The combination of voice and harp is a beautiful variation of the Liederabend setup. Two concert programs have emerged from my work in this context: Lieder von zu Hause und unterwegs (Songs from Home and Far Away) with folk songs from Italy, Russia, Germany, England, Wales, etc. by composers like Benjamin Britten, Maurice Ravel, Luciano Berio, Modest Mussorgsky, Johannes Brahms and others. The program L'énigme éternelle features sacred songs and hymns by Henry Purcell, César Franck, Maurice Ravel and Georg Philipp Telemann as well as Mike Svoboda's Da steht geschrieben, written for myself and Beate Anton (harp).

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Songs from Home and Far Away features a genre that has fascinated composers and performers for generations: the folk song. Be it the popular tunes from Naples or Ravel’s refined arrangements, those melodies – passed from mouth to ear – transport the atmospheres of the cultures from which they emerged and touch us deeply. Spirited songs and elegiac tunes from the Mediterranean, arranged by Manuel de Falla and Maurice Ravel, are contrasted with airs from England and Wales set by Benjamin Britten and Johannes Brahms’ versions of German Volkslieder. The program mirrors the enchantment that has captivated composers since the Romantic period. In their arrangements the simplicity of folk melodies unfolds in the aesthetics of their time, connecting the archaic with the refined.

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Dem Rätselhaften der menschlichen Existenz, dem Zusammenspiel von irdischem Treiben und der Suche nach Transzendenz, ist dieses Programm gewidmet. In einem vom Barock bis in die Gegenwart gespannten Bogen erklingen Werke, die von Hoffnung, Liebe und Trost erzählen und in ihrer Beschäftigung mit jenen essentiellen Themen des Lebens ihre Gültigkeit über den jeweiligen Gattungsrahmen hinaus beweisen. Sie eröffnen vielmehr im philosophischen Sinne die Möglichkeit zum Innehalten und zur Reflexion.