Brahms Days / Intimate Communications.

Brahms was considered reserved, taciturn in the North German manner, and possessed of a dry sense of humor. At the same time, he said of his music that each note was not tinged with tears, but with drops of blood.  This program explores both his half-spoken words in his letters and his most personal confessions in his piano songs. Hagar Sharvit, mezzo-soprano, and Michael Wendeberg, piano and recitation. The pianist and conductor Michael Wendeberg, born in Ebingen, has in recent years played half of his programs at his piano recitals in Lautlingen Castle on small, easily portable table pianos from the Jehle Collection there, delighting the audience. This is one of the most important collections of concert-ready historical keyboard instruments in Germany. Wendeberg initiated this festival to introduce the audience to a central instrument in the collection: a wonderful Bechstein concert grand piano from 1860, predestined for Brahms and related repertoire. Over three days, six concerts will take place, exploring various musical paths starting from Brahms. His chamber music partners in this endeavor—French violinist Sarah Jégou-Sageman, Irish cellist Killian White, Israeli mezzo-soprano Hagar Sharvit, and Italian pianist Giuseppe Guarrera, all of whom are international music prize winners—are just as at home on the world’s concert stages as he is and promise a colorful, top-tier concert weekend. Music and letters by Johannes Brahms.