About the Concert
The Festival is extremely excited to share its first transatlantic collaboration with two celebrated soloists joining forces for two amazing concerts. Winnipeg’s own Karl Stobbe and Berlin pianist Benjamin Moser will be presenting two concerts centering around two of the most beloved pieces of the Baroque era” Bach’s Goldberg Variations and a unique rearrangement of Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber’s Rosary Sonatas. Each piece is known for its unique temperament and demanding nature, and Festival audiences will be left in awe as two adept soloists present them in all of the glory.
About Karl Stobbe
Karl Stobbe is recognized as one of Canada’s most accomplished violinists, known for his dedication to excellence on the violin and classical music in all its forms. As a concertmaster, soloist, and chamber musician, Karl has been an audience favorite in small settings and large venues. Noted for his generous, rich sound and long, poignant phrasing, he is described by the San Francisco Classical Voice as “an artist with soulful musicianship,” and by London’s Sunday Times as “a master soloist, recalling the golden age of violin playing... producing a breathtaking range of tone colours.”
Always looking to expand the concert stage, Karl has recently created a series of online concerts for digital concert platforms. Distinguished by his life-long love of the music for solo violin, this series features video recordings of all the unaccompanied violin repertoire of J.S. Bach. In honour of the 300th anniversary of Bach’s famous sonatas and partitas for solo violin, it also explores Bach’s influence through video performances of other solo violin repertoire of music by Bartok, Ysaye, Prokofiev, Biber, and others.
About Benjamin Moser
Benjamin Moser came to international attention in June 2007 as a prizewinner in the prestigious Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, in which he received the prize for the best interpretation of Tchaikovsky, as well as the audience prize. In January of that year, he also won first prize in the International Young Concert Artists Auditions in New York, as well as eight additional special prizes and recitals in, among other venues, Paris (Gulbenkian Centre), Washington (Kennedy Centre) and New York (Carnegie Zankel Recital Hall). Since then, Benjamin has performed regularly, both in solo recital, and as soloist with orchestra. As guest performer, Benjamin Moser has been invited to many important festivals, including the Bodensee Festival, the Alpenklassik Festival, the Lucerne Festival, the Klavierfestival Ruhr (to which he was reinvited for 2013,14 and 15), and to the YCA chamber music festival in Tokyo and Beijing.