Filharmonie Brno will perform two concerts this week with the world-famous clarinetist Sharon Kam as a soloist, under the baton of conductor Ivor Bolton. The program, entitled ‘The Three Stars of German Romanticism’, will feature works by Carl Maria von Weber, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy and Johannes Brahms.
“The first was a pioneer of this style, the second fully developed it, and the work of the third represents the pinnacle of the classical-romantic branch, emphasizing music as an absolute art,” said Filharmonie Brno dramaturg Vítězslav Mikeš.
Sharon Kam will perform solo twice, the first time in Brahms’ Opus 120 No. 1 in Luciano Berio’s arrangement, and the second time in Weber’s Concertino Es dus. According to Marie Kučerová, the director of Filharmonie Brno, the Israeli-German artist made her debut with the Israel Philharmonic under the direction of Zubin Mehta aged 16. “Since then she has played with the best orchestras in the world,” said Kučerová. “In addition to the classical repertoire, she has also premiered many works of contemporary music.” Kam has received numerous music awards for her recordings.
Both evenings will open with the overture from Weber’s opera Abu Hassan, which was written in the then-popular Turkish style, and is enhanced by cymbals and triangles.
In 1894, Brahms composed two sonatas for clarinet and piano, which are among the gems of the chamber canon, and which the author later adapted for the alternative viola. 102 years later, the Los Angeles Philharmonic commissioned Luciano Berio to compose an orchestral version of the first of these sonatas, which Berio called Opus 120 No. 1.
“He adapted the work with feeling and respect for the original, capturing the subtleties of Brahms’s instrumentation and not interfering with the structure. It is an interesting experiment in which Brahms’s music triumphs with high mastery, inventiveness, stylistic refinement and chamber clarity, attributes that have permanently placed the original Sonata in F minor among the firmaments of the world repertoire,” explained music journalist Emil Drápela, former first clarinetist of Filharmonie Brno.
After the break, Sharon Kam will perform again, this time in the short Concertino in E flat major, which Weber composed in just four days. It is a unique variational concertante essence of various contrasting moods, perfectly fitting into each other and demonstrating the three-part nature of the instrumental concerto. The final Mendelssohn Symphony No. 3, nicknamed Scottish, is based on an idea that came to the composer during his stay in Scotland, specifically in the ruins of Edinburgh’s Holyrood House, as an idea of the coronation of the unfortunate Mary Stuart.
The orchestra will be led by British conductor Ivor Bolton, who is one of the most respected conductors of the Baroque and Classical repertoire in Europe. He currently leads the Dresden Festival Orchestra, the Basel Symphony Orchestra, is the artistic director of the Teatro Real in Madrid and the honorary conductor of the Salzburg Mozarteumorchester, where he served as chief conductor for 12 years. He has made critically acclaimed recordings of Bruckner’s symphonies. He has received many prestigious music awards, and in 2024 he was awarded the title of Commander of the Order of the British Empire for services to culture.
Both evenings are sold out, but tickets are available via Stání+, which work in such a way that if there are free seats in the hall, people with these tickets can occupy them.
The Three Stars of German Romanticism takes place on Thursday and Friday from 7pm in the Janáček Theatre. Tickets can be bought online at filharmonie-brno.cz, in the orchestra’s pre-sale, or at the venue before the event.
