Spark 7 | Music by Reggie Moore, Kreisler, Schubert | Discussion: “A CV of failures”

18 - 19 h Concert
SooJin Anjou, piano
Marlene Ito, violin

Reggie Moore       New Work* (2024)                                                                
Fritz Kreisler         Recitativo and Scherzo-Caprice, Op.6 (1911) 
Franz Schubert    Fantasy in C for violin and piano, D. 934 (1827)               
                                                        

*commissioned work for Spark, with contributions by the MDC community; world premiere  

19.15 - 20h Discussion
"A CV of Failures"
 with the musicians,
special guest Dr. Melanie Stefan 
& Nikolaus Rajewsky

 

© Nikolaj Lund

The Japanese-Australian violinist Marlene Ito has been a member of the Berlin Philharmonic since 2011. In 2020, she became the first woman to hold the position of principal second violin in the Berlin Philharmonic. From 2009 to 2011, she was second concertmaster of Komische Oper Berlin. 

As soloist, she has appeared with orchestras such as the Budapest Festival Orchestra, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the National Radio Orchestra of Ireland, the Berliner Symphoniker, the Hamburger Symphoniker and the Kammerakademie Potsdam; with conductors including Lorin Maazel, Ivan Fischer, Michael Sanderling, Georg Fritzsch and Richard Gill.  As a founding member of the Pangaea Trio Berlin and a former member of the Varian Fry Quartet, she is also an ardent chamber musician; other musical partners include András Schiff and Tabea Zimmermann.

Marlene Ito started her studies in Sydney with Goetz Richter, and completed them in Lübeck and Berlin (UdK). While still a student, she became a member of the Berlin Philharmonic’s  Karajan Academy (2006-2008). 

She teaches in the string department of the University of the Arts Berlin as assistant to her former teacher and mentor, Nora Chastain.
 

© Neda Navaee

Pianist SooJin Anjou enjoys an astonishingly varied international career as soloist, chamber musician and partner in diverse interdisciplinary projects. Born in South Korea, she was educated in the United States, Hungary and Germany.  She graduated from the Juilliard School as the only person in its history to win both of Juilliard’s undergraduate commencement prizes, for achievement and leadership in music and the liberal arts. While still a student, she was prominently featured in Asahi-TV’s documentary “New York, New Yorkers”, which was televised in many parts of Asia and released on DVD.  

SooJin Anjou is an avid performer of contemporary music, and composers have been entrusting their work to her since she was 15. She has premiered works by, among others, Valentin Silvestrov, Elena Kats-Chernin and David Del Tredici.  Her world-premiere recording of the complete piano works of electronic music legend Morton Subotnick was released to great acclaim, eliciting such praise as “magical and beguiling” (Wire Magazine, London).

As soloist, she made her Boston Symphony Orchestra debut at  age 16 with Prokofiev's 3rd Piano Concerto. She is a laureate of the Robert Schumann International Piano Competition (Zwickau, Germany) and the Orléans International Piano Competition (France).   Her broad repertoire includes more than 40 concertos, ranging from Bach to Berio, as well as the complete works of Ravel.

© Michael Ziolowski

The jazz pianist-composer-arranger Reggie Moore was born in New York City in 1938 as the son of Billy Moore, a renowned jazz musician. He first studied electrical engineering at Hofstra University before deciding to dedicate himself fully to music. 

He has toured in Asia, North America and Europe, working with such jazz greats as Anita O’Day, Johnny Hartmann, Betty Carter, Harry “Sweets” Edison, Gary Bartz, Woody Shaw, Benny Golson and Kenny Burrell –– to name just a few.  Jazz critic Nat Hentoff has described Reggie Moore as having a “strongly propulsive beat, crispness of articulation, and emotional directness”. 

Reggie Moore’s singular art, which he himself calls “Communicable Music”, is based not only on his mastery of the jazz tradition, but also on a deep understanding of classical composers such as Bach, Chopin and Bartók. This unique blend of wide-ranging influences informs all facets of his work: as a performer, composer and teacher.


Following in the footsteps of Dizzie Gillespie, Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman and Duke Ellington, Reggie had the honor of being an official Jazz Ambassador for the U.S. State Department. In this capacity, he performed in Bahrain, Qatar, Egypt and Cyprus, bringing this unique American cultural tradition to countries around the world.  
      

Since 1985, Reggie Moore has been living in Berlin with his wife, jazz vocalist-composer Cornelia Moore, and their daughter Jessica. As a performing composer/arranger and a dedicated teacher at the Jazz Institute Berlin (Hanns Eisler/University of the Arts Berlin), he has been shaping the German jazz scene for nearly four decades.