A unique concert is in store for February, as The Pharos Arts Foundation presents the partnership of three special musicians: The well-known to Cyprus audiences violinist Wolfgang Schröder, the celebrated German pianist Iwan König and the charismatic young Chinese cellist Xiaolu Li.
Iwan König is the director of the renowned international music festival Musikalischer Sommer in Ostfriesland, and prize winner of the International Piano Competition in Bré, the First International Chopin Piano Competition in Darmstadt, and the Artur Schnabel Piano Competition in Berlin.
Regarded as a rare prodigious talent from a very young age, Xiaolu Li has become known for her rich musical sensitivity and perception and has appeared extensively around the world.
Wolfgang Schröder has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician in venues such as the Philharmonie in Berlin, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Vienna Konzerthaus, Lincoln Center in New York, London’s Wigmore Hall, among others.
The three musicians will join forces to perform a delightful piano trio programme encompassing works by Beethoven, Schubert and Paul Schoenfield.
The concert will take place on Thursday 15 February 2024, at The Shoe Factory, Nicosia / 8:30 pm.
PROGRAMME:
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Piano Trio in G major, Op.1 No.2 (1795)
Paul Schoenfield (b.1947)
Café Music (1987)
Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Piano Trio No.1 in B-flat major, D.898 (1827)
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IWAN KÖNIG piano
Iwan König is the director of the international music festival Musikalischer Sommer in Ostfriesland. Born into a musical family, he moved to Taiwan and Japan at the age of five due to the activities of his parents, who were professional musicians. König is a prize winner of the International Piano Competition in Bré, Lugano (Switzerland), the First International Chopin Piano Competition in Darmstadt, and the Artur Schnabel Piano Competition in Berlin. He has appeared worldwide, both as a soloist and a chamber musician. He joined forces with prestigious artists such as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Gidon Kremer, Thomas Zehetmair, Sebastian Manz, Jan Vogler, Zara Nelsova, Tine Thing Helseth, among others. He has been a member of various chamber music ensembles, including Ensemble Wien 2001, Klangforum Wien, Janus Trio, Goldberg Ensemble. With Herwig Tachezi, the former solo-cellist of the Concentus Musicus Wien, he recorded the complete Beethoven works for piano and cello for the Gramola label. From 2004 until 2007, Iwan König was a guest professor at the Mokwon University in Daejeon, South Korea.
WOLFGANG SCHRÖDER violin
Wolfgang Schröder has appeared as a soloist with numerous orchestras, including, the Bavarian Chamber Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra, Czech Symphony Orchestra, Basel Chamber Orchestra, Salzburg Chamber Philharmonic and Camerata Salzburg, Nuremberg Symphony. He was also the Artistic Director of the European Community Chamber Orchestra (ECCO) from 1993-1995. He has collaborated with conductors like Vladimir Ashkenazy, Andrey Boreyko, Daniel Raiskin, Simon Gaudenz, to name but a few. In 1992, he founded the Belcanto String Trio, and from 1996 to 2005, he performed as the violinist of the Trio Parnassus, which – in 2001 – received the prestigious Echo Classic Award. As a soloist and chamber musician Wolfgang Schröder has appeared in venues such as the Philharmonie in Berlin, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Vienna Konzerthaus, Lincoln Center in New York, the Frick Collection Museum in New York, the Wigmore Hall and the Barbican Hall in London, Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, and has been invited to major chamber music festivals such as the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival in Finland, the Open Chamber Musicians Seminar at Prussia Cove, the Hopfgarten Festival in Austria, the Moritzburg Festival in Germany, the West Cork Festival in Ireland, the Umea and Bostad Festivals in Sweden, and the Ojika Festival in Japan. Since 1998 he has been Artistic Director of the Camerata Stuttgart with whom he has appeared in such prestigious venues as Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Liederhalle in Stuttgart, and the Dortmund Opera House, and since 2005, he is the First Concertmaster of the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra.
XIAOLU LI cello
A cellist with natural charisma, rich musical sensitivity and perception, Xiaolu Li was born in China, and became known as a prodigious talent from a very young age. Xiaolu has appeared extensively around the world, such as with the Swiss Bill Symphony Orchestra, with whom she performed Saint-Saëns’ Cello Concerto, at the Shanghai Spring International Music Festival, where she performed Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Theme Variations with the Shanghai Symphony Chamber Orchestra, the Hong Kong International Chamber Music Festival, the Edinburgh Chamber Music Festival, the European Arts Festival in Austria, the Musikalischer Sommer in Ostfriesland Music Festival. Equally at home in chamber music, she is a founding member of the X’cret Piano Trio and, with her string quartet, she has won the International Chamber Music Competition in Shanghai. Xiaolu Li has studied at the University of Music Karlsruhe, the Hannover University of Music, Theatre and Media, the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts, the ESMUC Barcelona and the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. She is the founder and the Artistic Director of Rhein International Music Festival & Academy.
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INFORMATION & BOX OFFICE:
www.pharosartsfoundation.org & Tel. 22-663871 (Monday – Friday 10:00am-2:00pm)
Tickets: €20 / €15 Concessions & members of the Pharos Arts Foundation
