Samuel Hasselhorn en Ammiel Bushakevitz: Schubert

Samuel Hasselhorn and Ammiel Bushakevitz

In 2018, German baritone Samuel Hasselhorn won the prestigious Queen Elisabeth Competition, and since then he has been an indispensable presence on the major stages. Critics praise not only the clarity and warmth of Hasselhorn's voice, but also his text interpretation and his ability to translate musical dramas into subtle psychological nuances. Hasselhorn feels at home on the concert stage and in opera, and is intensely connected to the lied. With his accompanist Ammiel Bushakevitz, he is working on a Schubert project in which they perform and record the songs Schubert wrote in his final years. Tonight, you will hear their Schubert.

Schubert

Schubert was a song composer par excellence; with six hundred pieces, he achieved an improbable output. He knew his predecessors well—Mozart was an idol to him—but single-handedly he brought the German Lied to an unprecedented level. Never surpassed, rarely equaled. Writing songs was like breathing to him; he could compose them in the same room where his friends sat playing cards with great commotion. Schubert's art of song still touches us because these miniatures connect the everyday and the existential. Love, loss, grief, and hope pass by, recognizable to everyone, even today.