Jeroen Dupont & Ed Spanjaard with Violin Sonatas by Schubert, Fauré & Stravinsky

Schubert, Fauré and Stravinsky

Schubert's Grand Duo is a masterful violin sonata composed in 1817 when Schubert was only 20 years old, and it was not until 1861 that the work was publicly performed for the first time. This is followed by Stravinsky's "Le Baiser de la fée", a virtuoso arrangement of the ballet by Samuel Dushkin that tests the technical skills of both instrumentalists.

After the break, Ysaÿe's Sonata for solo violin No. 6 follows, composed for the Spanish virtuoso Manuel Quiroga. It is, without a doubt, Ysaÿe's most difficult solo violin sonata. Jeroen Dupont will be able to play this work with ease. Finally, Fauré's Violin Sonata No. 1, a large romantic impressionist violin sonata, the work was written in 1876, when Fauré was only 26 years old.

Program

Franz Schubert - Grand Duo in A Major, D 574

Igor Stravinsky - Divertimento (La Baiser de la Fée), arr. Samuel Dushkin

- Pause -

Eugène Ysaÿe - Sonata for solo violin no. 6 in D minor, Op. 27 'Manuel Quiroga'

Gabriel Fauré - Violin Sonata No. 1 in A minor, Op. 13

Biography

Jeroen Dupont received violin lessons from Coosje Wijzenbeek and Herman Krebbers and further studied with Vera Beths at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague. In 2008 he obtained his diploma with distinction for his interpretation of the third violin sonata “Dans le caractère popular romaine” by George Enescu. In 2007 he became first prize winner at the National Violin Competition “Oskar Back”, in the final of this competition he performed the Violin Concerto No. 5 by WA Mozart and Tzigane by Maurice Ravel in the main hall of the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. Jeroen Dupont plays a violin built by Giovanni Grancino in Milan in 1714, on loan from the National Musical Instruments Fund. After previously being part of the Palermo Orchestra Sinfonica del Teatro Massimo, Dupont has been playing in the Orchester de Chambre de Paris, one of the leading chamber orchestras in Europe, since this month.

Ed Spanjaard is a conductor and pianist. In his first capacity he worked as a rehearsal director in the opera houses of London (Covent Garden), Bayreuth (Wagner Festspiele), Glyndebourne and Salzburg. He appeared as a soloist in piano concertos by Mozart, Beethoven, Gershwin and Poulenc, which he also conducted himself on more than one occasion. Spanjaard's career as a conductor spans 45 years. He was principal of three Dutch symphony orchestras and often performed for the KCO and the important orchestras in The Hague, Rotterdam and Hilversum. Spanjaard was recently seen in two documentary films: 'Inner Silence' by Frank Scheffer, about his intense collaboration with traditional Chinese musicians; and 'Weggewist' by Harro Henkemans, about the life and work of Hans Henkemans, who was one of the Netherlands' most famous pianists and composers in the 1950s and 1960s, but subsequently fell into obscurity. A recent CD of Joel Bons' masterpiece 'Nomaden', with cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras and the Atlas Ensemble (half of which consists of world musicians) was very popular.