Dutch violinist Nadia Wijzenbeek has already performed in concert with such celebrities as Leon Fleisher and just recently with the pianist Ingrid Fliter in the Main Hall of the Concertgebouw where she also once appeared as soloist in the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto. Now, with the Swedish pianist Martin Sturfält, she returns in a varied program including the Sonata by Maurice Ravel, an early work of Messiaen and the lively Rondo brillant by Schubert.

The 18-year-old Polish-American pianist Adam Golka won the first prize as the youngest participant in the 2003 International Piano Competition in Shanghai. We hear him in a trio of sparkling sonatas by Scarlatti and in the expressive sound-world of Nikolai Medtner, a Russian composer who is generating increasingly more interest among musicians.

Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Sunday September 25, 2005, 14.30 hours

The Hague Diligentia, Sunday October 2, 2005, 14.30 hours

Nadia Wijzenbeek, violin / Martin Sturfält, piano

Olivier Messiaen
Thème et Variations (1932)

Franz Schubert
Rondo brillant in b minor, D. 895

Maurice Ravel
Sonata for violin and piano

--intermission--

Adam Golka, piano

Domenico Scarlatti
Sonata in F-sharp major, L. 35
Sonata in b minor, L. 33
Sonata in G major, L. 286

Nikolai Medtner
Sonata in e minor, opus 25 no. 2 ‘Night Wind’ 

The English cellist Gemma Rosefield was called the most promising musical talent of 2005 by the British press. Assisted by the Israeli pianist Inon Barnatan, who was himself a former New Masters on Tour guest soloist, she performs Variations on a Slovak Theme by Martinu, Brahms' beautiful First Sonata and a festive Hungarian Rhapsody by master cellist David Popper.

The French pianist Geoffroy Couteau, who recently graduated with the highest honors from the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris, plays Brahms' monumental Third Sonata and closes with two lovely songs by Schubert and Schumann in Franz Liszt's sonorous adaptations.

The 17-year-old German - Japanese pianist Alice Sara Ott, trained in the renowned piano school of Prof. Karl-Heinz Kämmerling, demonstrates in her recital the poetic side of Liszt (in the Consolations), as well as his unlimited virtuosity with a performance of the complete Paganini Etudes and his best-loved second Hungarian Rhapsody.

The gifted Russian cellist Pyotr Kondrashin makes his debut in the Concertgebouw where his famous grandfather celebrated many triumphs as a conductor. In a program for two cellos, which includes works by Servais, Offenbach and Paganini / Mifuse, he plays with another Moscow-trained talent: Oleg Bugaev. The 'Haagsche Courant' wrote about Bugaev last season: 'This is cutting-edge music-making; his talent for creating different sound-characters appears to be unlimited.'

The Georgian cellist Giorgi Kharadzé won third prize in the prestigious Pablo Casals Competition 2004 as well as the Beethoven Prize, presented to him personally by Mstislav Rostropovich. With the Armenian pianist Varduhi Yeritsyan Kharadzé plays a late work of Robert Schumann and Sergei Prokofiev's only Cello Sonata.

Pianist Colleen Lee, originally from Hong Kong, has already won several important prizes in international competitions and was in 2004 the discovery at the renowned Polish Chopin Festival in Dusznicki. In her program we find two of the most monumental works in the entire piano literature: Beethoven's Sonata opus 101 and Chopin's Third Sonata.

Giorgi Kharadzé, cello / Varduhi Yeritsyan, piano

Robert Schumann
5 Stücke im Volkston, opus 102

Sergej Prokofjev
Sonata in C major, opus 119

--intermission--

Colleen Lee, piano

Ludwig van Beethoven
Sonata in A major, opus 101

Frédéric Chopin
Sonata in b minor, opus 58

Drama, imagination and virtuosity are the ingredients in the recital by the Slovak pianist Laco Fancovic. Following Beethoven, Liszt and Balakirev, he closes with the spectacular and festive adaptation by Leopold Godowsky of themes from Johann Strauss, Jr.'s operetta Die Fledermaus.

The American violinist Elise Goodman, with her countryman Steve Beck at the piano, chooses a 'classical meets jazz' program - not so surprising for this great-niece of the legendary clarinetist Benny Goodman. The Blues from Ravel's Violin Sonata leads effortlessly into master violinist Jascha Heifetz' richly colored arrangements of the most beautiful melodies from Gershwin's opera Porgy and Bess. A foursome of contemporary Rags by the American composer John Novacek closes the program.