Libre Esthétique - Ysaÿe, Montgomery, Mendelssohn

The programme: YSAŸESonata for two violins, excerpt 'Poco lento - Maestoso'JESSIE MONTGOMERYStrumMENDELSSOHNString Quartet No. 6 in F minor, Op. 80 The artists: Tania Passendji, violin Jeroen Dupont, violin Aurélie Deschamps, Caillon viola Livia Stanese, cello

Opening this concert, an excerpt from Eugène Ysaÿe's Sonata for Two Violins places this programme under the patronage of the great violinist, who was also director of the concerts of the Libre Esthétique. The spirit of this Belgian avant-garde society inspires the broad outlines of the programme: contemporaneity, breadth of cultural horizons and resonances between aesthetics. The African American composer Jessie Montgomery, whose work explores classical music, jazz, blues and African American traditions, composed Strum ('to strum') in 2006. Built on superimposed pizzicato ostinatos, the piece moves from choreographic trance to ecstatic celebration. The extreme agitation of Félix Mendelssohn's String Quartet No. 6 answers it. This Romantic quartet, one of the composer's most dramatic works, reveals the emotional state he was in after the death of his beloved sister Fanny.