The Paris-Budapest-Tokyo Axis - Chamber Music Concert

Keep your eyes on the Far East! Says a widely shared view that the future of classical music lies not only in Europe and the United States, but also in Asia. It is not just the young virtuoso musicians that are discovered year in year out that mark the rise of the East, but also the fusion that is creating its own colours and forms by bringing together the two worlds. The First Far Eastern Classical Music Festival, launched by Gábor Farkas, showcases the rich musical culture of Japan. Sunday evening's gala concert will focus on bamboo instruments and the classic sounds of Japanese music.

‘Japan worships him’ – with only a hint of exaggeration, this was the hyperbolic turn of phrase employed by a Hungarian newspaper nine years ago to report on István Kohán's success. However, within two years, the Hungarian clarinettist had won both the top prize and the audience prize in four Japanese competitions, performed with the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, and had also won the accolade of the highly popular Kobayashi Ken-Ichiro. István Kohán's short Hungarian Fantasy will be accompanied by works from Schubert and Bartók, while the concert will open with an arrangement by Toshio Hosokawa of a world-famous Japanese classic by Toru Takemitsu: A String Around Autumn, originally a viola concerto inspired by Claude Debussy and Olivier Messiaen that was written for a commemoration of the French Revolution. On this occasion the solo instrument will be partnered by a piano. The programme concludes with Mendelssohn's sumptuous Piano Trio in D minor, enthusiastically hailed by no less a composer than Schumann following its premier performance: "A masterpiece of our age which (...) will delight our grandchildren and great-grandchildren." More than a generation has passed since then, and perhaps neither the composer nor his appreciator could have imagined just how much the trio would mean to three great artists from two continents - Luosha Fang, István Várdai and Eva Yulin-Shen.

Programme

Toru Takemitsu/Toshio Hosokawa: “A string around autumn” for viola and piano
Contributors: Luosha Fang (viola), Kaisei Mizuno (piano)

Schubert: Shepherd on the Rock
Contributors: Hiroko Kato (vocals), István Kohán (clarinet), Gábor Farkas (piano)

Bartók: Romanian folk dances
Soloist: István Kohán (clarinet), Gábor Farkas (piano)

István Kohán: Hungarian fantasy
Soloists: Gábor Farkas (piano), István Kohán (clarinet)

Mendelssohn: Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, Op. 49.
Contributors: Luosha Fang (violin), István Várdai (cello), Eva Yulin-Shen (piano)

The program is implemented with the support of the Japan Foundation.