Franz Trio - Music by Beethoven, Schubert, and Dohnanyi

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Avigail Bushakevitz (violin), Ernst-Martin Schmidt (viola) and Constance Ricard (cello) present much-loved Viennese trios by Beethoven, Schubert, and Dohnanyi.

Beethoven and Dohnányi were fiery 26-year-olds when they wrote their serenades for string trio. Hugo Riemann, the 19th century music historian, said of this piece: "A short festive march marks the entrance; then begins a slow piece of pleasing, urgently ingratiating expression in the second theme; especially here, the violin and cello indulge in exquisite solo parts; longing lament is also expressed, and the paused ending seems to wait for a response; this is then expressed in a cheerful minuet movement with an animated trio and the humorous coda. A gently lamenting songlike Adagio (D minor) seems to be about fading hope, but it is interrupted twice again by a lively interlude. The players regain their courage to show their art; a lively polonaise resounds and captivates the audience. Another Andante with variations follows, over which all the charm is now poured out... The variations lead back to the introductory march, with which the singers depart."

Beethoven's op. 8 Serenade for string trio became the model for the elaborate Serenade by the Hungarian post-Romanticist Ernst von Dohnányi. The similarities in form are uncanny. Both pieces open with lively marches, customary of many 18th-century serenades, marches symbolising the entrance of the royal beneficiary of the evening’s concert, and both have an extensive theme and variations movement. The harmonic worlds, though, couldn’t be more different, Beethoven still a pure classicist, and Dohnanyi a true romantic abiding in the early 20th century. And let’s not forget Vienna. Both serenades were composed in The City of Music, where the 20-year-old Schubert also wrote his string trio D 581 in 1817. Very classical in form, this exquisite piece speaks to the soul with the delicate, translucent pathos of the young Schubert. 

Avigail Bushakevitz, Ernst-Martin Schmidt and Constance Ricard founded the Franz Trio in 2017, shortly after playing their first concert together in France with works of Franz Schubert and of Gideon Klein. These two composers have continued to be of great importance to them: they named their ensemble after Schubert and have explored the classical Viennese repertoire but also take an ever-growing interest in the Theresienstadt composers such as Schulhoff, Klein and Krasa, as well as Jewish composers of the twentieth century. Their shared interest in literature, history and languages, as well as their backgrounds from South Africa, Germany and France respectively, have allowed them to build a uniquely personal trio language and they have spent the last few years furthering their interest for the works of lesser-known composers such as Jean Cras and Dick Kattenburg.

As soloists, chamber musicians and orchestral players, they have performed in halls such as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Berlin Philharmonie, Royal Albert Hall in London and the Carnegie Hall in New York. Their Alma Mater Universities are in Paris, Berlin, Leipzig, New York and Tel Aviv.

Having a total of 6 young children among them, they have so far mostly concentrated their concert activity in and around Berlin, with concerts at the Konzerthaus Berlin, the Deutsches Historische Museum, at the Berlin Philharmonic lunch concert series and at the Leo-Baeck award ceremony. In the upcoming season, their programme of music from Theresienstadt will be presented in several synagogues, and the Franz Trio will be performing all over Germany.