Ars Musica

Ars Musica

'As a composer, I don't feel any difference between men and women and that shouldn't be an issue. I hope that I get commissions because I do good work and not because I happen to be a woman.' It could have been a statement by Fanny Mendelssohn Bartholdy, but here we have composer Mathilde Wantenaar speaking, almost two centuries later. We put both composers next to their male colleagues in a rich and varied programme with Schubert's sunny Fifth Symphony, choral works and a piano concerto.

Fanny did not get every opportunity to let her musical talent flourish in public. That did not stop her from composing 460 works and also performing as a pianist, supported by her husband and brother Felix. Our narrator opens up this world of perseverance for you through the letters that Felix and Fanny wrote to each other.

Enjoy the youthful power of pianist Nikola Meeuwsen who recently made his full-length solo debut at the Concertgebouw, or Mieke Verduijn who graduated cum laude from the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. Felix Mendelssohn's Piano Concerto No. 1 is bursting with virtuosity!

The concert Fanny and Felix is the third part of the seven-year project FELIX, which focuses on the life, work and world of the composer Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy.

Performers

Ars Musica Concert Choir and Orchestra

Nikola Meeuwsen, pianist