Last modified: Thursday, September 29, 2011
Jorja Fleezanis and Cyril Huvé perform complete Beethoven sonatas for violin and fortepiano
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sept. 29, 2011
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Indiana University Jacobs School of Music professor Jorja Fleezanis will join French fortepianist Cyril Huvé this October in a rare performance of all 10 sonatas for violin and fortepiano by Ludwig van Beethoven.
Spanning over three concerts (Oct. 7, 8, and 13 at 8 p.m. in Auer Hall,) the free performances will reveal the research and curiosity these two collaborators have devoted to an informed 'performance practice' approach, largely through the language of period instruments, the fortepiano, combined with gut strings and a transitional bow.
"I am pleased to have Cyril on campus for these concerts and to introduce him to this wonderful atmosphere of learning and curiosity," said Fleezanis. "The performances will illustrate how the period piano speaks a similar language to a bow from the same period, and how the influence of references by Czerny and another revealing study by the legendary quartet leader Rudolph Kolisch on the subject of tempi opened up a unique approach to the expressive landscape of Beethoven's voice."
Fleezanis and Huvé started their Beethoven Project more than 10 years ago and have performed it in France and the U.S. They recorded the cycle in 2003 for the Belgium company Cypres.
Violinist Fleezanis was concertmaster of the Minnesota Orchestra from 1989 to 2009 -- the longest-tenured concertmaster in the orchestra's history and only the second woman in the U.S. to hold the title of concertmaster in a major orchestra when appointed. Prior to Minnesota, she was associate concertmaster with the San Francisco Symphony for eight years.
Fortepianist Huvé is a pioneer in the rediscovery of nineteenth century keyboards and their expressive possibilities and sees these instruments as a means to affirm the values of the Romantic tradition of piano performance that his mentors passed on to him.
For many years, Cyril Huvé taught at the Paris Conservatory as an assistant to the great French pedagogue Gérard Frémy. Huvé has been featured in numerous festivals and as a soloist with orchestras. While studying at the Paris Conservatory, he developed a series on performance practice for Radio-France from their archival recordings (les Vieilles Cires).
