Brahms Days / Vienna, my Vienna!

The final concert of the festival pays homage to Brahms' adopted home of Vienna. Johann Strauss, under whose Danube motif Brahms wrote "Unfortunately not by me," is a must. The program also includes waltz pieces by Fritz Kreisler, songs by Alexander Zemlinsky, and a genuine Viennese song. The musicians are Hagar Sharvit, Sarah Jegou-Sageman, Killian White, Giuseppe Guarrera, and Michael Wendeberg. In recent years, pianist and conductor Michael Wendeberg, who was born in Ebingen, has played half of his programs at his piano recitals in Lautlingen Castle on small, easily portable table pianos from the Jehle Collection there, thrilling audiences. This is one of the most important collections of concert-ready historical keyboard instruments in Germany. Wendeberg initiated this festival in order 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. Six concerts will take place over three days, exploring different musical paths starting from Brahms. His chamber music partners in this venture—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 award winners—are just as at home as he is on concert stages around the world and promise a colorful, high-caliber concert weekend. Music by Johann Strauss, Alexander von Zemlinsky, Johannes Brahms, and Fritz Kreisler.