This year’s Christmas concert at Schloss Weißenbrunn will be a cheerful,  swinging affair. Markus Simon is at home in many styles and always manages to thrill his audiences with his singing and piano playing. A marvellous musician.

Programme
F. Chopin: Polonaise A major op. 40 No. 1
R. Schumann: Arabesque C major op. 18
L. v. Beethoven: Piano sonata c sharp minor op. 27 No. 2 “Moon Light Sonata”
F. Chopin:
Nocturne D flat major op. 27 No. 2
Prélude A flat major  op. 28 No. 17
Fantasie-Impromptu C sharop minor op. 66
Waltz C sharp minor op. 64 No. 1
Waltz A flat major op. 34 No. 1
Ballade A flat major op. 47

Johann Christian Bach was the youngest son of Johann Sebastian Bachs. After stages in Berlin and Milan, he worked in London as the personal music teacher of Queen Charlotte. Even though he never actually lived in Vienna, he is still regarded as the father of the Viennese Classic period. He greaty influenced the young Mozart who visited him in London several times.
Dmitry Ablogin is regarded as one of the leading specialists for fortepiano worldwide. He won important piano competitions such as the International German Piano Award and the Chopin Competition on historical instruments. He played in major concert halls such as the Berliner Philharmonie, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and the Wiener Konzerthaus. As a soloist, he performed with the Freiburger Barockorchester, the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, the Baden-Baden Philharmonie and the Nürnberger Symphoniker.
He has already been a guest in Weißenbrunn with a duo programme with the soprano Kateryna Kasper and now returns with a solo programme.0

Johann Christian Bach: Sonata in c minor op. 17 No. 2
Joseph Haydn: Sonata in c minor Hob. XVI:20
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart:
Rondo a minor KV 511
Sonate F major KV 533

Link

An exceptionally gifted duo of musicians will play works by famours pairs from music history – by the siblings Fanny Hensel and Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy as well as the married couple Clara and Robert Schumann. A special evening for all lovers of Romantic music and of cello and piano.

Website Octavie Dostaler - Lalonde

The works for solo keyboard instruments by Johann Sebastian Bach’s oldest son Wilhelm Friedemann are rarely performed in concert. His younger “Bückerburg” half-brother Johann Christoph Friedrich is an even rarer guest in concert halls. Wilhelm Friedemann is supposed to have described him as the “strongest player” among the four brothers, who “presented his father’s keyboard compositions in the most skillful manner”. The works by Wilhelm Friedrich Ernst Bach, son of the “Bückeburg” Bach and the Bach grandson marking the end of the composers’ dynasty in 1845 are completely absent on concert stages. The programme “The Unknown Bachs” is intended so shed more light on the highly developed, highly nuanced music by these composers.

Website Jermaine Sprosse