Zala Kravos

piano

One of the greatest talents I have ever seen.

Maria João Pires

Born in Slovenia in July 2002, Zala was initiated into music from the age of three and received her first piano lessons at five. At six, she entered the Conservatory of the City of Luxembourg, where she has obtained all available diplomas in piano performance and several diplomas in music theory. From 2012 to 2016, she studied at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel (Belgium) with Maria João Pires and continued with Louis Lortie until May2018, when she passed the 'Young Artist Diploma' exam. Since 2010, she regularly participates in master classes with internationally renowned pianists.

In 2017, at fourteen, she recorded her first solo album, which has been very well received by the critics and the media in seven European countries.In 2013, she recorded two impromptus (Schubert and Chopin) for the jubilee CD marking the 150 years of the UGDA, national music education association in Luxembourg.

Benjamin Kruithof

cello

For Cellist Benjamin Kruithof individuality and communication play a most important role in music. At a concert he focuses on the personal message. Each performance is regarded as a musical event where he wants to share a work’s emotions and thoughts with the audience. It comes with no surprise that great artists such as Rostropovich, Glenn Gould, and Jascha Heifetz are among his role models – their ability to communicate a personal message through music has always been an inspiration for him.

Since Benjamin’s debut as a soloist in 2011, his activities brought him to concerts with the orchestra of the Conservatoire des Musique Esch in Metz, to the Kulturhaus Niederanvenin, where he performed Saint-Saens’ Cello concert No. 1 together with Martin Elmquist, to Parisian Saint-Cloud, and, as a laureate and member of the European Union of Music Competitions for Youth (EMCY), to the Young Talent concert in Luxembourg. In June 2017, he performed Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme together with the Orchestre de Chambre du Luxembourg at the philharmonic hall.

Benjamin Kruithof & Zala Kravos

China Tour

PROGRAMME

Ludwig van Beethoven

Sonata for Piano and Cello in A Major, Op. 69 N° 3

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Pezzo Capriccioso, Op. 62

Sergei Rachmaninov

Vocalise, Op. 34

(arr. for cello and piano)

Sergei Rachmaninov

Études tableaux, Op. 39 N° 9

(piano solo)

Intermission

Johannes Brahms

Six Lieder, Op. 86, N° 1–4

(arr. for cello and piano)

Johannes Brahms

Cello Sonata N° 1 in E minor, Op. 38