Wenzel Fuchs & Elisaveta Blumina

The Pharos Arts Foundation presents for the first time in Cyprus a recital with the legendary Wenzel Fuchs – Principal Clarinettist of the Berlin Philharmonic, who will join forces with eminent German pianist Elisaveta Blumina. The recital, which will take place on Wednesday 15 February 2017 at The Shoe Factory, Nicosia / 8:30pm, will include works by Schumann, Brahms, Debussy & Poulenc.

PROGRAMME:

Robert Schumann: Fantasy Pieces for Clarinet and Piano, Op.73
Johannes Brahms: Sonata for Piano and Clarinet in F major
Claude Debussy: Rhapsody for Clarinet and Piano
Francis Poulenc: Sonata for Clarinet and Piano

WENZEL FUCHS clarinet

Principal Clarinettist of the Berlin Philharmonic, Wenzel Fuchs was born in Innsbruck, Austria where he began his study of the clarinet with Professor Walter Kefer of the local conservatory. He continued his studies with Professor Peter Schmidl at Vienna University of Music and the Performing Arts, taking his degree with high honours. He also won awards from the Austrian Ministry of Science and Art and the Jugend Musiziert competitions. During his studies, Fuchs deputized regularly in all Viennese orchestras, including the Vienna State Opera Orchestra and the Vienna Philharmonic. At the age of 19, he became the solo clarinettist in the Vienna Volksoper, followed five years later by a similar appointment in the Vienna RSQ.

Since 1993, Wenzel Fuchs has been the solo clarinettist of the Berlin Philharmonic and he also teaches at the orchestra’s Karajan Academy. He has held a professorship at the Hanns Eisler University of Music (2008-13) and has been a visiting professor at Geidai University in Tokyo. In 2015, he became a professor at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg. Besides his many master-classes in Japan, Europe and the United States, he appears throughout the world as a soloist with such orchestras as the Tokyo Philharmonic, the China National SO, the Korean SO, the Berlin Symphony and the Berlin Philharmonic. His chamber music partners include Yefim Bronfman, Emmanuel Pahud, András Schiff, Albrecht Mayer, Mitsuko Utchida and David Geringas. He is a member of the Berlin Philharmonic Wind Soloists, the Berlin Philharmonic Wind Ensemble, the Berlin Philharmonic Octet and the Kammerorchestra Wien-Berlin.

ELISAVETA BLUMINA piano

Eminent German pianist Elisaveta Blumina belongs to a generation of young musicians who put the music centre stage and do not pander to every demand by the music business. This has not gone unnoticed and has earned her an ECHO Klassik award, together with her trio Ensemble Blumina, for the best recording of chamber music composed in the 20th and 21st centuries.

Elisaveta Blumina has been among the first musicians to seriously study the work of Mieczyslaw Weinberg, a close friend and contemporary of Shostakovich. Her project to record a series of CDs with Weinberg's music has established her as a major factor in the recent renaissance of Weinberg's music in the West. She has received invitations by Gidon Kremer to perform and teach Weinberg's music in the Lockenhaus Festival and at the Kronberg Academy. Currently, she is recording Weinberg's complete piano solo works. A total of 24 CD recordings covering a broad repertoire have been enthusiastically received by the specialised press and earned Elisaveta Blumina a reputation as an extraordinary musician.

Blumina began her studies in her native St. Petersburg, Russia, at the Conservatoire Rimsky Korsakov. She continued her studies at the University of Music and Theatre Hamburg and later at the Conservatoire in Berne. Among her teachers were Sir András Schiff, Evgeni Koroliov, Radu Lupu and Bruno Canino. Her career to-date has taken her from the halls such as the Berlin Philharmonic, Laeisz-Halle in Hamburg to Carnegie Hall in New York. She is frequently invited to appear in music festivals across Europe and America including the Schleswig-Holstein, the Mecklenburg Vorpommern, Campos de Jordao, Verbier and Colmar festivals. She has appeared as a guest soloist with many orchestras including the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, the Dresden Philharmonic, Moscow Virtuosi, Sinfonia Varsovia, the Hamburg Philharmonic and Staatskapelle Halle with conductors such as Thomas Sanderling, Yuri Temirkanov, Vladimir Spivakov, Gerd Albrecht, Andrey Boreyko and Daniel Raiskin.

A passionate and experienced chamber musician, Elisaveta works together with Kolja Blacher, Pierre Amoyal, the Vogler Quartet, Wenzel Fuchs, Hans-Udo Heinzmann, Marina Prudenskaya, Johannes Moser, Vasilly Lobanov and Julia Deyneka. Besides her performing career Elisaveta Blumina has, since 2012, assumed the role of Artistic Director of both the International Chamber Music Festival Hamburg and the festival "Giluim" Musica Judaica Salzland in Schoenebeck on the Elbe (Germany).

Tickets:
€15 / €10 Concessions & members of the Pharos Arts Foundation,
Box Office: Directly from the Foundation’s website www.pharosartsfoundation.org/Tickets_online.htm or Tel. 9666-9003 (Monday - Friday 10:00am-3:00pm)