The focus of this programme presented by these two young, highly talented musicians will be on music by Ferdinand Ries and Bernhard Romberg. Romberg, presumably the most prominent central European cellist of his times, had a close working and personal friendship with Beethoven pupil and composer, Ferdinand Ries. These two composers made a tour through Russia, Moldavia, Ukraine, Romania and Estonia. In addition to works written especially for this endeavour, the focus of the programme is also on improvisation – an art practiced both by the composers and today’s artists – live in the castle’s Music Salon and in a concert film.

Website Artem Belogurov
Biografie Victor Garcia

Trio Radiant will play works by Fanny and Felix Mendelssohn, by Clara and Robert Schumann, by Emilie Mayer and Johannes Brahms.
They juxtapose – on an equal footing – works of the famous male composers and the rather forgotten works by the female composers who were related to these men. They weave them together, framing them with short excerpts from letters, poems and anecdotes which make the lives and works of these persons come alive again.
The central focus is a merged version of two piano trios by Felix Mendelssohn and Fanny Hensel. They are intended to grow into one, forming a symbiosis, just as Fanny and Felix maintained a symbiotic relationship throughout their lives. Creating a kind of F-A-E sonata by these two siblings.
Around this there is a group comprising the loving Schumann couple (with a Romance and a Fantasy) and the two loners, Johannes Brahms and Emilie Mayer (with an Intermezzo and a movement from her piano trio op. 16).

Flóra Fábri and Martin Jantzen applied for the scholarship with the unusual combination of fortepiano und arpeggione. With their programme, they would like to explore which music is most closely related to the character of the arpeggione, and they want to highlight new facets through the transformation of arrangements. They will combine the music of Clara and Robert Schumann, marked by Romantic depth, with that of Johann Sebastian Bach.

The arpeggione is particularly suited to emotional and rather fragile works – not without reason, contemporaries called it the “sentimental guitar” or “violoncelle d’amour”. Interestingly enough, the instrument’s similarity to the viola da gamba was also remembered. This was already was remarked upon in the first newspaper articles reporting about the instrument after its “birth”.
The two musicians want to build a bridge between these two fairly distant eras. They intend to build on this experiment and create further programmes of this kind.

Website Flora Fabri
Website Martin Jantzen

In their Artist-in-Residence Programme, the Rödberg Trio want to dedicate themselves to piano trios by Clara and Robert Schumann and by Niels Wilhelm Gade.

Website Rödberg-Trio

A wide variety of sounds, styles and instruments can be experienced in the film Soñar-Soñar. Traditional Sephardic and Irish music, works by Arvo Pärt and Hildegard von Bingen are side by side with Renaissance and Baroque compositions, played on recorders of different sizes and design, accompanied by harp, percussion and live electronic music. How exciting to see and hear what two highly talented musicians and an equally talented filmmaker have created in the impressive atmosphere of the castle’s barn at Schloss Weißenbrunn. Not to be missed!

Duo L’Oro
Friederike Merkel and Babett Niclas who also regularly play together in other ensembles, in Duo l’Oro indulge their virtuoso joy of playing music and their love for intricately detailed arrangements. This resulted in concerts at the Innsbrucker Festwochen, zamus: Köln, Schleswig-Holstein Musiksommer, Heinrich Schütz Musikfest, Felix URBAN, in the Museum of Fine Art in Leipzig and in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin. With the experimental ensemble Soundtravelers, Babett Niclas was honoured with the “D-bü” award of the German Music Academie in 2017.

Website Babett Niclas

The exciting combination of harp and guitar, played by two exceptional young artists, this promises to be an unusual film experience.

A Journey from Toledo to Madrid, that is the title they gave to their concert film. The programme’s focus is on two Baroque composers: one of them – Santiago de Murcia – was a guitarist and lived in Madrid, the other – Diego Fernandez de Huete – was harpist at Toledo Cathedral. His main work, “Compendio numeroso de zifras armónicas” provided the title for this concert.

Cordis Consort
The Cordis Consort ensemble was born from the idea of Juan Josè Francione and Carlotta Pupulin to revolve around plucked instruments, concentrating the work of studying the repertoire on original material for harps, guitars and lutes. The use of original material written for solo instruments has led to intensive arrangement work, so that what was originally written for one instrument could be played on two or more instruments. The arrangements are influenced not only by the knowledge of early music and basso continuo but also by the Latin American folk repertoire, which in turn is strongly influenced by Spanish culture and sounds.

Carlotta Pupulin on Facebook
Juan José Francione on Instagram

Music from Vienna from around 1800 is showcased in this unusual concert which moves between two worlds: parlour and pub. There is the old woman grumbling that everything used to be better in the olden days (in an amusing and mischievous setting by Mozart), there is Beethoven’s idiosyncratic version of the folk song »Alle Vögel sind schon da« (All the Birds Are Already Here), and there are gentle, melancholy sounds in Haydn’s »Das Leben ist ein Traum« (Life is but a dream). Just like life itself, with is many facets, and continually surprising. Presented in a lively performance by two young musicians from Vienna, with poetic images from the castle and the park. Enjoy!

Website Johanna Falkinger

One of the most popular topics from Greek mythology is the focus for the concert film featuring two well-known musicians, Monika Mauch and Thomas Leininger: »Arianna a Naxos«, set to music by Joseph Haydn. After their joint victory over the Minotaur, Ariadne, for love of Theseus, follows him to the island of Naxos. In the beginning, Haydn describes her waking up and longing for Theseus whom she supposes to be out hunting. However, when she climbs a high rock on the island, she sees that Theseus is leaving her aboard a ship. Haydn impressively sets to music Ariadne’s lamentation and anger about the unfaithfulness of this man. Musical drama extraordinaire.

Website Monika Mauch
Website Thomas Leininger

Fanie Antonelou & Sofya Gandilyan did intensive work on their programme of poems by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe which were set to music in the time when the fortepiano by Melchior Guante was built. Works include compositions by Mozart and Beethoven as well as some by less well-known composers such as Zelter, Reichardt and Duchess Anna Amalia of Brunswick Wolfenbüttel. They concluded their residence in Weißenbrunn with another wonderful concert film.

Website Fanie Antonelou
Website Sofya Gandilyan

Daniel Johannsen, equally praised as subtle Lied singer and outstanding evangelist, and Matthias Krampe, Viennese conductor, organist and Lied accompanist serve up a “Vienna Mélange”, humorous and deep, containing both well-known and rarely heard music. A perfect blend of black humour and exuberant musicality. Enjoy!

Website Daniel Johannsen