August 09, 2007
Domenico Nordio’s violin at AsiagoFestival
In an exceptional trio also engaged in a world premiere performance
ASIAGOFESTIVAL 41st Edition
PRESS RELEASE.
DOMENICO NORDIO’S VIOLIN AT ASIAGOFESTIVAL
IN AN EXCEPTIONAL TRIO ALSO COMMITTED TO AN ABSOLUTE FIRST PERFORMANCE
– Asiago, Chiesa di San Rocco, August 9, 2007-
After the symphonic opening entrusted to the talented young people of the Hampshire County Youth Orchestra, AsiagoFestival proposes, on Thursday, August 9, the more collected and reflective atmospheres of great chamber music, at the Church of San Rocco. And it does so with three great performers: Domenico Nordio on violin, Hyun-Jung Berger on cello and Oliver Kern on piano. A concert thus entrusted to an international trio for timeless and boundless great music, which will have as its point of reference Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy and his little-known and much-frequented chamber music. The Asiaghese audience will thus have the opportunity to hear from the performance of three extraordinary musicians as many as three chamber pages by the refined German composer: the Sonata in F major for violin and piano and the Sonata in D major, Op. 58, for cello and piano, as well as the Trio in D minor, Op. 49. Intercalated with these three great works are two interesting pages from the early 20th century: the Five Romances for violin and piano by Wilhelm Killmayer, entitled “Vanitas Vanitatum” and, the real “gem” of the evening, the world premiere performance of the “Romances” for cello and piano by Eugen D’Albert, a singular musician
born in Glasgow (1864) and died in Riga (1932) – the son of an English mother and a French-Italian father – who considered himself, however, German by training and culture. A very virtuoso pianist, he was a pupil and friend of Liszt whose early recordings of his works he was also responsible for. Thanks to a rather adventurous life (he was married six times, for example), some pages of his copious output (remember, among other things, the 21 plays) have long been thought lost. These include, precisely, the “Romanze,” the premiere of which represents one of the many, sumptuous. “gifts” that AsiagoFestival has been able to package again this year for its devoted audience.
The whole festival program in the brand new website: www.asiagofestival.it
ASIAGOFESTIVAL is organized by the Cultural Association “Friends of Music of Asiago” – “Fiorella Benetti Brazzale”, in collaboration with the Parish of St. Matthew, with the contribution and collaboration of the City of Asiago, Department of Tourism and Culture. Fundamental is the support offered by Banca Popolare di Vicenza, Burro delle Alpi – Alpilatte, Gran Moravia, Bassan Bernardo and Sons, and Rigoni di Asiago .
Public info: 0424.464081 – www.asiagofestival.it Press info: 335.8223010 (Marina Grasso)
EVENT SHEET:
THURSDAY, AUGUST 9, 2007
ASIAGO – Church of San Rocco, 9 p.m.00 –
violin : Domenico Nordio; cello: Hyun-Jung Berger; piano: Oliver Kern Program:
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809-1847): Sonata in F major for violin and piano
Eugen D’Albert (1864-1932) “Romanze” for cello and piano – First performance
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Sonata in D major op. 58 for cello and piano Wilhelm Killmayer (1927): “Vanitas Vanitatum”: Five Romances for violin and piano Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Trio in D minor op.49
Free admission – info: www.asiagofestival.it
Admission will be allowed only while seats are available, but no later than the beginning
THE INTERPERSERS:
DOMENICO NORDIO is one of the greatest violinists of his generation. A pupil of Corrado Romano and Michéle Auclair, a former child prodigy (he gave his first recital at the age of ten), he won the Vercelli International “Viotti” Competition at the age of sixteen with the legendary Yehudy Menuhin as President of the Jury. After successes at the Thibaud Competition in Paris, Sigall in Viña del Mar, and Francescatti in Marseille, the Eurovision Grand Prix won in 1988 gave him immediate popularity, thanks in part to the final broadcast live on television throughout Europe from the Concertgebow in Amsterdam. Since then Nordio has graced stages all over the world. He has performed in London (Barbican Center), Paris (Salle Pleyel), Tokyo (Suntory Hall), Geneva (Victoria Hall), Madrid (Teatro Monumental), Dublin (National Concert Hall), Rome (Accademia di Santa Cecilia and Teatro dell’Opera), Moscow (Conservatio Tchaikovsky), among others, New York (Carnegie Hall), Rio de Janeiro (Teatro Municipal), Vienna (Konzerthaus) Zurich (Tonhalle), Istanbul (Ataturk Center), Prague (Spring Festival), Milan (Teatro alla Scala), Buenos Aires (Teatro Colon) and with the London Symphony Orchestra, the National Orchestra of France, the Orchestra of the RTE, the Orchestra, de la Suisse Romande, the Wiener Kammerorkester, the Orchestra of the Santa Cecilia Academy, the Chilean State Orchestra, the Stuttgart Radio Orchestra, the Schleswig Holstein Festival Orchestra, the Lithuanian National Orchestra, the RAI National Symphony Orchestra, the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, the Suk Orchestra of Prague, the Czech Symphony Orchestra, the Budapest Symphony Orchestra, the Petrobras Orchestra of Rio de Janeiro, the Borusan Orchestra of Istanbul. In Italy he has performed everywhere. Domenico Nordio is passionate about chamber music and enjoys meeting prestigious musicians at the Festivals of Vicenza, Siena, Brescia and Bergamo and Arezzo. Particularly privileged is his relationship with Milan’s Serate Musicali for whom he has played exclusively for more than a decade. He records for Decca. His debut with E.Ysaÿe’s Sonatas for Violin Solo was released in March 2005 and was triumphantly received; 2006 saw the release of the double CD containing the complete violin-viola and piano sonatas of J . Brahms recorded with Mikhail Lidsky. A professor of Violin at the Advanced Courses of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, he regularly holds Master Classes at the MusicaRivaFestival in Riva del Garda and at the Romanini Foundation in Brescia. Domenico Nordio has been Artistic Director of the “Città di Brescia” International Violin Competition since 2004, which under his leadership was admitted as a member of the “Fédération Mondiale des Concours Internationaux de Musique” in Geneva (FMCIM). In 2002 he was awarded the “Quadrivio Prize” for his career.
