Glass Harmonica · Verrophone
Kronezeitung
Salzburg Mozart Week
The Joy from the Glass Harmonica – Vienna Philharmonic, Boulez and Bronfmann:
“There was a mysterious and incomprehensible, almost otherworldly atmosphere full of unreal shades. A great and truly compelling success!”
Nürnberger Nachrichten
Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra
“…the central highlight and focal point of the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra’s concert.”
Schwäbische Zeitung
Lake Constance Festival
“… an effortless performance on the glass keyboard in wonderful interplay. …”
Die Presse
Int. Haydn Days Eisenstadt
The Vienna Glass Harmonica Duo as a sparkling highlight: “… In perfect harmony, Haydn, Lanner, Grieg, Satie found themselves on the common ground of appropriate virtuosity …”
Schwäbische Zeitung
Würzburg Mozart Festival
“… With the duo Christa and Gerald Schönfeldinger, the Mozart Festival had a stroke of luck. No one in the hall could resist the charm of the sounds; rarely is such a tense silence felt in the hall after the first notes …”
Kurier
Perfect Interplay
“The interplay of the two artists was perfect; even at astonishingly high tempos, phrasing was executed precisely.”
Salzburger Nachrichten
Salzburg Mozart Week
“An impressive conclusion to the Salzburg Mozart Week. With precise playing, the two artists demonstrated a highly charming program.”
Thüringer Allgemeine
Dynamic Shades
“… Played in this perfect manner, the glass harmonica and verrophone are capable of all harmonic structures and dynamic shades. Also impressive is Gerald Schönfeldinger’s creativity in compositionally realizing his own psychological profiles.”
Allgäuer Anzeigenblatt
Oberstdorf Music Summer
“No one wants to escape the music of this duo. The comforting thing: the glass instruments are entirely inwardly directed. Displayed virtuosity and showmanship are unnecessary. The Vienna Glass Harmonica Duo: a total work of art.”
Frankenpost
Glassy Tones for Modern Souls
“… Exciting, the creative, novel treatment of the fragile tones: This is how the glass harmonica can, indeed must, live on.”
Sächsische Zeitung
Modern Fantasies
“In the middle, the two glass tone artists announced a spooky evening dance, and it became clear that modern fantasies can also be produced with the old glass instruments. And so the expressive capability of these suddenly no longer contemplative instruments expanded.”
Nordbayerischer Kurier
Brilliant Perfection
“Whatever the Schönfeldingers play – and they do so with ‘brilliant’ perfection – earthly and otherworldly happiness enters the listener. …”
The Guardian
Unearthly Sound
Royal Albert Hall, London. “Christa Schönfeldinger walked on stage carrying a pot of water: the accessory of choice for any player of the glass harmonica, a curiosity of an instrument that works on the same principle as licking your finger and running it round the edge of a wine glass. Armonica, written by Jörg Widmann 10 years ago and here receiving its UK premiere from the BBC Philharmonic, is not a concerto, but the pure, unearthly sound of the instrument plants the seed of the piece, along with an equally prominent accordion, and colours it throughout.
Time slows down. The orchestra seems to breathe in slow, massive throbs, the sound gaining substance with each inhalation until the sleeping beast stirs and threatens to wake. Widmann layers up the instruments so that each expanding note cluster feels denser than the one before, and the result is a mesmerising, sonically fascinating piece.” (Erica Jeal)
A rare outing for the glass harmonica brightened a concert of red-blooded Nordic clashes, while Thomas Zehetmair brought directness to the tricky Schumann Violin Concerto in the Royal Albert Hall in London.
Unearthly sound … Christa Schönfeldinger plays Widmann’s Armonica.
Photograph: Chris Christodoulou/BBC
References
2016 to 2022
2022
Orchestra Opéra National de Paris Armonica
Paris, France
NDR Orchestra Hamburg / Elbphilharmonie / Nagano Armonica
Hamburg, Germany
Salzburg Festival / Lucia di Lammermoor
Salzburg, Austria
Concertgebouw Amsterdam
Amsterdam, Netherlands
2021
WDR Cologne, J. Widmann: Armonica
Cologne, Germany
2020
CD Production Hila Fahima Ruschin RSO Vienna, Aria Lucia di Lammermoor
Vienna, Austria
Styriarte Graz
Graz, Austria
Bytom Opera / Lucia di Lammermoor
Bytom, Poland
2019
Unter den Linden Berlin / Barenboim
Berlin, Germany
Donaueschingen Festival Klangforum Wien / Sylvain Cambreling
Vienna, Austria
Ensembletheater Klagenfurt / For Forest Peter Wagner: 13th Hell Song Composition: Gerald Schönfeldinger
Klagenfurt, Austria
2018
Bruckner Orchestra Linz / Poschner Woman Without a Shadow
Linz, Austria
Tonhalle Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf, Germany
Graz Opera / Lucia di Lammermoor
Graz, Austria
Budapest Opera / Lucia di Lammermoor
Budapest, Hungary
2017
Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra / Kent Nagano, J. Widmann: Arche UA, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg
Hamburg, Germany
Staatskapelle Berlin / Daniel Barenboim, J. Widmann: Armonica
Berlin, Germany
Young German Philharmonic, J. Widmann: Armonica
Germany
"Light", Film by Barbara Albrecht
Germany
2016
PROMS Festival, Royal Albert Hall
London, England
Avanti – Helsinki Summer Sounds Festival
Helsinki, Finland
Budapest Opera, Lucia di Lammermoor
Budapest, Hungary
MuTh Vienna
Vienna, Austria
Schleswig-Holstein Festival
Germany
Further
Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra
Germany
Schleswig-Holstein Festival
Germany
Munich Chamber Orchestra Pascal Dusapin: Disputatio (UA)
Munich, Germany
Kennedy Center Washington / NSO Orchestra Washington / Ch. Eschenbach "Armonica"
Washington, USA
Vienna State Opera / Welser-Möst, Woman Without a Shadow
Vienna, Austria
Int. Festival of Sacred Music "Gaude Mater" / Poland
Poland
Int. Whitsun Music Days Lauterbach
Lauterbach, Germany
Philharmonie Berlin: DSO, Kent Nagano, J. Widmann: Armonica
Berlin, Germany
Enesco Festival: Transylvanian Symphony Orchestra, J. Axelrod, J. Widmann: Armonica
Bucharest, Romania
Salzburg Festival: Vienna Philharmonic, Ch. Thielemann, Woman Without a Shadow
Salzburg, Austria
Festspielhaus St. Pölten: Joachim Schlömer / Evening Sensations
St. Pölten, Austria
