The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts presents renowned German clarinetist David Orlowsky and Italy’s famed Quartetto di Cremona in a spellbinding Klezmer journey on Saturday, October 12, 2019, at 7:30 pm in the Bram Goldsmith Theater at The Wallis. The program, featuring a compelling distillation of distinctive Jewish musical traditions filtered through the unique perspectives of three acclaimed contemporary composers, includes Hidden Place by Israel’s Aviya Kopelman, hailed for her “passionate string writing, in which every modulation tugs at the heart” (Financial Times), and Betty Olivero’s innovative Zeks Yiddishe Lider un Tantz from “the Golem,” adapted from the Israeli’s celebrated 2007 score to accompany Paul Wegener’s 1920 silent expressionist film Der Golem: Wie er in die Welt kam. Also featured is Russian-born, Argentine composer Osvaldo Golijov’s epic Dreamers and Prayers of Isaac the Blind, which the composer says, although wordless, “sounds as if it were written in three different Jewish languages – the prelude and the first movement, the most ancient, are in Aramaic; the second movement is in Yiddish, the rich and fragile language of a long exile; the third movement and the postlude are in sacred Hebrew.” Orlowsky, a leading interpreter of clarinet repertoire, is a musician of tremendous expressiveness and depth. Quartetto di Cremona, considered a preeminent quartet of its generation, includes Cristiano Gualco, violin, Paolo Andreoli, violin, Simone Gramaglia, viola, and Giovanni Scaglione, cello.
A Preludes @ The Wallis pre-concert conversation moderated by Classical KUSC’s Brian Lauritzen will be held before the concert at 6:30 pm, which includes a complimentary glass of wine.
“These exceptional artists interpret ancient Klezmer musical traditions through a unique contemporary lens,” says The Wallis’ Artistic Director Paul Crewes. “The Wallis is proud to welcome David Orlowsky back to our stage with this thought-provoking program.”
Orlowsky, acclaimed around the globe, “creates magic with his clarinet” (Badische Zeitung) He has recorded seven discs, which have received two Echo Klassik awards and attracted a large and devoted following. He has appeared both as a soloist and with his own trio at a number of major festivals and venues, including the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Rheingau Music Festival, Beethovenfest, Lucerne Festival, Gidon Kremer’s Lockenhaus Chamber Music Festival and the Moritzburg Festival. An avid chamber musician, Orlowsky regularly collaborates with such celebrated performers as Daniel Hope, Andreas Haefliger, Vilde Frang, the Fauré Quartet, Nils Moenkemeyer and the vocal sextet Singur Pur. He also frequently collaborates with the Vogler Quartet, with whom he recorded a critically acclaimed Sony album featuring the works of Mozart and Golijov. Orlowsky maintains close relationships with such major contemporary composers as Torsten Rasch, Matan Porat and David Bruce. Born in Germany in 1981, Orlowsky studied with Manfred Lindner at the Folkwang Hochschule in Essen and with Charles Neidich and Ayako Oshima at the Manhattan School of Music in New York City. He is currently based in Berlin.
Since its formation in 2000, Quartetto di Cremona has established a reputation as one of the most exciting chamber ensembles on the international stage. Regularly invited to perform at the most important festivals and concert seasons across Europe, South America, the U.S. and the Far East, the Quartet has garnered universal acclaim from critics and audiences alike for its high level of interpretive artistry. They are a regular feature on radio and television broadcasts around the world, performing an extensive repertoire, which ranges from early Haydn to contemporary music. In 2017, the quartet released the final volume in it complete recording of the Beethoven quartets on the Audite label. Among numerous accolades, the album garnered the prestigious Supersonic Award by Pizzicato Magazine and the Echo Klassik prize. Among noteworthy appearances, Quartetto di Cremona recently made its debut at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, which generated a standing ovation, and returned to the Muziekgebouw in for the prestigious String Quartet Biennale.
Tickets, $39 to $99, are on sale now. The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts is located at 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd, Beverly Hills. To purchase tickets and for more information, please call 310-746-4000 or visit TheWallis.org/Orlowsky.