OLIVER KERN was born in 1970 in Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany, where he began studying piano when he was only 5 years old. At a very young age he embarked on artistic activity, distinguishing himself in the German music scene with brilliant results in international piano competitions. He graduated with honors in piano, conducting and choir conducting from the “Staatliche Hochschule für Musik” Academy in Stuttgart under Wan Ing Ong. He then perfected his piano studies with masters Rudolf Buchbinder and Karl-Heinz Kämmerling, at the “Musik-Akademie” in Basel and the “Mozarteum” in Salzburg. He obtains many awards in international piano competitions: first and second prizes in the Senigallia, Paris, Hamamatsu and Beijing Competitions. He comes to the attention of critics by winning two prestigious competitions: “ARD” Competition in Munich 1999, “Beethoven” Competition in Vienna 2001, in which he also wins the special prize for the best interpretation of Beethoven’s Sonatas. The latter victory gives Kern the distinction of being the first German to have achieved such an achievement. An acclaimed interpreter of Beethoven and Brahms, critics give him credit for technical virtuosity that is not an end in itself, but directed toward careful timbral and expressive research. His intellectual rigor leads him to the realization of singular cultural projects: he performs the complete piano works of Brahms in the 2003 Classix Festival in Braunschweig and in the 2004-2005 Music Season in Seoul, Korea. “With great intensity and poetry Kern shapes the cycle of Brahmsian works” (Braunschweiger Zeitung). He has performed at major festivals and in famous halls in America, Asia and Europe, earning acclaim everywhere: Musikverein Vienna, Auditorium S. Cecilia Rome, Schauspielhaus Berlin, Musikhalle Hamburg, Herkulessaal Munich, Salle Gaveau Paris, Saitama Arts Centre Tokyo, Century Hall Beijing. He has played with famous orchestras, New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, China National Symphony Orchestra, Radiosinfonieorchestre in Berlin, Munich, Hannover and Vienna, conducted by Maestros Dennis Russell Davies, Michael Stern, Lü Jia, Marc Soustrot, Gerard Oskamp, Dmitri Yablonski. He has recorded for German, Austrian, French, Italian and Japanese radio and television. He has released several CDs on the “Realsound” label with solo works by Beethoven, Berg, Brahms, Chopin, Ravel, Schubert, Schumann, Scriabin, Stravinsky. Oliver Kern also teaches piano in International Advanced Courses and is often invited as a jury member in International Piano Competitions, including “Vianna da Motta” in Lisbon. In May 2007 he performed a solo concert in honor and in the presence of Card.Tomas Spidlik in the great hall of the “Hradisko” palace in Olomouc.
YUN-JUNG BERGER was born in Seoul, South Korea. She initially studied in Seoul with Prof. Hae-Guen Kang, later with Julius Berger at the “Musikhochschule des Saarlandes” and the “Musikhochschule Mainz” and with Thomas Demenga at the “Musikhochschule” in Basel. Since 1991 he has been assistant to Julius Berger first in Saarbrücken, then in Mainz and since 2001 at the Musikhochschule Augsburg. He obtains prestigious national and international prizes, such as in 1993 the “Gieseking” prize (Musikhochschule des Saarlandes), the prize of the Mozarteum Academy in Salzburg, in 1995 the prize of the University of Mainz, first prize also at the international chamber music competition in Trapani and the “Press Prize” together with pianist Josè Gallardo. In 1996 he was awarded the DAAD prize. He is soloist with Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, Korean Symphony Orchestra, Festival Strings Luzern, Basel Symphony Orchestra, Bern Philharmonic Academy and others. In 1995 he made his debut in Mainz under Lothar Zagrosek. In 1998 he played in Israel with the Halle Orchestra. Numerous chamber music concerts took her to Moscow (conservatoryTschaikovsky), Appen (invited by Sofia Gubaidulina) and “Festspiele Salzburg.” Together with her husband Julius Berger she has recorded several CDs for the EBS label on music by Boccherini that are regarded as landmarks in music journals.