A musical encounter with Eva Stegeman, Rembrandt Frerichs Trio, Kayhan Kalhor & friends on 15th May.
Classical Encounters, the chamber music festival of The Hague, Leiden and surrounding areas, will join forces with the Rembrandt Trio for a meeting between different worlds of classical music on the evening of Saturday, May 15th. In the Lourdes Church in The Hague, the Iranian kamancheh virtuoso Kayhan Kalhor will perform together with the Rembrandt Trio. Artistic director and violinist Eva Stegeman will invite her musical friends Pieter van Loenen, Charles Watt, Judith Wijzenbeek, and Dominic Seldis. They will perform classical pieces by Messiaen and Ravel, among others, as well as a new piece by Rembrandt Frerichs, who will personally take place behind the piano.
The concert will be broadcast via livestream. Depending on the rules related to Covid-19, a limited live audience may be allowed inside the spacious Lourdes Church, which is where Classical Encounters streamed an entire day of classical music in May 2020, reaching over 5.000 viewers in 16 countries. The first half of the night, the audience will witness the encounter of jazz pianist and composer Rembrandt Frerichs and violinist – and artistic director of Classical Encounters – Eva Stegeman and her musical friends Pieter van Loenen (violin), Judith Wijzenbeek (viola), Charles Watt (cello), and Dominic Seldis (double bass). Together with Rembrandt Frerichs, they will play pieces by Frerichs, Ravel, and Messiaen. After the intermission, the program will resume with an encounter from a different world: Iranian classical music. Kamancheh player Kayhan Kalhor and the Rembrandt Trio will find new and inspiring ways to combine elements from Persian classical music and jazz.
Classical Encounters is part of a new collaboration of local The Hague creatives, including not only Stichting Tonality’s Rembrandt Frerichs Trio , but also the New European Ensemble, and the Matangi Quartet.
Eva Stegeman on the collaboration with The Hague creatives: “In these times especially, it is important to join forces with other The Hague creatives, like Rembrandt Frerichs and his trio, to show what is simmering and growing in The Hague’s creative climate. As a classical violinist, I am very excited to discover Rembrandt Frerich’s new piano concerto. This meeting between Rembrandt and our quintet of classical musicians will be an exciting encounter, and together we will take our audience on an enriching journey along the cutting edge between jazz and classical music.”
About the Rembrandt Trio and Kayhan Kalhor
The Rembrandt Trio is known for their broad approach and innovative collaborations with classical music, and plays a pioneering role in working together with musicians from the Middle East.
Rembrandt Frerichs: “I’d been looking for a different piano sound for years: something lighter and more poetical than the modern grand piano. In my imagination, this sound would mix perfectly with the melancholy sound of Kayhan’skamancheh. In this formation, we can create atmospheric music; melodies will come and go, as in a conversation between old friends.”
The Iranian kamancheh virtuoso Kayhan Kalhor is known for his groundbreaking collaborations in which he reshapes Persian classical music, for example while playing together with the New York Philharmonic, as a member of Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble, or on his albums on ECM.
About Classical Encounters
Since its foundation in 2003 Classical Encounters, under artistic direction of violinist Eva Stegeman, has become the international chamber music festival of The Hague and its surroundings, with an annual festival lasting several days. Innovation and experience are the artistic starting points for each Encounter. In all future activities, connection will also be a core value. Starting in 2021, Classical Encounters wants to propagate this mission and increase connection by organizing several separate encounters throughout the rest of the year. Classical Encounters will now consist of an annual festival weekend, in addition to which it will organize different activities, collaborations, and concerts throughout the year.
Classical Encounters on Saturday, May 15th, 2021 is made possible by:
Classical Encounters, EMMA, the Friends of Classical Encounters, and Stichting Tonality. The concert will be recorded by NPO Radio 4 to be broadcast on May 19th, 2021.
Photo and ©Foppe Schut
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