Programme:
Johannes Brahms: String Sextet No. 1 in B-flat major, Op. 18
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Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: String Sextet in D minor, Op. 70 “Souvenir de Florence”

Although Johannes Brahms and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky did not get along, both are among the most important composers of the Romantic era. Where the former was an admirer of Classicism and constructed his large-scale works with a complex, absolute musical logic, the latter wrote emotionally charged works with melodious themes. The first part of the programme consists of Brahms’s String Sextet No. 1,  one of a series of outstanding chamber works from the mid-19th century, while the second will be devoted to Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir de Florence,  a work that combines classical form with melodies inspired by folk music. The two works will be interpreted by the multifaceted violinist Gary Levinson, acclaimed by critics for his instinctive and expansive musicality and his virtuosic technique, violinist Anton Ilyunin, who often performs in a duet with his wife, cellist Anna Gorelova, with whom they play chamber works by Maurice Ravel, Zoltán Kodály, Johann Sebastian Bach and others, violist Michael Klotz, one of the few musicians to hold a double master’s degree in violin and viola from the Juilliard School, the young violist Adam Savage, winner of the 2021 National YoungArts Competition, cellist Inbal Segev, who demonstrates her commitment to reviving the cello repertoire by commissioning new works, and cellist Ani Aznavoorian, recipient of the Bunkamura Orchard Hall Award.