Shupp News June 2023 

The Vienna Piano Trio

The Vienna Piano Trio has been disbanded, but there is good news for lovers of the trio. While violinist David McCarroll was appointed concertmaster of the Pittsburgh Symphony, after a seven-year search by the orchestra, and has been performing with the orchestra since the summer of 2022, we are happy and honored to represent him now both as a soloist, and in the McCarroll/Mendl Duo with Stefan Mendl, the pianist of the trio.

Holger Falk

Holger Falk with Nuovo Aspetto besides its first performance of the Il Gondoliere Veneziano program at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg has now also been booked at Festival Wuppertal, Festival für alte Musik Berlin-Spandau, Scharoun-Theater Wolfsburg. Schwetzinger Festspiele, and for 2024 for two performances at the Schleswig Holstein Musikfestival, and in Venice by Salon Favoccia in an so far unknown palazzo.  Other engagements for Holger are the German premiere of Chaya Czernowin’s Attara with the Bavarian Symphony Orchestra in the Herkules-saal Munich in March, and a concert of Hanns Eisler songs with Steffen Schleiermacher, piano at the Konzerthaus Wien as part of the Festival Gemischter Satz in April.

After three nominations for the Honegger album last year, Holger Falk’s latest CD „Darius Milhaud: Songs Melodies et Chansons Vol.1“, a part of his series with the composers of Groupe des six has been nominated in 4 categories for the OPUS Klassik Award 2023: Singer of the Year, Best Solo Album, Chamber Music Recording of the Year and Best World Premiere Recording. 

Phaeton Piano Trio

The Phaeton Trio will record the Saint-Saens and the Rachmaninoff Trio Elegiaque later this year.  The trio returned in March from North America after triumphant concerts at the University of Connecticut and the Calgary Pro Musica Society. This summer they will return to Canada to perform for the Music and Beyond Festival in Ottawa among other festivals.

Utrecht String Quartet

The Utrecht String Quartet has made two more recordings with the German MDG label, the first of music by the Russian composer Georges Catoire, his string quartet op. 23, and piano quintet op. 28 with pianist Anna Zassimova.  Originally they were scheduled to play these pieces at the renowned Elbphilharmonie, but after two coronavirus cancellations, the group decided to record it instead, and was released in April 2023.  The quartet is now also in the process of recording the string quartets of the Dutch composer Johannes van Bree, whose scores they in part recreated in collaboration with Donemus Publishing.  

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Gropius Quartet

The Gropius Quartet recently worked with the world famous pianist and composer Evgeny Kissin on his string quartet op. 3 before performing and recording the concert in Weimar. The recording will be released later in 2023.

The quartet’s other recording projects include with eminent cellist Camille Thomas for Deutsche Grammophon. The Gropius Quartett is featured on Camille’s new CD “The Chopin project”. The quartet recently made a world premiere recording of Fazil Say’s String Sextet (together with Sao Lariviere and Maciek Kulakowski). The recording will be released together with the recording of Say’s string quartet as CD for Naxos. The quartet will also release another CD of Mendelssohn and Dvorak quartets in late 2023 (Label tbd).

Recent concerts include 2 sold-out debut concerts at Elbphilharmonie, and debuts in Portugal (Lisbon and Porto) and in the Konzerthaus Berlin as well as cooperations with Gidon Kremer and Mischa Maisky.

Bennewitz Quartet

The Bennewitz Quartet has had a busy 2022/23 season. The quartet returns to Laeiszhalle Hamburg, Mozartfest Würzburg, Wigmore Hall London, Stadtcasino Basel, and many other concert venues. The ensemble will represent the Czech Republic in Madrid at the closing ceremony marking the end of its presidency of the Council of the European Union. In 2022 the quartet took part in the complete performance of the six quartets by Béla Bartok in Leuven and will continue its participation in the performance by several quartets of Dvořák’s complete string quartets within the Dvořák’s Prague Festival in 2023. During the 2023 tour in the United States of America the Bennewitz Quartet reappeared in Cleveland and Washington DC, and made its debut in Boston. The ensemble is currently preparing the release of its new CD featuring middle period string quartets of Joseph Haydn. 

The quartet is also preparing for the 2024 Year of Czech Music, celebrating the anniversary years of Smetana, Janacek, and Dvorak with programs of string quartets by these masters.

La Morra

La Morra is coming out with a 2CD box set Music in Golden-Age Florence, 1250-1750, It is scheduled for release in 2024 from Ramée/Outhere Music. It is inspired by the forthcoming book of Prof. Anthony M. Cummings (Lafayette College) and is prepared in collaboration with him.  La Morra already collaborated with Prof. Cummings on the CD “The Lion’s Ear”, earning, among other distinctions, the Noah Greenberg Award of the American Musicological Society.

Alliage Quintet

The Alliage Quintet announces that their new CD „Fantasy in Blue“ is now available on the Hyperion label. This CD features the quintet with renowned cellist Alban Gerhardt, in such pieces as Tchaikovsky’s Roccoco Variations, Vivaldi’s Concerto in A minor RV 418, Fantasy in Blue and an arrangement of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue by Stefan Malzew.

The quintet will also be part of the Portrait Sabine Meyer concert in the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg in June. It has performed often with Sabine in the past, including last year at Wigmore Hall.

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