A high-profile concert – violin, cello and piano set the tone at the Ritz Museum

As part of the event series “Concerts on Liszt’s Grand Piano” – a Büzendorfer piano from 1876 – the fourth and final concert of the season was held at the Ritz Museum. In cooperation with the “Candlelight Concerts” association, an evening of first-class music was held with Yoko Saotome-Hooper, Valentin Erben and Robert Bobiczka. While this was Robert Bobiczka’s third piano recital as part of the “Candlelight Concerts” at the Ritz Museum, the other two artists played at the Ritz for the first time.

On the one hand, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdi’s Piano Trio, Op. 49. Composed in 1839, it is one of the most famous piano trios of the Romantic era. On the other hand, this was followed by the premiere of Robert Bobicka’s “Ballad” for piano. The finale was Antonin Dvorjak’s “Dumki Trio”, the official nucleus of the “Dumki Six”.

The concert in the sold-out hall ended with wild applause, and there was traditionally a long conversation with the artists and city councilors Stefan Fehringer, Martin Bichlhofer and Felix Wieckiecki over bread and wine.

To the musicians

• Award-winning violinist Yoko Saotome Huber made her debut as part of the “Candlelight Concerts” at Geras Monastery in 2013. The Japanese-born artist learned to play the violin at the age of three, and after studying in Japan, she expanded her studies from 1994 onwards with First Conductor of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra Reinhard Kochel in Vienna. She has played in many concerts at home and abroad and gives concerts every year at the Japan-Austria Society in Tokyo. She lives in Vienna.
• Cellist Valentin Erbin grew up in a family of musicians. He began learning the cello at the age of four, studying in Munich and, among other places, in Paris with André Navarra. From 1970 to 2008 he helped the Alban Berg Quartet achieve international fame as a member. He taught at the University of Music in Vienna for 40 years. His solo career also led to concerts with Alfred Brendel, Rudolf Buchbinder and others.
• In addition to his work as a pianist and composer at home and abroad, the multi-talented artist Robert Bobicka has been Artistic Director and Managing Director of the Candlelight Concerts Association since 2011.