In the final tour of Musica Viva’s 2011 season, clarinettist Sabine Meyer returns to Australia for the first time in 15 years, joined by the Modigliani String Quartet.
Meyer’s career took off when Herbert von Karajan appointed her principal clarinet of, and first woman in, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in 1982. She has since maintained her place as one of the world’s top woodwind soloists and is one of Germany’s best-loved musicians, known for her fresh approach and peerless virtuosity.
Meyer plays on average 80 concerts a year around the world and she shares a teaching post with her husband in her hometown of Lübeck. Chamber music is something very special to Meyer, and she regularly collaborates with a variety of musicians well known to her including her own wind ensemble, pianists and singers.
The Modigliani String Quartet was much less familiar to Meyer. However, recordings and videos of the Quartet left her with a good impression of the young musicians. “They make a very professional impression. They play in a relaxed way and yet it is very spontaneous. I found that very exciting,”says Meyer.
Formed by four friends in Paris in 2003, the Modigliani String Quartet’s chemistry invariably captivates audiences with their relaxed and spontaneous style. The Quartet first attracted international attention when it won the Frits Philips String Quartet competition in Eindhoven. The Quartet then took First Prize at the Vittorio Rimbotti competition in Florence in 2005 and won the highly prestigious Young Concert Artists Auditions in New York in 2006 allowing them to regularly tour in the US since then.
Across two programmes Sabine Meyer and the Modigliani String Quartet will perform quintets by Mozart and Brahms alongside Ian Munro’s Clarinet Quintet, Songs from the Bush (2010), written especially for these musicians. The Quartet will also perform quartets by Debussy and Schumann.
For Meyer, who is passionately committed to performing new music wherever she can, this is an opportunity for her to play Munro’s music for the first time. “It’s very important to perform new music in the normal concert context. We don’t live in a museum. The public also enjoys a challenge. And I’ve never had a bad experience with new music. It’s really our responsibility as musicians to ensure that new music is performed.”
For the Modigliani String Quartet, the chance to perform with Meyer is exciting. “We play with clarinettists in France and Italy, but to play with Sabine Meyer is like a dream,” says cellist François Kieffer.
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