own heart; I want to call him my son, my friend, my master."

Ignaz Moscheles on Felix Mendelssohn, from his diary

A MeMo of a Special Kind

It was in the year 1824 when Ignaz Moscheles first met the then 15-year-old Felix Mendelssohn in Berlin. Both were instantly fascinated by each other; Felix and his sister Fanny took piano lessons from the pianist who was already famous throughout Europe. Moscheles admired the brilliant works of the young composer. A close friendship developed that would last a lifetime, repeatedly manifesting itself in mutual respect and support.

When both were together in London in 1833, a joint composition arose from a commission for a royal charity concert. Within a few days, they agreed on Moscheles’s suggestion to use the “Marche bohémienne” from the opera" Preziosa" by Carl Maria von Weber, a colleague revered in England by the two Germans, who had also been counted among Moscheles’s close friends. Moscheles and Weber had known each other since 1813 in Vienna. Ten years later, Moscheles renewed contact with the now famous composer of "Der Freischütz" (premiered on June 18, 1821, at the Schauspielhaus Berlin, today the Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt). They regularly met in cheerful gatherings at the “Ludlamshöhle,” a Viennese club where anyone who could “increase the pleasure of the company by their presence” (from the statute) was welcome. Moscheles had been a member since 1818; in the club, he was called the keyboard lion “Tasto der Kälberfuß.” Weber, the "Freischütz" composer, was known in the Ludlamshöhle as “Agathus the Sharpshooter” or “Edler von Samiel.” Later in England, Moscheles helped his old friend Weber in 1826 with important contacts and promising appearances. However, Weber was already weakened by tuberculosis and could no longer seize these opportunities. He died on June 5, 1826, in London. Moscheles was one of those who ensured a dignified burial for Weber in London.

How Weber Became a Moscheles-Mendelssohn

Now, in 1833, Moscheles and Mendelssohn could revive Weber’s legacy once again.

The chosen form of the joint work, a sequence of variations, allowed only the model to be set while each individual variation could be shaped independently. Tomer Lev describes the approach of the two musicians as a blend of improvisation and composition, resulting in an effect "similar to a modern jazz musicians' jam session." Moscheles and Mendelssohn performed the hastily prepared premiere side by side at the mentioned charity concert with great success. "The performance was such a success that it was repeated a few months later. On that occasion, they created a more thoroughly prepared version based on the original improvisations." (Tomer Lev) This version also included the orchestral part. Afterwards, the curiosity disappeared into a drawer. In 1849, Moscheles decided to extensively revise the work and publish it as an original piece by himself and Mendelssohn. In this form, the rarity endured. Only at the beginning of the 21st century did the original manuscript from 1833 resurface in St. Petersburg. Felix Moscheles, Ignaz’s son, had at some point given the manuscript as a gift to the legendary Russian pianist Anton Rubinstein, who incorporated it—unperformed—into his collection. In 2016, Daniil Petrov, professor at the State Conservatory Moscow, reconstructed the composition. It was published under special number O9 in the Mendelssohn catalog of the Saxon Academy of Sciences in Leipzig.

Preserving legacies

"The piece begins with a dramatic introduction, followed by a free fantasy by Mendelssohn. The exposition of Weber’s march theme, arranged by Moscheles, is followed by two variations by Mendelssohn and two by Moscheles. This is succeeded by a broad, finely crafted finale, largely shaped by Mendelssohn’s “golden hands”; it features passages full of virtuosic fireworks, a fugato, and a recapitulation of the theme in its original form before closing with a fiery, gypsy-music-inspired coda."

In 1846, Ignaz Moscheles accepted an invitation from his friend Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy to join the Leipzig Conservatory, which Mendelssohn had founded in 1843. Shortly thereafter, Moscheles had to mourn the death of his friend, as Mendelssohn passed away in 1847 at the age of 38. Moscheles, however, remained in Leipzig and served as a highly respected professor, leading the piano class until his own death in 1870. As an accomplished piano virtuoso, he emphasized a relaxed hand position in teaching. With exemplary diligence, he advocated a playing style that focused primarily on finger agility while minimizing the use of the pedal.

