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Imagined Crossings
Concert: Imagined Crossings
Friday, September 25, 2026 at 07:00 PM
Description
The opening concert of this season explores imagined and metaphorical crossings in music, asking how composers’ conceptions of journeys to other places shape their creative language. Historically, many European composers, such as Debussy and Szymanowski, looked abroad, particularly to the Middle East and Asia, through an exoticizing lens. As Edward Said famously theorized, the “Orient” is not a geographical reality but a construct formed within the Western imagination. Debussy incorporates elements of Asian music into his Images II, while Szymanowski’s Songs of an Infatuated Muezzin combine exotic modal colors with meditations on sensuous longing, ending in a quasi-Liebestod of the muezzin. Ravel’s Kaddish sets the traditional Jewish prayer for the dead to music, combining intimate lyricism with his characteristic harmonic richness. At the same time, numerous non-European composers, such as Takemitsu, looked toward the West and Debussy in particular (calling him his “great mentor”), integrating Western instruments and compositional techniques into his own musical language. Finally, Arnold Schoenberg’s monumental String Quartet No. 2 charts an imagined crossing of another kind: the passage from tonality to atonality. Its rapturous final movement, featuring soprano, invokes “air from another planet” as a metaphor for a journey toward personal and artistic rebirth.
Program
Claude Debussy: Images II ~14'
Maurice Ravel: Kaddisch for voice and piano (1914) ~5'
Toru Takemitsu: Between Tides for Piano Trio (1993) ~16'
Karol Szymanowski: Songs of the Infatuated Muezzin, Op. 42 ~13'

Arnold Schoenberg: String Quartet No. 2 in F-sharp minor, Op. 10 ~30'
Artists
© Maaike Eijkman
Noa Wildschut
violin
Dutch violinist Noa Wildschut (2001) has appeared as a soloist with prestigious orchestras worldwide, including the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Camerata Salzburg, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Performances alongside inspiring artists such as Janine Jansen, Menahem Pressler, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Daniel Müller-Schott, Pablo Ferrández, Kian Soltani, Amihai Grosz, Timothy Ridout, Pablo Barragán, Frank Dupree and Elisabeth Brauss showcase her passion for chamber music. Noa has won numerous international prizes, including first prizes at the Louis Spohr Competition at age nine and the Iordens Competition at age eleven. She received the Concertgebouw Young Talent Award in 2013, the Kersjes Violin Prize in 2017, and the WEMAG Soloist Award at Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in 2018. In 2019/2020, Noa was selected by the European Concert Hall Organisation (ECHO) as a Rising Star, performing in leading concert halls across Europe. Noa was appointed artistic director of Festspielfrühling Rügen 2023, as part of Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Noa plays the “Ex-Lady-Stretton” violin (ca. 1730) by Guarneri del Gesù and uses a bow by Léonard Tourte (ca. 1800), both on loan from the Stretton Society.
© Clara Evens
Eun Che Kim
violin
Eun Che Kim has received prizes at numerous international competitions, including the KBS–KEPCO Music Competition, Novosibirsk International Violin Competition, Johannes Brahms International Competition, Carl Nielsen Competition, ArsClassica International Competition for Violin and Piano, and the Carl Flesch Competition, where she was awarded First Prize and three special prizes. She has also received the Sternbrügger Prize, the Werner Stiefel Prize, and the Brahms Prize at the Carl Flesch Academy in Baden Baden. As a soloist, Eun Che has performed with orchestras including the Baden-Baden Philharmonie, Copenhagen Philharmonic, Odense Symphony Orchestra, Hungarian State Opera Orchestra, Hungarian Radio Orchestra, KBS Symphony Orchestra, and Anima Musica Chamber Orchestra. An enthusiastic chamber musician, she has appeared at festivals such as the Gstaad Menuhin Festival & Academy, Krzyżowa Music Festival, and the Szent Gellért Festival. She is a member of the award-winning Confringo Piano Quartet, winner of the Deutscher Musikwettbewerb and the Hans Gál Prize. Eun Che has participated in masterclasses with renowned artists including Boris Kuschnir, Ana Chumachenco, Leonidas Kavakos, Kirill Troussov, György Pauk, Barnabás Kelemen, and Vadim Gluzman. She is currently pursuing her Master’s degree with Prof. Ulf Wallin at the Hanns Eisler School of Music Berlin, where she also completed her Bachelor’s degree with Prof. Kolja Blacher. She performs on an 1885 Enrico Rocca violin.
