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| | Arts Calendar / May 20 / Concerts |
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19:00 | Ansgar Wallenhorst (Germany) |
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 The Director of Music at Saint Peter and Paul's Church in Ratingen, and prize winner of the Haarlem Improvisation competition Ansgar Wallenhors (organ) is one of the most distinguished improvisers of his generation. Having performed in more than 20 countries in Europe, North-America, Asia and Australia, Ansgar Wallenhorst has been acclaimed as an ambassador of inspired improvisation and innovative organ culture. In the program of his recital he included works by Bach, Vierne, Franck and other composers.
MMDM Svetlanov Hall  |
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 "Matthäus-Passion" by Heinrich Schütz (1585–1672), one of the greatest masters of German baroque, will be performed at the concert. Heinrich Schütz’s contemporaries called him “the Father of new German music”. It is absolutely fair because he opened for Germany music the way leading to Bach. Schütz combined in his work all the most significant schools of the 17th century and imparted new meanings to the canonical genres. The composer left a great heritage – about 500 works including primarily sacred compositions – oratorios, psalms, sacred hymns and many others. He returned to the Biblical texts again and again all his life. "Matthäus-Passion" was written in 1666, when the composer was 80. At that time Schütz had already lived through the terrible Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) that had a powerful impact on him. While in his early compositions prevails the Italian theatricality (Schütz travelled a lot and took lessons by Claudio Monteverdi), here his music idiom is absolutely different. In Matthäus-Passion the monody alternates with the four-part choruses. The sound is rough, ascetic, without any external colourfulness, but that formal simplicity has profundity and dramatic power.
Novaya Opera Theatre |
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