GRAND ANNIVERSARY CONCERT: QUEYRAS – KADESHA – HERNÁN

PROGRAMME:

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685–1750): Concerto for 2 Violins in D minor, BWV 1043 (1718–20?)

I. Vivace

II. Largo, ma non tanto

III. Allegro

Jonian Ilias Kadesha & Pablo Hernán Benedí violin solo

CARL PHILIPP EMANUEL BACH (1714–1788): Cello Concerto in A minor, H.432 (1750)

I. Allegro assai

II. Andante

III. Allegro assai

Jean-Guihen Queyras violoncello solo

— INTERMISSION —

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685–1750): Brandenburg Concerto No.3 in G major, BWV 1048 (1718)

I. Allegro

II. Adagio

III. Allegro

KALAMATA FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA

Felix Froschhammer, Stelios Mastrogiannis, Yume Tomita, Karolina Bagarič Vujanic & Antonios Maziotis first violins

Juliette Dunoyer Greer, Coco Tomita, Viviane Plekhotkine & Louise de Crombrugghe second violins

Lily Francis & Gustavo Vieira Rebelo violas

Indira Rahmatulla & Vashti Hunter violoncelli

Romana Uhlíková double bass

Stephanie Gurga cembalo

ARTIST RÉSUMÉS:

Jonian Ilias Kadesha is a violinist of striking imagination and intellectual breadth, recognised for performances that combine stylistic precision, physical intensity and vivid colour. Born in Athens of Albanian and Greek heritage, he studied at the Musikhochschule Würzburg, Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin and Kronberg Academy, and worked with teachers and mentors including Antje Weithaas, Sir András Schiff, Salvatore Accardo, Grigori Zhislin, Ulf Wallin, Ferenc Rados, Steven Isserlis, Ivry Gitlis, Leonidas Kavakos and Hatto Beyerle.

He has appeared with orchestras including the Chamber Orchestra of Europe under Sir András Schiff, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Beethoven Sinfonieorchester Bonn, Tapiola Sinfonietta, Slovenian Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, MDR Sinfonieorchester, Athens and Thessaloniki State Orchestras, and Lübeck Philharmonic. Increasingly sought after as soloist-director, he collaborates with ensembles such as the Netherlands and Scottish Chamber Orchestras, Aurora Orchestra, Manchester Camerata and London Mozart Players, bringing to orchestral repertoire the freedom of chamber music, improvisation and personal ornamentation.

A passionate chamber musician and curator, Kadesha is co-founder of the award-winning Trio Gaspard and founder of Caerus Chamber Ensemble. His programming reflects a restless curiosity across early, classical, modern and contemporary repertoire alike. He has performed with Martha Argerich, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Nicolas Altstaedt, Steven Isserlis, Gábor Takács-Nagy and Antje Weithaas, and appeared at Wigmore Hall, the Louvre, Berlin Philharmonie and Salle Molière Lyon. His recordings for Linn Records, including his solo debut Hommage à J.S.B. and Suite Italienne with CHAARTS, have received outstanding international praise for imagination, originality, stylistic confidence and taste across several major European publications.

Pablo Hernán Benedí enjoys a varied career as a violinist and violist. He was born in Spain where he carries his studies as well as London where he lived for over a decade. As a chamber musician he is a founder member of Trio Isimsiz with whom he plays since 2010 having recorded three albums, including their commission to Francisco Coll and performing in venues such as the Wigmore Hall, Aldeburgh Festival, Barbican Hall, Royal Festival Hall and featuring recently in a MusicaViva Tour in Australia. He was also a member of the Chiaroscuro Quartet for fourteen years until 2024, featuring in their first 14 recordings and enjoying a varied performing scene.

Currently he is also a member of the Caerus Ensemble, a group of great variability and scope, in which all members rotate and perform different roles as well as different formations ranging from the duo to piano quintet.

Since 2020 Pablo joined the Balthasar Neumann Orchestra and Choir as concertmaster, also taking the role as mentor in their academy. Pablo works regularly as guest leader with groups such as Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Philharmonia Orchestra and Netherlands Chamber Orchestra amongst others. As a soloist Pablo has performed with Philarmonia Orchestra, Mozart Players and Concerto Budapest.

In 2024 he joined Timothy Ridout as a professor at Haute Ecole de Musique de Sion teaching violin and viola. Pablo enjoys playing a Jean Baptiste Vuillaume from 1851.

Curiosity, diversity and a firm focus on the music itself characterise the artistic work of Jean-Guihen Queyras. Whether on stage or record, one experiences an artist dedicated completely and passionately to the music, whose humble and quite unpretentious treatment of the score reflects its clear, undistorted essence. His approaches to early music and contemporary music are equally thorough. Jean-Guihen Queyras was a founding member of the Arcanto Quartet and forms a celebrated trio with Isabelle Faust and Alexander Melnikov; the latter is, alongside Alexandre Tharaud, a regular accompanist. The versatility in his music-making has led to many concert halls, festivals and orchestras inviting him to be an Artist in Residence. Jean-Guihen Queyras often appears with renowned orchestras and conductors, and his discography is impressive. He holds a professorship at the University of Music Freiburg and is Artistic Director of the Rencontres Musicales de Haute-Provence festival in Forcalquier, France.

Stephanie Gurga is a polyvalent musician, performing on piano, harpsichord, organ, and fortepiano, as well as an opera conductor. In 2010, she was named to the Haute Ecole de Musique Vaud-Valais-Fribourg, and has specialized in accompanying strings. She has accompanied the classes of numerous acclaimed teachers, including for Janine Jansen, Tatjana Masurenko, François Salque, Gerard Caussé, and Clemens Hagen.

As harpsichordist and pianist, Stephanie frequently appears with L’Orchestre de chambre de Lausanne, L’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Prague Symphonic Ensemble, and the Sharoun Ensemble. As conductor, she has directed productions for the Nouvel Opéra Fribourg, at the Puy-du-Fou attraction park, L’Oriental de Vevey, the Grimeborn Opera Festival London, and the Woodhouse Opera.

Stephanie has mostly recently developed an electronic composition project, “Air(e)”, a mix of baroque and classical songs and arias re-composed and performed with a unique harmonic language and background. This project is supported by the Ensemble Valéik and has been the recipient of diverse grants in Switzerland and in Italy.