CHAMBER MUSIC ENSEMBLES - ANDREAS RICHTER

franz ensemble

The franz ensemble is a chamber music ensemble of young, internationally renowned soloists and chamber musicians, combining strings, winds and a pianist. The instrumentation allows for an enormous spectrum, ranging from the finest chamber music colours to orchestral sounds.

The musicians came together for the first time in 2017. The enthusiasm for joint concerts with the Octet by Franz Schubert, the ensemble’s namesake, led to the desire to perform together regularly and form a permanent ensemble.

The members of the franz ensemble are top-class soloists, professors, and orchestra members. They are united by many years of profound artistic experience, which stands as a guarantee for the high quality and tonal brilliance of the ensemble. Concerts have taken them to the Kissinger Sommer and the Musikfest Bremen, among others.

VIDEO

PRESS

“Elegant, new swing”, “Technically perfect and nuanced”

Deutschlandfunk 03/20

“Exciting ensemble playing and a beguilingly beautiful tonal culture.”

FONO FORUM 12/19

SELECTION OF PROJECTS 2024/25

–Projects Overview 2024/25 (PDF)

Dates available upon request
The poor fiddler
Janna Mohr, puppeteer

Figure theatre and chamber music as one: actress Janna Mohr and composer Helena Winkelman recreate Grillparzer’s novella Der arme Spielmann with the franz ensemble and tell the bizarre life story of a tragic clown who goes to ruin because of his idealism, which is as noble as it is impractical. Sounds, music stands, instrument parts and shadows take on a life of their own and grow together to form the backdrop of a turbulent folk festival. The premiere took place in Bremen in March 2023. The programme is also available as a concert performance.

L. v. Beethoven: Septett op. 20
H. Winkelmann: “The poor fiddler” (commission work in cooperation with puppeteer Janna Mohr)

Dates available upon request
jörg & franz

J. Widmann: Octet (2004)
F. Schubert: Octet in F major D.803

DOWNLOADS

–franz ensemble press photo 1

–franz ensemble press photo 2

–franz ensemble press photo 3

–Biography (PDF)

–Projects Overview 2024/25 (PDF)

Oberon Trio

The Oberon Trio was founded in 2006. Shortly after the ensemble’s premier concert, the Flensburger Tageblatt already credited the Oberon Trio with “enormous interpretive abilities, which testify to the enchanting ripeness and stylistic command of this new ensemble.” Meanwhile, Oberon Trio has given performances at the Berliner Philharmonie, the Wiener Konzerthaus, the Laeiszhalle in Hamburg, the Konzerthaus Dortmund and Esterházy Palace, among others, as well as in Italy, Bulgaria, Israel, India, Egypt and the Ukraine.

Its three members are committed to offering performances of lesser-known compositions alongside with established masterpieces. Their repertoire extends from piano trios by CPE Bach and Joseph Haydn, the pioneers of the medium, to those by Jörg Widmann and Charlotte Bray, whose trios were recorded by the ensemble for the first time. Oberon Trio also collaborates regularly with chamber music partners such as Tabea Zimmermann, Ian Bostridge, Christoph Prégardien and Shirley Brill.

A special passion of the Oberon Trio is the establishment of greater intimacy between the performers and the public. Through moderated concerts and by publishing their own programme notes of performed works among other approaches, they provide listeners with an insight into their working process and the background of their interpretations.

On November 19, 2022, the Oberon Trio invites you to the TRIOGIPFEL E.T.A.200. Together with the Amatis Trio, the Morgenstern Trio and the actress Stella Maria Adorf, the ensemble celebrates the poet, composer and caricaturist E.T.A. Hoffmann, whose death anniversary in 2022 is the 200th. The program includes works by Ludwig van Beethoven, Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms, two world premieres by Britta Byström and Frank Zabel – and, of course, music and texts by the jubilarian E.T.A. Hoffmann. For more information, visit www.triogipfel.de

VIDEO

PRESS

„Zuhören einfach ein Genuß!“

Passauer Neue Presse, 16. Juli 2022

„Haydn und Schumann klingen frisch wie am ersten Tag, Hosokawas spirituelle Dimension ist geradezu eine Offenbarung, und Copland stringentes Doppelspiel mit Zwischentönen gelingt grandios.“

Crescendo, Februar 2020

„Kammermusik auf höchstem Niveau.“

Das Orchester, Mai, 2017

SELECTION OF PROJECTS 2024/25

–Project Overview 2024-25 (PDF)

Dates available upon request
LIEBST DU UM SCHÖNHEIT
with Ian Bostridge, tenor

Rückert songs by Franz Schubert, Gustav Mahler, Clara Schumann a.o.

Dates available upon request
FOLK SONG BY HAYDN AND BEETHOVEN
with Christoph Prégardien or Ian Bostridge, tenor

With songs and trios by L. v. Beethoven and J. Haydn

DOWNLOADS

–Oberon Trio press photo 1

–Oberon Trio press photo 2

–Oberon Trio press photo 3

–Biography (PDF)

–Projects 2024-25 (PDF)

–Beethoven hoch Drei (PDF)

PAST CONCERTS – A SELECTION

19 November 2022, KühlhausBerlin
TRIOGIPFEL E.T.A.200 –
“Wo die Sprache aufhört, fängt die Musik an.”
A chamber music festival for Berlin on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the death of E.T.A. Hoffmann

Contributors: Oberon Trio, Amatis Trio, Morgenstern Trio, Stella Maria Adorf

“The result is an impressive plea for the piano trio genre.”

nmz, 20 November 2022

27 June 2020, Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele
Beethoven3
Oberon Trio / Christoph Pregardién, tenor

Kronos Quartet

For nearly 50 years, San Francisco’s Kronos Quartet—David Harrington (violin), John Sherba (violin), Hank Dutt (viola), and Paul Wiancko (cello)—has reimagined what the string quartet experience can be. One of the most celebrated and influential groups of our era, Kronos has given thousands of concerts worldwide, released more than 70 recordings, and collaborated with many of the world’s most accomplished composers and performers across many genres. Kronos has received more than 40 awards, including three Grammys and the Polar Music, Avery Fisher, and Edison Klassiek Oeuvre Prizes.

Through its non-profit organization, Kronos Performing Arts Association (KPAA), Kronos has commissioned more than 1,000 works and arrangements for quartet. KPAA also manages Kronos’ concert tours, local performances, recordings, and education programs, and produces an annual Kronos Festival in San Francisco. In its most ambitious commissioning effort to date, KPAA has recently completed 50 for the Future: The Kronos Learning Repertoire. Through this initiative, Kronos has commissioned—and distributed online for free—50 new works for string quartet designed for students and emerging professionals, written by composers from around the world.

VIDEO

PRESS

„Now after 45 years, the Kronos life journey [has become] a relentless endeavor to open up the world’s music for everyone.“

Metro Silicon Valley

„As Ben Jonson said of Shakespeare, [Kronos Quartet is] not of an age but for all time.“

Santa Cruz Sentinel

„The most far-ranging ensemble geographically, nationally and stylistically the world has known.“

Los Angeles Times

DOWNLOADS

–Kronos Quartet press photo 1

–Kronos Quartet press photo 2

–Kronos Quartet press photo 3

–Biography (PDF)

PAST CONCERTS

21 MAY 2022 Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele
50 for the future

For its 50 for the Future project, the Kronos Quartet asked 50 international composers to write new works. The compositions created and still being created follow a participatory approach in that the scores are accessible free of charge and are supplemented by audio samples and interviews. In Ludwigsburg, the programme included works by Angélique Kidjo, inti figgis-vizueta, Terry Riley and Philip Glass, among others.

„’Die sollten zum Jubiläum wiederkommen’,
meinte ein Besucher beim Weggehen.“

Ludwigsburger Kreiszeitung, 24. Mai 2022