On January 1, 2019, the Giordano Bruno Stiftung invites you to its traditional New Year's reception at "Haus Weitblick" in Oberwesel. This year a very special musical delicacy awaits the guests: After a brief "New Year's speech" by Michael Schmidt-Salomon, renowned German cellist Manuel Fischer-Dieskau and exceptional Canadian pianist Connie Shih will perform works including by Ludwig van Beethoven, whose sonatas for cello and piano the duo recently recorded on a highly acclaimed CD.

Commenting the recording of Ludwig van Beethoven's cello sonatas, Klassik.Com wrote: "Rarely does the listener experience such a successful interplay of technical brilliance, artistic mastery, and audible joy of playing as in this interpretation of Beethoven's cello sonatas - a unique listening experience!" After a concert in the summer of 2018 the reviewer of the Badische Zeitung not only praised the "constantly beautiful sound", but also said that one was "desperately looking for an apt superlative for virtuosity" to adequately describe the extraordinary musical ability of Manuel Fischer-Dieskau and Connie Shih.
 

About the artists:

Manuel Fischer-Dieskau was born in 1963 in Berlin as the son of cellist Irmgard Poppen and the famous lieder and opera singer Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. If one were to describe his violoncello playing with one sentence, it could be this one: Singing and telling stories with the cello. Since his earliest childhood, surrounded by the voice of his father, who, alongside Enrico Caruso and Maria Callas, is considered one of the "greatest singers of the 20th century", Manuel Fischer-Dieskau understood early and intuitively: music is always communication, emotion, and passion!

After his studies under Wolfgang Boettcher (Berlin), Janos Starker (USA), William Pleeth (London), and Arto Noras (Helsinki), he began an early international career as cellist of the Cherubini Quartet, with which he performed on almost all of the world's major concert stages. He also gained valuable experience as a solo cellist in renowned orchestras, including under the baton of such important conductors as Günter Wand, Sir John Elliot Gardiner, and Lorin Maazel. In 2007 Manuel Fischer-Dieskau was appointed professor for violoncello and chamber music at the Hochschule für Musik Mainz of the Gutenberg Universität Mainz. He subsequently became artistic director of the Wiesbaden Matinée series "Amici dell'Arte" and became patron of the Cologne concert series "Im Zentrum Lied" and the "Sankt Goar International Music Festival & Academy".

Canadian pianist Connie Shih enjoys the reputation of being one of the outstanding piano talents of her country. At the age of nine she made her debut with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra with Mendelssohn's Piano Concerto No. 1, at twelve she became Gyorgy Sebok's youngest student, and later continued her studies with Claude Frank in Philadelphia and with Fou Tsong in London.

As a soloist, Connie Shih has given numerous guest performances in Canada, the USA, Europe, and China. She has performed in chamber ensembles with important musicians such as Isabelle Faust, Tabea Zimmermann, and Steven Isserlis. Many of her concerts have been broadcast on radio and television. Together with Manuel Fischer-Dieskau, Connie Shih has recorded Beethoven's cello sonatas and, for the first time, all of the cello sonatas of Carl Reinecke (1824-1910), a pianist and composer from Robert Schumann's circle, who was highly esteemed in his time but is largely forgotten today.

Information on the event:

The event on January 1, 2019, in "Haus Weitblick" begins at 2 pm with a sparkling wine reception, and the official program starts at 3 pm. As the number of seats is limited, prior registration is required (preferably via this web form). Feedback will only be sent if all places have already been reserved. Admission is free, donations are gratefully appreciated.