Welcome 2023!
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,
Dear friends of music,
2022 was an intense and rich concert year for Maurice Steger. In the following, he cordially invites you to a personal review of the year – also with a selection of the most diverse photographic snapshots. We wish you a good start into the new year and all the best for 2023!!
Right on New Year’s Day, things got started with the big New Year’s Concert at the Tonhalle Zurich, which was followed by many concerts with the Zurich Chamber Orchestra (ZKO).
The 25th anniversary concert series was completed in the summer, old music was performed as well as new music, 3 world premieres (Iris ter Schiphorst, Massimiliano Matesic and Fabian Müller) were conducted, played and recorded by Maurice Steger. We are happy that this so inspiring collaboration with the ZKO will continue next year.
Two other chamber music projects have also spread throughout the year, a program of works from the 17th century to the most contemporary music with the Kuss Quartet and the duo with Martin Stadtfeld – piano with a lot of Bach and Handel, but also other listening experiences.
This year Maurice Steger again gave several children’s concerts, especially the story about Tino Flautino and tomcat Leo Leonardo was played in different instrumentations. This project for young and old will also open the concert year 2023: in Crans-Montana in the mountains of Valais, the musical project will be heard together with the baroque orchestra La Cetra, a great storyteller in French and two sand artists from Italy right on January 2.
The tour Les Nations with the French baroque violonist Amandine Beyer took the quartet to the Musikverein Vienna, the LAC Lugano, among others, and each time new perspectives on the different styles from Italy, France and Germany were played.
Maurice Steger is a guest conductor who loves to present always new things with his orchestras and to internalize and intensify the relationship with them: With the Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra Vivaldi’s birthday was celebrated, with the Braunschweig State Orchestra symphonies by Mozart and Haydn were the theme (the program will be given again at the Sharoun Theater Wolfsburg on Jan. 28) and with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony wonderful, downright highlights were heard in concert and radio moments with works by Vivaldi, Bach and Veracini, which will certainly be broadcast again in 2023.
New collaborations in 2022 included the Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz, the Sinfonia Varsovia and the Bochumer Symphoniker.
Wintery flower fields were impressively experienced with the New Orchestra Basel, and CHAARTS launched a new project with Suite Italienne, which will continue in German and Swiss cities from January 9.
The pedagogical projects under the direction of Maurice Steger were especially popular this year, all events were completely booked out. It is wonderful that these academies and courses will take place again in 2023: the International Recorder Forum of the Nuremberg Conservatory will already start on January 6, the master classes within the Blockflötenfesttage will take place on May 19 and 20. The Summer Course for Recorder and Early Music in Arosa will be held from July 8-14, the Master Course SJMW in Schönried will be held from August 25-29, 2023, and the Gstaad Baroque Academy will open its doors for recorder players and early music ensembles on August 26 and end on September 2.
Maurice Steger will continue his lectures at the Nuremberg University of Music as a professor, as well as his activities as president of the expert commissions of the Swiss Youth Music Competition.
And in May the recorder festival days (Blockflötenfesttage) will take place again, the artistic director Maurice Steger is looking forward to your visit, he has again been able to win wonderful artists* for this unique festival.
The compositional focus in 2022 was Toshio Hosokawa. Steger has played and conducted his works in many concerts and recordings. Two books have been published in which Steger has participated in various capacities: “Neumarkt” and “Es ist das Leben” . The release of a video production of the world premiere Sei gutes Muts with Maurice Steger and the Kuss Quartett has caused a sensation, as well as a video project with the Bayrischer Rundfunk.
At the Gstaad Menuhin Festival this year Maurice Steger conducted the brilliant baroque orchestra il Pomo d’oro with works of the Viennese classical period, in Verbier he performed Bach’s notebooks with Avi Avital, and with Sebastian Wienand the artist has a long-standing musical friendship, which has made itself heartily felt in many recitals.
A highlight was also the tour in Canada with the wonderful orchestra Les Violons du Roy, in the meantime Steger has performed 30 concerts with this orchestra. The intensive collaboration with the phenomenal La Cetra Baroque Orchestra Basel will continue in 2023 in several projects, we are especially looking forward to Bach and Telemann.