© Michael Hübner
Friedemann Slenczka
viola
Friedemann Slenczka is 1st solo violist at the Komische Oper Berlin. Previously he was 1st solo violist in the Brandenburg State Orchestra Frankfurt. As a chamber musician he plays at festivals such as the Heidelberger Frühling, the PODIUM Festival Esslingen, the Beethovenfest Bonn, the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and the Kyoto International Chamber Music Festival. He has appeared as a soloist with orchestras such as the Philharmonie Baden-Baden, the Brandenburg State Orchestra Frankfurt and the Southwest German Chamber Orchestra Pforzheim. He studied at the UdK Berlin with Hartmut Rohde.
© Neda Navaee
Tomoki Park
piano
Korean pianist Tomoki Park was born in Yokohama, Japan, and moved to England at age 11. He has performed worldwide in venues including Wigmore Hall, Elbphilharmonie, Tokyo Suntory Hall, and Philharmonie Berlin. He studied at the Bard Conservatory in New York with Peter Serkin, and later at the Lake Como Piano Academy. Described by his mentor Sir András Schiff as “a brilliant mind, intellectual in the best sense but full of emotions,” his performances have been described as “standout” (Boston Globe) and “among the highlights…and sensitively played” (New York Times). At Sir András Schiff’s invitation, Tomoki gave solo recitals across Europe as part of the mentorship program Building Bridges and commissioned a new work by American composer Katherine Balch. He is also supported as an artist on the Classeek Ambassador roster. Tomoki has premiered over 50 new works, collaborating with composers such as Rebecca Saunders, Heinz Holliger, George Benjamin, and Dai Fujikura, whose new piano piece he will premiere at the Gstaad Menuhin Festival next summer. He is currently on faculty at the Paris Institute of Critical Thinking, through which he is publishing a biography of Peter Serkin.
© Vorraprush Anothai
Duangamorn Fu
soprano
Thai-Taiwanese soprano Duangamorn Fu (*1998) is currently pursuing her Master’s degree in Vocal Performance at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin with Prof. Anna Samuil. She is a prizewinner of several international vocal competitions. In 2026, she received the Eva Kleinitz Award at the Concorso Internazionale per Cantanti Lirici “CLIP” in Portofino. In 2025, she won First Prize in the Lied Duo category at the Triomphe de l’Art International Music Competition in Brussels and Second Prize at the Mikuláš Schneider-Trnavský International Vocal Competition in Slovakia. In 2024, she received First Prize at the Alpe-Adria Young Voices Competition in Graz and Second Prize at the Nurzhamal Ussenbayeva Vocal Art Competition in Kazakhstan. Her concert appearances include the Berlin Philharmonie, Konzerthaus Berlin, Deutsche Oper Berlin (Tischlerei), Rudolfinum Prague, Schlosstheater Schönbrunn Vienna, and performances with the Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra.
© Jennifer Endom
Benjamin Lai
cello
Taiwanese-American cellist Benjamin Lai, a co-founder of Tonhain Kollektiv, was born in California and received his first cello lessons at the age of four from Mikhail Gelfandbein, a former student of Mstislav Rostropovich. At the age of 14 he moved alone to Berlin, where he was accepted as a young student in the class of Prof. Jens Peter Maintz. After graduating from high school, Benjamin studied with Prof. Heinrich Schiff in Vienna, Prof. Julian Steckel in Munich and Prof. Troels Svane in Lübeck. Since April 2024, Benjamin has been teaching at the Lübeck Academy of Music. Benjamin Lai attended master classes by Janos Starker, Yo-Yo Ma, David Geringas, Natalia Gutman, Frans Helmerson and Miklos Perenyi, among others. As a prize winner of numerous international cello competitions (Popper, Dotzauer, Hindemith, TONALi Grand Prix, Janigro), Benjamin has performed at prestigious venues such as the Konzerthaus in Berlin, the Laeiszhalle in Hamburg and the Musikverein in Vienna. An avid chamber musician, he has been invited to music festivals such as Music Campus Rhein Main, Kissinger Sommer, Usedomer Musikfestival and Gezeitenkonzerte and since August 2024 he is a member of the multi-award-winning Notos Quartett. Benjamin plays a cello by Domenico Montagnana ("ex-Olevsky", Venice 1735).
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Benjamin Lai