The 21-year-old Dutchwoman Noa Wildschut, who is regarded as a young, world-class violinist, will open the “Grünwald Concerts” series on Thursday, March 2nd. That’s appropriate. Because listening to musicians of international class is part of the habitual rights of the classical music fans who regularly visit the August-Everding-Saal. “She’s in extremely high demand worldwide,” says Grünwald’s cultural advisor Regine Müller, “a shooting star.” There is a large number of classical music stars who have made guest appearances in Grünwald at a young age, at the beginning of their international careers. Some keep coming back afterwards, not least because the hall has great acoustics for chamber music. Of course, if the name and reputation keep growing, it can happen that the Grünwald cultural office can no longer get hold of the coveted virtuosos, which is sometimes not so much a question of money as more of timing and the competitive situation with other organizers is.
Noa Wildschut has already played with superstars of classical music such as Anne-Sophie Mutter and Igor Levit, who would probably be too expensive even by Grünwald standards, but her preferred duo recital partner is Elisabeth Brauß. She will also appear with her in the August-Everding-Saal and offer an exciting program there, with works by Ravel, Brahms, Poulenc and Enescu, among others.
The Grünwald concerts are being offered as a subscription series for the first time since the pandemic-related interruption. You still have to be patient to purchase one, however, as there is a fairly long waiting list. “The interest is unbroken,” says Müller. However, fans of classical music can now purchase single tickets for the concert with Wildschut and Brauß: via www.gruenwald.de/kultur, at the Urban kiosk, Auf der Eierwiese 1, or via the Reservix ticket hotline 0761/888 499 99.
While Wildschut may not be that well known in this country, the list of other artists who will come to the right bank of the Isar in 2023 is certainly prominent enough, even for those who are not proven classical music experts. Among others, cellist Daniel Müller-Schott (with violinist Alexi Kennedy and pianist Francesco Piemontesi) will perform there on June 19, and clarinetist Sabine Meyer and violist Nils Mönkemeyer (with pianist William Youn) on September 21. Three internationally renowned and long-established string quartets will be added: the Goldmund Quartet, based in Munich, will present compositions by Haydn, Schnittke and Beethoven on March 24th, the Schumann Quartet will give a concert on April 26th with the multi-award-winning Russian pianist Anna Vinnitskaya and the Aris Quartet is coming, supported by the famous cellist Eckart Runge, on November 23rd.
At the end of the series, the Leonkoro Quartet, founded in Berlin in 2019, will be making a guest appearance in Grünwald at the beginning of December. A young ensemble that has already caused a sensation with numerous celebrated performances and has already won a number of important awards. The Georgian pianist Nicolas Namoradze will give the only solo concert on October 26th. Not only will he offer an original program with works by Ligeti and an original composition – as the creator of “Mindfulness”, a platform on Idagio, the world’s leading app for streaming classical music, he is also known for creating a new form of concerts present: “mindful concerts” in which musical performances are combined with meditation.
The Goldmund Quartet.
(Photo: Nikolaj Lund)
Regine Müller is happy, after difficult years, to be able to offer such a consistently top-class program again. The more experimental “Classic Plus” series, which starts on March 30 with a performance by Xavier Sabata (countertenor) and the Kebyart Ensemble (four saxophonists), is also available in subscription format again this year. “You have to rediscover going to a concert,” says Müller, “this feeling of resonance that not only comes from the music itself, but also from the live experience in the hall.” On March 2nd, visitors to Grünwald can discover two great young virtuosos, Wildschut and Braß.