Ignaz Moscheles was buried in the New St. John’s Cemetery (Neuen Johannisfriedhof) in Leipzig. Since 1873, a street in Leipzig had borne his name. However, in 1935, the National Socialists erased the memory of the prominent Jewish pianist and composer by renaming the street Schichtstraße. In 1945, it was renamed Moschelesstraße once again.

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy

Symphony No. 4 in A major, op. 90 (“Italian Symphony”)

"Beauty is the means to transcend the banalities of everyday life."
Ludwig van Beethoven

Sunshine in A major

When Robert Schumann said that Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy had “most clearly perceived and reconciled the contradictions of the time,” he possibly meant Mendelssohn’s bridging of the emerging divide between “autonomous” and “representational” music. True to the aesthetic maxim of the great Enlightenment philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, who asserted that music should possess an “indeterminate content” while maintaining independent musical structure, Mendelssohn—who had admired Hegel since childhood—endowed his music with clear classical forms on the one hand, and poetic, yet non-representational content on the other.

In this sense, Mendelssohn’s Symphony in A major stands as a prime example. “I owe the most music to what is not strictly music—the ruins, the images, the cheerfulness of nature,” he summarized after an extensive trip to Italy in 1830/1831, which took him through Weimar, Munich, Vienna, Venice, Florence, Rome, Genoa, and Milan. Mendelssohn’s uncanny ability to capture moods was also evident in his “Scottish” works (inspired by his corresponding journey in 1828/1829) and in his “Songs Without Words.” Equally impressive was how, at a young age, he mastered the symphony genre without becoming a mere follower of Beethoven, as demonstrated by his twelve string symphonies composed between 1821 and 1823.

Compensation for a Disappointment

The “Italian” was further developed back home in Berlin — during one of the greatest personal defeats Mendelssohn had to endure in his life. On May 15, 1832, Carl Friedrich Zelter passed away. The highly respected, long-time director of the Berlin Singakademie, Mendelssohn’s paternal friend and composition teacher, left behind a coveted position in Berlin’s musical life. Mendelssohn had probably expected — considering his contributions to Bach’s "St. Matthew Passion", the first Berlin performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, and his enchanting choral compositions — that the post would be offered to him. When this did not happen, he applied like many others, made it to the shortlist, but ended up second behind Carl Friedrich Rungenhagen. Deeply disappointed, he left the Prussian capital, and the entire Mendelssohn family resigned from the Singakademie. Of course, he later more than compensated for this “loss” as Gewandhauskapellmeister in Leipzig. Yet it’s almost unbelievable that the “Italian” was a product of these very months. Or did Mendelssohn compose solely in his mind or somewhere else, like Mozart seemingly detached from earthly hardships?

High spirits despite minor key

The enduring popularity of the “Italian” Symphony to this day is owed to the exhilarating sense of lightness and radiant joy, particularly in its opening movement. Its jubilant momentum is the very embodiment of timeless beauty—an expression of a deep, universal human longing. Mendelssohn’s thoroughly classical intention is always to carry forward the spirit of the great cultures, to give voice to their beauty and perfection. That this can be the exact opposite of superficial smoothness is demonstrated by the introduction of a third theme in the development section—contrary to all classical convention. Mendelssohn initially presents it almost in passing, only to methodically explore its serious minor-key character and intensify it through rhythmic treatment in a fugato. Ultimately, the minor-mode idea comes to dominate the entire recapitulation and the coda of the movement.

The slow movement follows in the character of a ballad from times past. The “Andante con moto” is based on an elegiac song in A minor. Mendelssohn draws the melodic material from the song “König von Thule” by his teacher Zelter, who had died on May 15, 1832. Whether the subsequent Scherzo, as some musicologists have suggested, was inspired by Goethe’s risqué poem “Lili’s Park”, or whether it is simply a German minuet in the style of Weber or Schubert, remains uncertain. Perhaps both intentions found their way into the composition.

“... it will be the jolliest piece I’ve ever written, especially the last one,” the composer teased his family about the symphony conceived in Italy. “The last one” – that is, the final movement – a "Saltarello" (leaping dance) marked "Presto", behaves like a perpetuum mobile. While the rhythm races almost unceasingly throughout the entire movement, the dynamics undergo a tremendous build-up from pianissimo to fortissimo. The symphonic arc closes in the coda with echoes of the first movement—however, now cast in a shadowy minor key, a character one would not have expected from the jubilant main theme. Yet Mendelssohn brushes aside this moment of ambiguity in favor of a “proper” ending. The triumphant apotheosis in A major comes across almost reluctantly.

