Renowned pianist Claudio Martínez-Mehner leads Mozart’s playful A-major concerto in an intimate quintet arrangement in a concert combining music from Vienna and Paris. Claudio is joined by pianist, Jansen Ryser, to perform an arrangement of Ravel’s Ma mère l’Oye for four hands. Korngold’s Piano Quintet concludes the evening, this rarely performed work full of virtuosity and passion.

Following the light and joy of the opening night, ‘Nachtwache’ delves into darker colours and sonorities. Westhoff’s sonata in D minor opens the evening, followed by music by composers Scelsi and Finnis who challenge the norms of tonality and pitch. At the centre of the concert is Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht, telling the story of two lovers on a moonlit walk. The sextet pushes late-Romanticism to the extreme, Schoenberg on the brink of a new era of musical history.

Voltahalle will be filled with unusual sounds: hear a forest of ticking metronomes in Ligeti’s Poéme Symphonique, bird-song from Sciarrino and the reverberations of Steve Reich’s ‘Different Trains’. Wolfe’s Retrieve continues the element of repetition in a stronger and industrial way, perfectly fitting the space. Virtuoso Dmitry Smirnov will lead Leclair’s A-minor Violin Concerto.

Kebyart is one of the most exciting ensembles on the music scene. In this programme they reimagine four centuries of music: Bach’s Sonatina, Mendelssohn’s string quartet Op.13 No.2, Rameau’s Suite in E minor and Ravel’s ‘Pavane’ are all personal arrangements, bringing this music into a fresh light. The ensemble will perform the Swiss premiere of Dani López Pradas’s ‘Echoing Rhapsodies’, a homage to George Gershwin. Kebyart’s performances are full of innovation and colour, join them to celebrate the end of Volta Kammermusikfest 2025!