Maja Bogdanović & Anna Fedorova

Do the best come from the East? Cellist Maja Bogdanović was born in Serbia and pianist Anna Fedorova in Ukraine. Both are top musicians: 'Cellist Maja Bogdanović is truly something special: a genuine, inspired artist with a fearless expressive sound who has much to say but is never pretentious' (New York Concert Review), 'inexhaustible, sensitive, poetic, and tasteful,' wrote Gramophone Magazine about Fedorova. They will perform two beautiful cello sonatas, among which Gabriel Fauré's is rarely heard.

None other than pianist Menahem Pressler (Beaux Arts Trio) was very enthusiastic about Fedorova's playing: 'Anna Fedorova's beautiful sound and natural freedom of music-making, combined with a total technical assurance makes her one of the best interpreters of Chopin I've heard in a long, long time.'So Chopin is in a good place tonight. Chopin wrote his Cello Sonata not long before his death. Such was the composer's self-criticism that when it was premiered at the Salle Pleyel in Paris, he withdrew the first movement at the last minute: not good enough. In his Introduction et Polonaise brillante, written when he was 20, he had expressed himself far more carefree. Fauré's Second Sonata began as a funeral march for the 100th anniversary of Napoleon's death, 'but naturally turned into a sonata', Fauré noted with surprise.

After the concert

After the concert, you will enjoy a cup of coffee or tea with a delicious treat. This is included with your ticket.