A Secret Hymn to Europe

Mendelssohn gave the premiere of his "Italian" Symphony almost exactly one year after Zelter’s death—far from Berlin, in fact—entrusting it to the Philharmonic Society in London. The performance brought the composer-conductor a resounding triumph. Nonetheless, he decided to revise the first movement and reintroduced the symphony barely a month later, on June 13, 1833, once again in London. Following additional revisions, the final version was not heard until 1849 at the Leipzig Gewandhaus—two years after Mendelssohn’s death.

If one considers the symphony’s various phases of inspiration, composition, and performance, the “Italian” is, in the cosmopolitan spirit of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, and despite the unfortunate “Brexit” of today’s Britain, truly a “European” Symphony.

Text © Steffen Georg

short biographies

Nicholas Carter

Celebrated recently for his conducting of Brett Dean Hamlet and Britten Peter Grimes at the Metropolitan Opera, Nicholas Carter is one of the leading opera conductors of his generation. He has been appointed as the new General Music Director Designate of Staatsoper Stuttgart & Staatsorchester Stuttgart from the 2026/27 season and has been Chief Conductor and Co-Operndirektor of Bühnen Bern since 2021, following his positions as Kapellmeister at the Staatsoper Hamburg and the Deutsche Oper Berlin, and as Chief Conductor of the Stadttheater Klagenfurt and the Kärntner Sinfonieorchester from 2018 to 2021. Serving as Principal Conductor of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra from 2016 to 2019, Carter has since been in international demand in the symphonic field.

At the heart of Nicholas Carter’s tenure in Bern is the new production of Wagner Der Ring des Nibelungen, which he also conducted at the Deutsche Oper Berlin in the 2023/2024 season. In 2024/2025, he leads a new production of Prokofiev’s Gambler at Staatsoper Stuttgart and returns to Staatsoper Hamburg for Mozart’s Figaro. In previous seaons, he has also worked with the Wiener Staatsoper, Oper Zürich, Oper Köln, Santa Fe Opera and Deutsche Oper am Rhein as well as at the Glyndebourne Festival. His extensive operatic repertoire ranges from Mozart, Verdi, Wagner and Strauss to Russian and French works and contemporary composers such as Brett Dean, with whom he has a close artistic relationship.

Alongside regular collaborations with Australia’s leading symphony orchestras, Carter’s recent and forthcoming symphonic highlights include appearances with the Seattle Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Oregon Symphony, BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Métropolitain, Orchestre national du Capitole de Toulouse, Orchestre National de Lille, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, MDR Sinfonieorchester Leipzig, Bochumer Symphoniker, Brucknerorchester Linz, Seoul Philharmonic and Hong Kong Philharmonic, among others.

MutliPiano

Formed as a unique modular piano ensemble, MultiPiano is dedicated to the rich literature written for keyboard ensembles, from one piano with four hands to several pianos in a variety of multi-hand combinations. The MultiPiano project was launched in 2011 under the umbrella of the Buchmann–Mehta School of Music, a joint institution of Tel Aviv University and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Featuring some of Israel’s radiant young pianists and their mentor Tomer Lev, one of the country’s prominent musicians, the MultiPiano project attracted much international attention immediately upon its foundation.

The ensemble has performed on four continents, from the Beijing Concert Hall and Buenos Aires’s Teatro Colón to New York’s Merkin Concert Hall and high-profile venues in London, Berlin, Frankfurt, Tel Aviv, Riga and Tallinn, collaborating with world-class orchestras and organisations such as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra (RSB), English Chamber Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under Zubin Mehta, Mozarteum Argentino and others. The ensemble has performed at the Taipei, Xiamen, Ottawa, Baltic Sea, Hualien, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem music festivals, as well as on television and radio networks across the globe. In 2015, MultiPiano was awarded the Israeli Ministry of Culture prize for ‘Best Israeli Chamber Ensemble’.

