Wigmore Hall presents

Barnabás Kelemen and Nicolas Altstaedt

Kodály, Schulhoff and Veress

Works for violin and cello duo performed by the Hungarian violinist and the German/French cellist with whom he regularly collaborates. A pupil of Kodály, the Hungarian/Swiss Sándor Veress (1907-92) wrote his Sonatina in 1928. The talented Czech Erwin Schulhoff was born in Prague and studied with Debussy and Max Reger, later embracing Dadaist and jazz influences: his Duo dates from 1925.

Barnabás Kelemen violin

Violinist Barnabás Kelemen has conquered the most famous concert halls in the world with his virtuoso technique and dynamic, passionate playing style. Versatile and open-minded, he is an outstanding soloist and chamber musician, as well as an artistic director of festivals and a teacher at renowned institutions. In recent years he has also worked as a conductor.

Due to his exceptional sense of style and his comprehensive technical proficiency, Barnabás Kelemen navigates with confidence through the entire catalogue of music written for violin. His repertoire is thus extremely diverse and he performs Early Baroque, Classical, and Romantic works with just as much authenticity as twentieth-century pieces. He is additionally a devoted advocate of contemporary music, with world or Hungarian premieres of works by Kurtág, Ligeti, Schnittke, Gubajdulina, Steve Reich, and Ryan Wigglesworth to his name.

He regularly performs at the world’s most prominent concert venues, including Carnegie Hall, the Concertgebouw, the Royal Festival Hall, the Palais de Beaux Arts, Suntory Hall, and the Berliner Philharmonie. He is a frequent guest of such eminent ensembles as the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Budapest Festival Orchestra, the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Estonian National Philharmonic Orchestra, the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and Hannover’s NDR Radiophilharmonie, to name but a few.

Barnabás Kelemen has achieved outstanding results in prestigious contests, including first prizes at both the 1999 International Mozart Violin Competition in Salzburg and the 2002 International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, and third prize at Brussels’ 2001 Queen Elisabeth Violin Competition. His artistry has been recognized with the highest professional and state honours: he has been awarded Liszt and Kossuth Prizes and Prima and Gramophone Awards, and is the holder of the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary.

Barnabás Kelemen began studying the violin at the age of 6 under Valéria Baranyai; as a student of Eszter Perényi, he graduated from the Liszt Academy of Music in 2001. He was enormously influenced by his later teachers, Isaac Stern, Ferenc Rados, and Zoltán Kocsis. He studied conducting from two giants of the Finnish tradition, Leif Segerstam and Jorma Panula. He is currently a professor at two illustrious institutions: Budapest’s Liszt Academy and the University of Cologne.

Nicolas Altstaedt cello

German-French cellist Nicolas Altstaedt is one of the most sought after and versatile artists today.  As a soloist, conductor and artistic director, he performs repertoire spanning from early music to the contemporary.

Nicolas Altstaedt was Artist in Residence 19/20 at the SWR Symphonie Orchestra under Teodor Currentzis and Artist in Fokus at Alte Oper Frankfurt. Other recent highlights include a tour with B’Rock and René Jacobs, debuts with the National Symphony Orchestra Washington and Ed Gardner, ONF Paris with Cristian Macelaru and the NHK and Yomiuri Symphony at Suntory Hall.

He has debuted in recital at BOZAR Brussels, Carnegie Hall, Park Avenue Armory, TCE Paris and Koerner Hall, Toronto. During the 17/18 season, Nicolas gave the highly acclaimed Finnish Premiere of Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Cello Concerto under the baton of the composer at the Helsinki Festival and was “Artist in Spotlight” at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam.

The 21/22 season includes debuts with the London and Munich Philharmonic, Bayrische Rundfunk, RAI Torino, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, National Orchestra of Spain and tours with l’Orchestre des Champs-Elysées and Philippe Herreweghe as well as the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie and Dmitri Slobodeniouk and reinvitation to the Rotterdam Philharmonic and NHK Symphony Orchestra.

Program
Sándor Veress (1907-1992)
Sonatina for violin and cello

Erwin Schulhoff (1894-1942)
Duo for violin and cello

Zoltán Kodály (1882-1967)
Duo for violin and cello Op. 7

Monday, February 7, 2022
Live stream starts at 8:00am EST / 1:00pm GMT
The video will be available on demand for 30 days after the date of the broadcast.

To enjoy this concert visit: www.wigmore-hall.org.uk