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", which lingers in the slow part while looking down into the valley in a Caspar-David-Friedrich moment that lingers in time. The fast section, on the other hand, which is reminiscent of the stretta of 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.

As an ode to the festival's fixed star Brahms, the program focuses on three arrangements of his wonderful Liebeslieder waltzes, which are extraordinarily 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