Virtuoso beauty
Colourful evening on the cutting edge
Oct 12 2021
This evening, Asko|Schoenberg will perform five works which explore extremes, both physically and emotionally.
The ensemble’s virtuoso wind players take centre stage with notoriously difficult solos by Luciano Berio (for flute) and Olivier Messiaen (horn), and in the delightful pieces for wind quintet by György Ligeti. These compositions may be difficult to perform, but listening to this magical music is pure joy.
Rob Zuidam also reached for the impossible when giving voice to his sorrow at the unexpected death of the composer–conductor Oliver Knussen, who was a dear friend both of Zuidam and of the ensemble. Zuidam succeeded admirably. Samuel Adams, for his part, has portrayed the collective shock of lockdown during the coronavirus pandemic in his Violin Diptych. It promises to be a colourful evening on the cutting edge – with catharsis as a reward.
Asko|Schönberg
Photo: David Kweksilber (by Bowie Verschuuren)