In the organizer's words:

In keeping with the winter season, the December micro-concert brings music by Nordic composers into dialog with cultures that define themselves or are defined as northern - the Kwakwakaʼwakw from Vancouver Island in north-western Canada and the Buddhist trade travellers on the Northern Silk Road that runs through the Taklamakan Desert.

The Finnish composer Einojuani Rautavaara (1928-2016) was born at the time when his compatriot and role model Jean Sibelius finally stopped composing. Rautavaara's first string quartet (1953) reveals his interest in neoclassicism. An idiom reminiscent of Stravinsky and Finnish folk music form an exciting combination. But the Finn was no stranger to Slavic romanticism either, nor to a peppery Italian gigue at the end.

Around 1890, the Norwegian Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) used a similarly cheerful gesture to accompany his rather brooding first string quartet in G minor with a "light and cheerful sister" in F major. However, the bright, serenade-like work was only to remain in two movements. Despite several attempts, Edvard Grieg never got around to finishing the rewarding fragment.

Einojuhani Rautavaara: String Quartet No. 1 ("Quartettino")

Edvard Grieg: String Quartet No. 2 in F major EG 117

Participants

Maria Pflüger: Violin

Brigitte Draganov: Violin

Gernot Adrion: Viola

Jörg Breuninger: Violoncello

Steffen Georgi / Jan Linders: Moderation

Gernot Adrion has been deputy principal viola of the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin since 1996. He studied with Hans Kohlhase at the Meistersinger Conservatory in Nuremberg until 1995 and has won prizes at various competitions, including the national "Jugend musiziert" competition, the IHK competition, the Dr. Drexel competition in Nuremberg and the German Conservatory Competition in Darmstadt.

In addition to his pedagogical work as a mentor at the RSB Orchestra Academy, he has a particular love of chamber music. He has worked regularly with Susanne Herzog and Hans-Jakob Eschenburg in the Gideon Klein Trio since 2006 and in a duo with pianist Yuki Inagawa since 2012. Gernot Adrion plays a viola by Petrus Gaggini.

Jörg Breuninger has been a member of the RSB since 1996. He completed his diploma studies at the Karlsruhe University of Music (with Annemarie Dengler-Speermann) and in Cologne (with Claus Kanngiesser). He extended his training with master classes with Boris Pergamenschikoff, Wolfgang Boettcher and Valentin Berlinski ("Borodin Quartet").

The cellist won prizes at the national competition "Jugend musiziert", the BDI competition, the International Chamber Music Competition in Illzach in string trio with his brothers and reached the final of the Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition. He has performed in many chamber music formations, such as the "Epos String Quartet" and also arranges pieces for four cellos, which he performs together with the ensemble "Just four Cellos".

He regularly performs as a chamber musician in RSB concerts.

Brigitte Draganov comes from Potsdam and has played in the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin since 1994. She became a permanent member of the second violin section in 1995. She attended the Special School for Music from 1982 to 1989 and studied at the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music in Berlin. Her professors included U. Scholz, G. Schmahl and W.-K. Zeller.

Since 1995, Brigitte Draganov has played as a substitute and later as a substitute at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin as well as in the Kammerorchester Berlin and for many years in the Kammersymphonie Berlin. In 2001 Brigitte Draganov was appointed to the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra.

Maria Pflüger has been a member of the 1st violin section of the RSB since 1996 and completed her diploma studies in London at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama with Yfrah Neaman and attended master classes with Henry Szering and Tatjana Grindenko. She also completed a two-year course at the Moscow State P. I. Tchaikovsky Conservatory with Maja Glesarowa. She received a DAAD scholarship for both study visits.

Maria Pflüger has won prizes at competitions in Vichy (France), Finale di Ligure (Italy), Caltanisetta (Sicily) and at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London. She also plays the solo violin on the Echo Award-winning CD production "Pollicino" (Hans Werner Henze), which was released by WERGO in 2003.

Further information

- A Humboldt Forum ticket is required: EUR 14.00 / reduced EUR 7.00

- A Humboldt Forum Ticket is required for the visit, with which you can also visit all exhibitions in the museum before and after the visit. Children and young people up to the age of 19 free, usual discounts.

- Tickets online or at the box office in the foyer.

- 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.

- Duration: 60 min

- from 6 years

- Language: German, no language skills required

- For people with visual impairments

- 2ND FLOOR

- Part of: Micro-concerts of the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin