5th Arthur Waser prize winner concert
6.30pm | Pre-concert talk with Thomas Meyer
6.30pm | Pre-concert talk with Thomas Meyer
Antonín Dvořák (1841 – 1904)
Selection from Slavonic Dances Op. 72
Aaron Copland (1900 – 1990)
Clarinet Concerto
Leoš Janáček (1854 – 1928)
Sinfonietta
The Arthur Waser Scholarship has now been awarded for the fifth time. This year it goes to 25-year-old clarinettist Jonathan Leibovitz from Israel. In addition to the prize money of 25,000 Swiss francs, the award includes a debut at the KKL Luzern with the Luzerner Sinfonieorchester. The winner will perform Aaron Copland’s Clarinet Concerto on 9th and 10th November. It was the legendary jazz clarinettist Benny Goodman who commissioned this concerto from Copland, and the well-loved work has long since established itself as core clarinet repertoire. Dvořák’s Slavonic Dances of 1886 are equally popular. “A heavenly naturalness flows through this music,” wrote a Berlin critic at the time, “without any hint of toil or contrivance.” There is no better way to put it. Every dance is a winning combination of melodic and rhythmic invention. Exactly 40 years later, Leoš Janáček wrote his Sinfonietta, a patriotic homage to the city of Brno, where Janáček spent most of his life. Powerful brass fanfares suggest rousing military music, and folk dances tell of the composer’s attachment to his Czech homeland. In this work he “succeeds in embracing as closely as possible the sentiments of the common man”.
This project promoting young talent is made possible by the Arthur Waser Stiftung.