Constant changes in taste in music reception can be studied in program sequences: Concerts of the From today's perspective, these 19th century works seem monstrous with their wild mix of choruses, opera excerpts, individual symphonic movements and piano songs. In the song recital genre, the In the 20th century, two models were particularly popular: the colorful bouquet or a chronological sequence of small song blocks.

The Russian-American soprano Erika Baikoff and her accompanist James Baillieu now rely on both tried and tested recipes. Secretly, however, the evening follows a common thread. For with Haydn's "Mermaid's Song" and three Mozart songs, the program begins with masters of Viennese classical music and remains in the now romantic Vienna with Brahms songs, which are also the focus of the program here - including the wonderfully internalized "Es träumte mir." With Antonín Dvořák, the song sequence then turns to Bohemia and with Edvard Grieg to distant Norway, before returning to Vienna with the early, late Romantic Arnold Schönberg. A journey through almost 200 years of Western music history.

Erika Baikoff is active on both the opera and concert stage and is equally dedicated to chamber music, for example she was first prize winner of the Helmut Deutsch Lied Competition 2019. Her partner James Baillieu is a proven expert in chamber music and song accompaniment. He works with important singers and also demonstrates artistic insight as a festival programmer.

Concert without intermission