Rising Stars: Valerie Fritz & Goran Stevanovich

»I want the audience to leave feeling different than they entered,« says Valerie Fritz about her concerts. To achieve this, the Austrian cellist explores the expressive possibilities of her instrument, seeks new performance formats, and develops program ideas that allow for a broader perspective.

For example, the Romantic composer Robert Schumann takes on a new sonic guise in the unusual combination of cello and accordion, while Irish performance artist Jennifer Walshe, in her new work, composed especially for Valerie Fritz, pairs the solo cello with her voice as a duo partner. In Sofia Gubaidulina's »In croce«, in which the composer explores the connection between humanity and the divine, it is the sound of the bayan, an Eastern European variant of the accordion, that creates a new world of sound.

»Rising Stars« is a project of the European Concert Hall Organisation (ECHO). Valerie Fritz has been nominated by the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Bozar Brussels, Casa da Música Porto, Konzerthaus Dortmund, Musikverein Vienna, and the Kölner Philharmonie.