Bogdan Božović & Alasdair Beatson

Bogdan Božović, concertmaster of the Winterthur Orchestra, and the Scottish pianist Alasdair Beatson have already realised numerous chamber music projects together. In September 2024, they made their joint debut at the Stadthaus with sonatas by Bach. It is therefore only fitting that, for their second joint project in Winterthur, the pair have programmed works by the man who played a key role in the Bach Renaissance. Although, when Felix Mendelssohn composed the Double Concerto for Piano, Violin and Strings in 1823, he was still just a boy of 14. Nevertheless, by that time he had already written three other works for solo instrument and orchestral accompaniment. Following the first private performance in May 1823 with his violin teacher Eduoard Rietz, he added parts for wind instruments and timpani, and a public performance at the Schauspielhaus in Berlin followed later that same year. The work was never published during Mendelssohn’s lifetime; it was not until 1999 that it was first published.
The Third Violin Sonata in F major, which Mendelssohn composed in 1838, met a similar fate: regarded by Mendelssohn as ‘bad’, it was not until 1953 that none other than Yehudi Menuhin discovered the manuscript and published it for the first time. The sonata captivates with a first movement of brilliant virtuosity and a feather-light rondo finale, in which the perpetuum mobile of the refrain unfolds a lively interplay with the mischievous couplet theme.
 

Doors open at 11.50 amOur tip: treat yourself to a culinary delight at the bloom restaurant after the concert. You can choose between individual dishes from the lunch menu and the Musikkollegium package, which includes a three-course lunch menu with mineral water, one coffee and one glass of wine for CHF 55 per person. Table reservations are recommended: www.bloom.ch / +41 52 265 03 65.