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The French Connection

Nicolas Altstaedt, Thomas Dunford, Jonathan Cohen
Sun 3 Nov 11:30 - 12:30
Main Hall
Past event
Sun 3 Nov
11:30 - 12:30
Past event

Music by famous gamba players and cellists

Program

Vincenzo Bonizzi Pis ne peult venir
Marin Marais Feste Champêtre - Musette
Robert De Visée Prélude en mi mineur
Antoine Forqueray La Leclair
Jean-Baptiste Barrière Sonata in Bes
François Couperin Les Barricades Mystérieuses
Marin Marais Les Voix Humaines
Marin Marais Les Folies d’Espagne
Marin Marais La Rêveuse
Giovanni Platti Sonata in F 

Performers

Nicolas Altstaedt cello
Thomas Dunford lute
Jonathan Cohen harpsichord

Three great musical personalities get together once every so often to share in their shared love: French Baroque. In this era the cello was starting to gain popularity compared to the viola da gamba. Marin Marais and Antoine Forqueray remained well-known as gamba players, but Jean-Baptiste Barrière developed from a gamba player into a travelling cello soloist and composed countless cello sonatas.

Biënnale in pictures: day 4

Biënnale in pictures: Day 4 ©Foppe Schut, Veerle Bastiaanssen, Jelle Verhoeks Programme
In pictures

Nicolas Altstaedt

German-French cellist Nicolas Altstaedt studied at the Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler” with Boris Pergamenschikow and later with Eberhard Feltz. He is also a conductor and the Artistic Director of various festivals.  Altstaedt enjoys playing contemporary music and has performed works by composers such as Thomas Adès, Fazil Say, Jörg Widmann, Matthias Pintscher, Sofia Gubaidulina, and Helena Winkelman. New concertos have recently been composed for him by Anders Hillborg, Márton Illés, Erkki-Sven Tüür, and Liza Lim. His interpretations and performances of Baroque and classical music are unparallelled; as a soloist in J.S. Bach’s solo suites as well as in collaboration with lutist Thomas Dunford and harpsichordist Jean Rondeau, and with Ensemble Arcangelo in their recording of the complete cello concertos by C.P.E. Bach and Boccherini. In 2018, Nicolas Altstaedt was the Artist in Spotlight at the Concertgebouw, and has been the Artistic Director of the Internationales Kammermusikfest Lockenhaus since 2012, succeeding Gidon Kremer. He has also been the Artistic Director and conductor of the Haydn Philharmonie since 2014.
Cellisten

Thomas Dunford

Thomas Dunford (Parijs,1988) werd op zijn negende op het spoor van de luit gezet door zijn eerste docent, Claire Antonini. In 2006 studeerde hij in zijn geboortestad af aan het Conservatoire de Paris bij Charles-Edouard Fantin en in 2009 aan de Schola Cantorum in Bazel bij Hopkinson Smith. Masterclasses volgde hij van onder anderen Rolf Lislevand, Julian Bream en Paul O’Dette. Zijn eerste podiumervaring deed Thomas Dunford op toen hij in de periode 2003–2005 de rol van luitist speelde in Shakespeares Twelfth Night aan de Comédie française. Recitals gaf hij sindsdien van Carnegie Hall en de Frick Collection in New York tot Wigmore Hall in Londen en het Palau de la Musica in Barcelona. Ook maakte hij zijn opwachting op de festivals van Ambronay, Nantes, Saintes en Utrecht en trad hij op in Brazilië, Colombia, Chili, Mexico, Israël, China, Japan en India. Naar aanleiding van zijn debuut-cd Lachrimae (2012) noemde BBC Magazine hem de ‘Eric Clapton van de luit’.  
Andere musici

Jonathan Cohen

Jonathan Cohen is a harpsichordist as well as a conductor, and he began his career as a baroque cellist. When he worked in that capacity with William Christie and Les Arts Florissants, he got the chance to assist him and conduct him himself. That was also the time he transformed from pianist to continuo player. With all that, he grew into a globally renowned baroque specialist. He is currently associated with various ensembles and organisations such as Les Violons du Roy, the Tetbury Music Festival, Les Arts Florissants and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. As a guest, he performed with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, the Budapest Festival Orchestra and the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. He also conducted opera productions at Glyndebourne Festival Opera. In 2010, he founded Arcangelo. It soon became one of the leading baroque companies with which he performed worldwide in venues including the Wigmore Hall in London, the Berliner Philharmonie, the Wiener Musikverein and Carnegie Hall in New York. With Nicolas Altstaedt, he recorded a CD of Bach works for viola da gamba and harpsichord in 2013.
Andere musici