UNITY IN BEAUTY

Unity in Beauty – chamber concert

The pursuit of the beautiful is the highest emanation of the human spirit. It expresses the desire for union with universal harmony and is a source of tremendous positive energy. This energy gives inspiration for goodness and creativity. The means of expression of musical art carry out the forms and suggestions created by this energy. The harmonies flowing through time paint images in human consciousness and evoke emotional states.

The present project includes works by European and American composers who worked from the mid-19^th century to the early 21^st century – Johannes Brahms (1833-1897); Gustav Mahler (1860-1911); Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1894-1957); and our contemporary Aaron Jay Kernis.

Johannes Brahms is a composer whose work is one of the pinnacles of German culture. He is a typical representative of late Romanticism, expressing the peace of mind, emotional impulses and romantic sensitivity of the human personality. The Trio for piano, clarinet and cello, Op. 114 was composed in 1891.

Gustav Mahler was an Austrian composer and conductor. Of his symphonic music, the conductor Leonard Bernstein says: "It is a photographic camera that captures society in its decline. It is the music of the furious explosion – in the wreckage of human baseness it showers the world as never before with the rain of beauty." The Piano Quartet is an early work by the composer, written by him at the age of sixteen. The work's timeless artistic value is evidenced by its presence in the 2010 worldwide film production of "The Island of the Damned".

Our contemporary – the American composer Aaron Jay Kernis (1960) is the creator of many musical works that excite the modern listener. His musical style is influenced by minimalism, impressionism and is neo-romantic in nature.

Erich Wolfgang Korngold is an American composer with a body of work that includes operas, symphonies, instrumental concertos, chamber and film music. His musical talent was discovered by Gustav Mahler. He was the creator of the "symphonic prestige" of film music. His most valuable work is the opera "Die tote Stadt", written in 1920 and based on the novel "Bruges-la-Morte" by the writer Rodenbach. The concert will feature an aria from the opera arranged for voice, piano, two violins, viola and cello by Bengt Forsberg.

The wonderful musical images created by the authors, who lived and worked at different times and in different latitudes, give the performers in this project the opportunity to express and prove the universality of beauty and goodness. People from all over planet Earth are united in the beautiful!