Violindiplomatie
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| free of charge |
| Please leave coats and large bags at the checkroom or lockers before the concert. The number of seats is limited, plus standing room. In the event of overcrowding, we will have to close the entrance temporarily. |
| Start: Room 202 “Johan Adrian Jacobsen” Part 2: Stairwell 28 “Global Barocc” |
| Duration: 60 min |
| 6 years and older |
| German, No language skills required |
| For people with visual impairments |
| 2nd Floor |
| Part of: Micro Concerts of the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin |
Eugène Ysaÿe
Sonata for two violins solo in A minor, op. posth.
Poco lento, maestoso – Allegro fermo
Allegretto poco lento
Finale. Allegro vivo e con fuoco
Eugène Ysaÿe (1858-1931), an important violinist and composer from Belgium, left behind several valuable compositions for violin, most of which he wrote for himself. One exception is the fascinating Sonata for two violins from 1915, which was forgotten until the 1960s. It is dedicated to none other than Queen Elisabeth of Belgium, founder of the important instrumental competition Concours Reine Elisabeth, which was later named after her. The Queen played the violin excellently, performed with Yehudi Menuhin, among others, founded several orchestras and used music festival visits to Poland and the Soviet Union during the Cold War to seek diplomatic contact with the leaders there by means of cultural similarities and against the will of the Belgian government.
The music of the three-movement work is of exquisite beauty and virtuosity. The two solo parts are absolutely equal and extremely demanding both technically and musically. The score is peppered with double-stopping and chordal passages, staccato runs and arpeggios. Music critics describe it as an adaptation of Bach, a rapturous ecstasy of sound and brilliant Romantic virtuosity.
Born in Zurich, David Nebel began playing the violin at the age of five. He first attended the conservatory in Zurich and later studied with Boris Kuschnir in Vienna and Yair Kless in Graz. David then continued his studies at the Royal College of Music in London with Professor Alexander Gilman as a Leverhulme Arts Scholar. In 2021 he won the prestigious Emily Anderson Prize of the Royal Philharmonic Society in London. David Nebel was a member of the LGT Young Soloists, a string ensemble of highly talented young musicians led by Alexander Gilman.
Nebel has also been a guest soloist at renowned festivals, including the Khachaturian Festival in Armenia, the Kissinger Sommer in Germany, where he performed the world premiere of Gediminas Gelgotas’ Violin Concerto, and the Pärnu Music Festival in Estonia as part of the Järvi Academy. He has also performed at concerts organized by the Orpheum Foundation in Switzerland. Highlights of recent seasons include performances and recordings with the Südwestdeutsches Kammerorchester, the Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège and the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra.
In 2020, David Nebel released his first solo CD album with conductor Kristjan Järvi on the Sony Classical label. Together with the London Symphony Orchestra and the Baltic Sea Philharmonic, he recorded the Violin Concerto No. 1 by Philip Glass and the Violin Concerto by Igor Stravinksy. The album received excellent reviews from the international press, including Strad Magazine and Bayerischer Rundfunk.
David Nebel has been one of the first concertmaster of the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin since January 2023. Nebel plays on a violin by Antonio Stradivari, which was provided by a private sponsor.
Kosuke Yoshikawa was born in Tokyo in 1984 into a musical family and received his first violin lessons at the age of three. He later continued his education at the Toho Gakuen School of Music in Tokyo with Toshiya Eto. From 2003 to 2010 he studied at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna with Josef Hell and passed with distinction. Later, he studied at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich with Ana Chumachenco and also graduated with honors in 2013 with a master’s degree. His further extensive training was provided by private lessons with Rainer Honeck, concertmaster of the Vienna Philharmonic. He was a member of the Orchestra Academy of the Bavarian State Opera from 2010 to 2011, and in 2011 he obtained a permanent position in the first violins in the Munich Chamber Orchestra. Since 2017, he has been first violinist in the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin. He plays as a substitute with orchestras such as the Munich Philharmonic, the Bavarian State Opera, the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen. His solo successes include prizes at the Stefanie Hohl Competition in Vienna and the International Violin Competition in Sion-Vallais. As a soloist, Kosuke Yoshikawa has performed with members of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Bavarian Philharmonic Orchestra, Baden-Baden Philharmonic Orchestra and Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, among others. He has a great passion for chamber music and plays with several ensembles as well as with various violin duos, a piano trio and string quartets.
The micro-concerts are part of a series of concerts in which musicians from the RSB enter into a dialog with the location and the exhibitions. The Humboldt Forum and the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin are jointly organizing the micro-concerts as part of the 100th anniversary of the RSB.