In April 2021, the ensemble’s first commercial recording, with the English Chamber Orchestra, was released by Hyperion Records – “Mozart: The complete multipiano concertos”, including the first-ever concertante completion, for two pianos and orchestra, of Mozart’s Larghetto and Allegro in E flat major (1781). The album was met with enthusiastic reviews worldwide and ranked 6 in the UK “Top Ten” classical chart. This was followed by MultiPiano’s second album, with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, released in November 2022 by Naxos, including three world premieres by Shostakovich, Martin and Levanon, alongside Poulenc’s double concerto. This album was included in Naxos’ best-selling albums for 2022-23.

The ensemble extensively toured the Far East in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2015; South America in 2012 and 2014; North America in 2013; and routinely tours around Europe.

Considerable collaboration with Israel’s prominent orchestras has led to rare and daring repertoire selections, such as the premiere of Frank Martin’s Petite symphonie concertante for three pianos (originally harp, harpsichord and piano) and two string orchestras with the Israel Camerata Jerusalem, the first professional performance of Mendelssohn’s newly discovered Duo concertant: Variations on Weber’s ‘Preciosa’ for two pianos and orchestra, WoO25 (the original 1833 version), with the Haifa Symphony Orchestra and Israel Symphony Orchestra Rishon LeZion, and the two-piano version of Chopin’s Rondo in C major, Op 73, with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, as well as concerto commissions by Israeli composers Aryeh Levanon and Oded Zehavi.

In 2018, the ensemble presented a new version of Holst’s The Planets for piano and percussion ensemble, celebrating the iconic work’s centennial in a special concert at Merkin Concert Hall in New York. This unique version was created by seven prominent Israeli composers especially for MultiPiano and Tremolo percussion ensemble.

In 2022, the ensemble collaborated with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra in recording works by Mendelssohn, Schubert-Liszt and Moscheles.

Das RSB und Vladimir Jurowski im Konzerthaus.

Das RSB im Konzerthaus Berlin_hochformat, Foto: Peter Meisel

RSB evening orchestra

Violin 1

Nebel, David
Herzog, Susanne
Neufeld, Andreas
Beckert, Philipp
Bondas, Marina
Drechsel, Franziska
Feltz, Anne
Kynast, Karin
Morgunowa, Anna
Pflüger, Maria
Ries, Ferdinand
Stangorra, Christa-Maria
Tast, Steffen
Yamada, Misa

Violin 2

Kurochkin, Oleh
Simon, Maximilian
Drop, David
Petzold, Sylvia
Buczkowski, Maciej
Draganov, Brigitte
Eßmann, Martin
Färber-Rambo, Juliane
Hetzel de Fonseka, Neela
Seidel, Anne-Kathrin
Fan, Yu-Chen
Sac, Muge

Viola

Regueira-Caumel, Alejandro
Adrion, Gernot
Silber, Christiane
Zolotova, Elizaveta
Doubovikov, Alexey
Drop, Jana
Montes, Carolina
Inoue, Yugo
Kantas, Dilhan
Sullivan, Nancy

Cello

Eschenburg, Hans-Jakob
Weiche, Volkmar
Albrecht, Peter
Bard, Christian
Boge, Georg
Weigle, Andreas
Lee, Danbee
Ricard, Constance

Double bass

Wagner, Marvin
Figueiredo, Pedro
Buschmann, Axel
Schwärsky, Georg
Moon, Junha
Yeung, Yuen Kiu Marco

Flute

Bogner, Magdalena
Schreiter, Markus
Dallmann, Franziska

Oboe

Grube, Florian
Vogler, Gudrun
Herzog, Thomas

Clarinet

Link, Oliver
Pfeifer, Peter
Simpfendörfer, Florentine

Bassoon

You, Sung Kwon
Voigt, Alexander
Königstedt, Clemens

Horn

Ember, Daniel
Klinkhammer, Ingo
Mentzen, Anne
Hetzel de Fonseka, Felix

Trumpet

Dörpholz, Florian
Ranch, Lars
Niemand, Jörg
Gruppe, Simone
Hofer, Patrik

Trombone

Pollock, Louise
Hauer, Dominik
Lehmann, Jörg

Tuba

Neckermann, Fabian

Harp

Edenwald, Maud

Percussion

Tackmann, Frank
Thiersch, Konstantin
Vierk, Laslo

Timpani

Wahlich, Arndt