Patricia Kopatchinskaja Is Pierrot Lunaire
'Kopatchinskaja is in a class of her own'
Patricia Kopatchinskaja transforms herself into the human puppet of Schoenberg’s wacky cabaret.
When the maverick violinist injured her hand and was told to lay down her instrument, she got her musical fix reciting the song-speech of Schoenberg’s surrealist melodrama, Pierrot Lunaire.
With that, Kopatchinskaja’s new show was born – a mash-up pairing Pierrot’s 21 songs with music by Berio, CPE Bach, Johann Strauss and more, in which the violinist embodies the troubled clown while also taking the work’s testing violin part.
Pierrot Lunaire is one of Schoenberg’s most left-field creations and a high point of European modernism – a vision of Albert Giraud’s sarcastic, sadistic puppet-cum-human transfixed by the moon.
Over three sections of the music, we witness Pierrot’s satirical irony, nightmarish demise and nostalgic journey home.
Igor Stravinsky referred to the work as the ‘solar plexus... of early 20th-century music’.
Kopatchinskaja and her fellow players include music from Stravinsky’s own hard-hitting theatrical work A Soldier’s Tale as well as fantastical music by Johann Strauss, Luciano Berio and CPE Bach.
With Kopatchinskaja at the helm, nothing can be predicted – except wide-eyed wonder and first-class musicianship.
Performers
- Patricia Kopatchinskaja violin, vocals
- Meesun Hong Coleman violin
- Thomas Kaufmann cello
- Júlia Gallégo flute
- Reto Bieri clarinet
- Joonas Ahonen piano
Repertoire
- CPE Bach: Free fantasia in F sharp minor for keyboard, Wq.67
- Schoenberg: Phantasy for violin & piano, Op.47
- Stravinsky: L'histoire du soldat Suite
- Interval
- Berio: Lied for solo clarinet
- Schoenberg: Pierrot Lunaire - Part 1
- CPE Bach: Presto in C minor for keyboard, Wq.114 No.3
- Bartók: Bagpipes from Duos for 2 violins, Sz.98
- Schoenberg: Pierrot Lunaire - Part 2
- J Strauss (son): Emperor Waltz (Kaiser) arr. Schoenberg
- Schoenberg: Pierrot Lunaire - Part 3
Dates
Price
- Standard entry£15 - £45*
- Concessions25%**
* Excludes £3.50 booking fee.
** Limited availability. Read about concessions.
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Multi-buy discount
Book multiple International Chamber Music Series events in the same transaction to receive a discount:
- 3 – 4 events (10% discount)
- 5 or more events (20% discount)
Not available on Premium seats. Discounts only apply to events within the 2020/21 season, which runs from September 2020 until July 2021.
Venue
Queen Elizabeth Hall
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