The spirited and unconventional Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen orchestra will open Carolina Performing Arts’ 2011-2012 season with two concerts showcasing the timeless power of works by Beethoven, Haydn and Schoenberg.
In its only U.S. concert of 2011 and the first in more than a year, the orchestra will perform at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 7 and Thursday, Sept. 8 in Memorial Hall at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Pianist and composer Stefan Litwin, the George Kennedy Distinguished Professor of Music in UNC’s College of Arts and Sciences, will perform with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen (pronounced “DOY-cha KAM-mer-fil-har-mo-NEE BREH-men”). The Berliner Tagesspiegel has written that Litwin performs “(as if) Beethoven himself were sitting at the piano.”
Emil Kang, executive director of the arts at UNC and director of Carolina Performing Arts, said, “This orchestra has inspired music lovers for more than 30 years with its unerring instinct for imaginative, well thought-out programs and unique, brilliantly conceived interpretations. Its exquisite music has been heard in venues around the world.
“We are incredibly fortunate that these two performances also feature UNC music faculty member and renowned pianist Stefan Litwin.”
The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen has received public and critical acclaim for its live performances and recordings. Last fall The New York Times wrote that a concert by the orchestra was “the event of the summer,” while The Times of London described their performances as “a sense of spontaneous combustion and ever-dangerous living.”
The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, which is based in the German town of Bremen, will come to Carolina from a South American tour. After the concerts at Memorial Hall, the orchestra will travel to Europe for the rest of its 2011concerts.
Ticket prices range from $10 for students to $64. For a list of all performances in the 2011-2012 season, visit
www.carolinaperformingarts.org.
About Stefan Litwin
Born in Mexico City, Stefan Litwin studied piano, composition and interpretation in the United States and Switzerland with pianists Christoph Keller, Jürg Wyttenbach and Charles Rosen. He has appeared with orchestras under conductors including Christoph von Dohnányi, Michael Gielen and Marek Janowski. Litwin has performed numerous world premieres and collaborated with composers including Luigi Nono, Luciano Berio and Michael Gielen.
Litwin, who joined UNC’s music faculty in 2008, also teaches at the Hochschule für Musik Saar in Germany. Last fall he opened the first season of his lecture-recital series at the Berlin Philharmonie. He was a Distinguished Artist in Residence at Cambridge University’s Christ College in England from 2005 to 2006 and a Fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg Berlin from 2003 to 2005. The Akademie der Künste Berlin has established a Stefan Litwin Archive of his compositions, recordings, writings, correspondence and original manuscripts.
