AEGERI CONCERTS 26: Lieder recital Aeneas Humm, baritone & Kit Armstrong, piano

We learn about a lonely wanderer who wanders through a cold, silent world after being disappointed in love. In 24 haunting songs, longing, hope, pain and quiet irony become palpable. Schubert's music transforms simple poems into a deeply moving human drama that remains timelessly topical and addresses themes that move us all: the search for oneself.

The artists:

Aeneas Humm, baritone

Born in 1995, baritone Aeneas Humm comes from a Swiss-Hungarian family of artists. He became a member of the Zurich Boys' Choir at the age of six and was sent to boarding school at the Vorarlberg State Conservatory in Feldkirch at the age of fifteen. Humm completed his vocal training at the Hochschule für Künste in Bremen and at the Juilliard School in New York. For his achievements to date, he was awarded the OPUS Klassik as Young Artist of the Year in 2022 and has also previously received the Deutschlandfunk Sponsorship Award.

While still a student, he made his debut at the Stadt-Theater Bremerhaven and accepted guest engagements at Theater Osnabrück. The Nationaltheater Weimar signed Äneas Humm to its ensemble in 2019; in 2020 he moved to the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe for two years and was a member of the ensemble at the Theater St. Gallen until summer 2023. Last season, he could be seen there as Ophémon in Joseph Bologne's L'AMANT ANONYME, as Doktor Falke in DIE FLEDERMAUS by Johann Strauss, as Papageno in Mozart's Magic Flute and as Roucher in Giordano's ANDREA CHÉNIER. In the fall of 2023, he was invited back to the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona and impressed as Agrippa in John Adams' ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. He also made his debut at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam with Faure's REQUIEM.

This was followed by his debuts at the Opera di Roma as Papageno and at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice as Harlequin.

Future engagements in the 2024/2025 season include his return to the Theater St. Gallen for his role debut as Pantalon in DIE LIEBE ZU DEN DREI ORANGEN, and again as Falke in DIE FLEDERMAUS alongside Rolando Villazon.

Äneas Humm is also in great demand as a concert singer and is a regular guest with renowned European orchestras including the Bremen Philharmonic, Musikkollegium Winterthur, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie, Nederlands Noordorkest and Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz.

In December 2023, he also appeared again with Bach's Christmas Oratorio in John Neumeier's choreography at the Hamburg State Opera.

Äneas Humm also devotes himself intensively to lieder singing: recitals have taken him to the Weill Recital Hall and Alice Tully Hall in New York, the Enescu Festival in Bucharest, the Heidelberger Frühling, the Bremen Music Festival, the Beethoven House in Bonn and also to the two major Swiss festivals in Davos and Lucerne, for example.

He also performed Beethoven songs at Berlin's Bellevue Palace at the invitation of Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to open the Beethoven Year 2020.

Humm's second solo album Embrace was named "CD of the Year 2021" by BR Klassik and he also received the "Opus Klassik as a Young Artist" award for it. He had already enjoyed great success with his debut album Awakening. Further CD recordings are planned.

Further information from Aeneas Humm

Kit Armstrong, piano

Is there an ideal form of music-making? Kit Armstrong is certain: it is chamber music. "My ideal is the coming together of versatile soloists who know how to play their different, sometimes prominent, sometimes accompanying, supporting and always exciting roles," says the cosmopolitan.

Alfred Brendel called him the greatest musical talent he had encountered in his entire life.

Kit Armstrong is not only one of the best pianists of our time, he is also an organist, composer and conductor. He also studied science and mathematics and graduated with a Master's degree.

Born in Los Angeles in 1992, Kit Armstrong began composing at the age of five and received his first piano lessons shortly afterwards. He later studied at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and at the Royal Academy of Music in London. At the age of thirteen, he met Alfred Brendel, who had a strong influence on him as a teacher and mentor.

In addition to his musical training, Armstrong also studied science and completed a Master's degree in mathematics at the University of Paris. As a pianist, he now performs in halls such as the Musikverein in Vienna, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Berlin Philharmonie, the NHK Hall in Tokyo and the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels. He has performed with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig and the NHK Symphony Orchestra, working with Herbert Blomstedt, Riccardo Chailly, Kent Nagano, Esa-Pekka Salonen and Christian Thielemann.

Armstrong devotes himself intensively to chamber music, especially in collaboration with violinist Renaud Capuçon, cellist Daniel Müller-Schott, tenor Julian Prégardien, Quatuor Ebène and the Armida Quartet. He has also been giving recitals on the organ since 2016. Kit Armstrong is also a successful composer and has received commissions from the Gewandhaus zu Leipzig, the Schubertiade Hohenems, the Konzerthaus Dortmund and the Musikkollegium Winterthur. In 2013, he bought the Église Sainte-Thérèse in Hirson (Picardy, France), where he has been organizing concerts and exhibitions ever since.

His latest project: Kit Armstrong combines art and music

One of the most artistically curious young pianists is coming to Essen for four days with a project developed especially for the Ruhr Piano Festival: Kit Armstrong is realizing his dream of bringing painting and music together. From May 22 to 25, he will place various keyboard instruments in different rooms of the Museum Folkwang, on which he will interact musically with the exhibited works of fine art. The audience accompanies him and can enter into conversation with the pianist and with each other during this encounter.

Further information from Kit Armstrong

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