LuganoMusica Ensemble

Andrea Oliva, flauto
Paolo Beltramini, clarinet
Corrado Giuffredi, clarinet
Serena Basandella, trumpet
Leonardo Bartelloni, piano
Gabriele Carcano, piano
Robert Kowalski, violin
Danilo Rossi, viola
Asier Polo, cello
Quartetto Energie Nove
Brent Michael Smith, narrator

Arnold Schönberg
Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte for narrator and instruments, Op. 41

Krzysztof Penderecki
Quartet for clarinet and string trio

Karol Szymanowski
Mythes for violin and piano, Op. 30

Béla Bartók
Kontrasztok for clarinet, violin and piano, Sz. 111

The LuganoMusica Ensemble is now an extraordinary musical workshop involving some of the leading musicians attached to our city. Gathered in a cohesive, versatile and modular group, these players can deal with an extensive repertoire that includes both lesser-known composers and pieces and major works from the chamber music repertoire. The musicians measure themselves with great technical and stylistic mastery against programmes that are always original and innovative.
Both concerts planned this season respond to the desire to explore the artistic innovations that characterised the avant-garde of the beginning and second half of the 20th century until it was overcome by the new millennium.

In the first of these two concerts, Arnold Schönberg looks beyond the dodecaphonic rules: his Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte returns to consonance. The piece was written in 1933 during the composer's American exile to escape from Hitler's dictatorship.

Krzysztof Penderecki was born that same year. A reference for the Polish avant-garde, Penderecki also became famous for contributing to memorable soundtracks such as Stanley Kubrick's Shining. Mythes is, on the contrary, the most popular composition of another Polish musical pillar, Karol Szymanowski. The protagonist of a highly original evolution of impressionism, Szymanowski was also an advocate of a new violin style previously studied in depth by Béla Bartók. This great innovator of the 20th century appears in this programme with Kontrasztok for clarinet, violin and piano.