Programme & Tickets

Mozart already knew that the clarinet is the instrument “closest to the human voice,” and composed enchanting duets for voice and clarinet—
—for the role of Sextus in *Titus*. Franz Schubert dedicated one of his most extraordinary compositions to this musical affinity: his marathon song “Der Hirt auf dem Felsen” (The Shepherd on the Rock), which, in its slow section, lingers in a Caspar David Friedrich-esque moment that seems to suspend time as the shepherd gazes down into the valley. The fast section, on the other hand, which is reminiscent of the stretta in an Italian opera aria, is a concert aria disguised as a song.

Soprano and performer Sarah Maria Sun, who aims to offer "always an explosive, abundant experience of different energies, styles and associative possibilities" in her recitals, begins her contrasting program with Schubert's iconic composition. Schubert's sweet natural sound is followed by casual, wistful Gershwin jazz, then "What a movie!" from the short opera "Trouble in Tahiti" by Leonard Bernstein, a furious solo that looks into the abysses of a well-off middle-class marriage.

At the center of the programme are three arrangements of his wonderful Liebeslieder waltzes as an ode to the festival's fixed star Brahms, which are extremely popular in both choral and solo quartet formations. The program sequence moves via Gustav Mahler in seven-league boots towards the present and ends with the Greek composer Georges Aperghis and György Ligeti. An explosive experience guaranteed!

Concert with intermission