Sun, Apr. 13, 2025, 11.00 am | Elbphilharmonie, Recital Hall
Hugo Wolf: Italian Serenade in G major for string quartet
Hugo Wolf: Four songs for soprano and string quartet
Hugo Wolf: Intermezzo in E flat major for string quartet
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy: “…or should it mean death?” - Eight songs and a fragment based on poems by Heinrich Heine. Arrangement for soprano and string quartet by Aribert Reimann
Franz Schubert: String Quartet No. 14 in D minor D 810 - “Death and the Maiden”
Sopran: Katharina Konradi
Violine: Konradin Seitzer
Violine: Mette Tjærby Korneliusen
Viola: Naomi Seiler
Violoncello: Olivia Jeremias
Birthplace:
Bischkek, Kyrgyzstan
Studies:
Singing education with Julie Kaufmann in Berlin, master's degree in song composition with Christiane Iven and Donald Sulzen at Hochschule für Musik und Theater München
Master class:
with Helmut Deutsch and Klesie Kelly-Moog
Prizes:
BBC New Generation Artist (2018–20), prize of Deutscher Musikwettbewerb in Bonn (2016), special prize of Walter und Charlotte Hamel Stiftung, prizewinner of Bundeswettbewerbs „Jugend musiziert“ and of Sommerakademie Mozarteum (2015), 1st prize of Kulturkreis Gasteig München in the classification „Lied-Duo“ (2015); scholarship holder of Paul-Hindemith-Gesellschaft Berlin, of Yehudi Menuhin Stiftung „Live Music Now“ and of Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes
Relation to the Hamburg State Opera:
Ensemble member of the Hamburg State Opera since 2018/19 season
Important parts:
Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Gretel (Hänsel und Gretel), Adele (Die Fledermaus), Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro), Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Zdenka (Arabella), Ännchen (Der Freischütz), Anne Frank (Das Tagebuch der Anne Frank), et al.
Stages:
Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden, Elbphilharmonie, Kammeroper München, Theater Hof, Mainfranken Theater Würzburg, et al.
Cooperation with conductors:
Lionel Bringuier, Paavo Järvi, Thomas Hengelbrock, Patrick Lange, Konrad Junghänel, et al.
Konradin Seitzer, born in Aachen in 1983, began playing the violin at the age of four and enrolled at the age of 14 as a junior student in the class of Atila Aydintan at the Hanover Academy of Music and Theatre. He then continued his studies with Antje Weithaas at the Hanns Eisler School of Music in Berlin, from which he graduated with distinction in January 2009. He has appeared around the world as a soloist with orchestras including the Konzerthaus Orchestra Berlin, the Brandenburg State Orchestra in Frankfurt and the State Orchestra Rheinische Philharmonie, appearing at venues such as the Konzerthaus Berlin, the Glocke in Bremen and the Seongnam Arts Center in South Korea. In addition to his work as a soloist, Konradin Seitzer is also dedicated to chamber music and has given concerts with artists such as Robert Levin, Thomas Brandis and Ulf Hoelscher. Konradin Seitzer was previously First Concertmaster of the orchestra of the Komische Oper Berlin; since 2012 he has held the same position at the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra. In 2015 he received the Eduard Söring Prize of the Foundation for the Support of the Hamburg State Opera.
Mette Tjærby Korneliusen, born in Copenhagen in 1975, began playing the violin when she was four years old. She studied her instrument in Copenhagen and London. From 1994 to 1997 she was a member of the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester and the European Union Youth Orchestra. She is a founding member of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and has been a member of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra since 2003. As a chamber musician, she has formed the Duo Mignon with pianist Mimi Kjær since 1993; she was also a violinist in the Helios Quartet for about ten years. Since 2011 she has been a member of the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra.
Naomi Seiler began performing early on with her siblings in the Seiler Quartet, and joined the class of Jürgen Geise at the Mozarteum Salzburg as a junior student when she was 14. She continued her studies with Ulrich Koch in Freiburg and with Hirofumi Fukai in Hamburg. The winner of several awards performs both chamber music (including with the Seiler Quartet and Via Salzburg in Toronto) and as a soloist in Germany, France, Italy, South America and Japan, combined with radio and television appearances. Naomi Seiler has been principal viola of the Philharmonic State Orchestra since 1989. A sought-after chamber musician, she is a champion of chamber music within her own orchestra and teaches at the Hamburg Academy of Music and Theatre.
Olivia Jeremias is one of the outstanding cellists of her generation. She began playing the instrument at the age of five. Taught by renowned cellists such as Peter Bruns, Colin Carr and Josephine Knight, she completed degrees at the Dresden Music Academy Carl Maria von Weber and at the Royal Academy of Music in London, both with honours. At the age of 20, she played the solo part in Dvořák’s Cello Concerto under the baton of Sir Colin Davis at Dresden’s Semper Opera, a performance also recorded for radio. She won international renown with a first prize at the Heran Competition in the Czech Republic and as a finalist in the Antonio Janigro Competition in Zagreb. In 2004 she received the Pierre Fournier Special Award. Olivia Jeremias appears regularly as a soloist with various orchestras, for example as the soloist in Tan Dun’s cello concerto “The Map” with the Essen Philharmonic. She has been invited to well-known festivals such as the Kilkenny Festival in Ireland, the Encuentro de Musica y Academia Festival in Santander, Spain, the Highgate Festival and Spitalfields Festival in London. In the summer 2004 she appeared at the Music at Menlo Festival in San Francisco, USA. In September 2005 Olivia Jeremias moved to Hamburg, where she holds the position of principal cellist of the Philharmonic State Orchestra.
I have played "Death and the Maiden" with my siblings since I was a child, naively and full of joy. Today, with the certainty and knowledge that Schubert's music reflects everything without words: despair, fear, gentleness and comfort.
Naomi Seiler, solo violist
How often music finds words for the unspeakable is shown in the 5th Chamber Concerto: Hugo Wolf composed his “Italian Serenade” for strings as a light-hearted homage to the carefree nature of his youth. If the tone there is one of cheerful courage, his songs show another facet of the composer: in them he tried to unmask people's masking, full of impressive authenticity and deep feeling. His Intermezzo in E flat major, which Wolf wrote a year before the Italian Serenade, is full of elegy and hopeful passion. A composer's life that constantly fluctuated between heaven and abyss. Reflections on one's own life, "being there" and "thinking" can be heard in Aribert Reimann's adaptation of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy's songs. He also composed six interludes for string quartet to connect the songs and add his own language to them. There is no need for many words when it comes to Schubert's “Death and the Maiden”. Shortly before his death, he revisited his most popular songs and processed the best-known motifs in string quartets, including the String Quartet in D minor D 810. The result was what Schubert's friend Moritz von Schwind described as a “melody that remains as if it were from Songs, completely sentimental and completely expressed”.
Venue: Elbphilharmonie, Recital Hall, Platz der Deutschen Einheit 4, 20457 Hamburg
