REMINISCENCES Camille Thomas, cello Julien Libeer, piano Guest : Alexandre Duhamel, baryton Release Fall 2016 “To grasp the passing phrase or harmony – he did not know which – that had expanded his soul.” Music offers a way into our inner lives, as represented for Proust by the famous phrase from Vinteuil’s sonata. It is an anchor cast into passing time, lost time, an ethereal magic that spans ages and epochs and leads us back to what is essential, opening a way to our memories and our most inexpressible spiritual states. This sonata by Franck, just like the songs of Duparc, Fauré and Saint-Saëns or the deeply inward solo cello sonata of Ysaÿe, could stand in for that phrase from Vinteuil’s sonata: they are recollections of the sublime. TRACK LIST DUPARC L’invitation au voyage (arr. for cello and piano) 4’30 FAURE Sicilienne op.78 4’ SAINT-SAENS Sérénade from the Suite for cello and piano op.16 4’ - Le cygne 3’30 FRANCK Sonate for cello and piano 28' MASSENET Élégie (with the baryton Alexandre Duhamel) 3’30 FAURE Élégie 7' - Papillon 3' - Berceuse 3'44 - Après un rêve 3' YSAYE Sonate for cello solo op.28 13’ PROGRAM IN CONCERT DUPARC L’invitation au voyage FAURE Sicilienne – Élégie - Papillon SCHUBERT Arpegionne Sonata ---- SAINT-SAENS Le cygne - Sérénade FRANCK Sonata One hour program : DUPARC L’invitation au voyage FAURE Sicilienne - Élégie - Papillon SAINT-SAENS Le cygne - Sérénade FRANCK Sonata Review from a concert at the Courtrai’s Concertstudio in Klassiek Centraal Tim De Backer, Klassiek Centraal, October 2015 "The phrasing is an art and this lady dared again everything. A perfect taste and very soulful, but equally flamboyant when the score impose it. (...) After a very subtle Beethoven we were full of expectations for this work weaved by reminiscences . And it can be said : with Libeer and Thomas the Franck Sonata grows to anything but "already heard". In each of the four movements the atmosphere is captured with a real sense of shape : from the Allegro ben moderato, very lively which led to a first climax, through the Allegro furiously committed, to the delicacy of the captivating slow Fantasia and then the catchy last movement. It is wonderful to hear as Libeer and Thomas tailgate each other in their playing. Music brought in this way, we wish to hear again and again." Read the full article here : http://www.klassiek-centraal.be/?q=recensie/prettig-esthetisch-genoegen-kortrijk CAMILLE THOMAS Nominated as Newcomer of the year 2014 by the French-Grammys ‘ Les Victoires de la Musique’, the Franco- Belgian cellist Camille Thomas is viewed as one of the most promising young musicians of her generation. Chosen by Musiq'3 - RTBF to represent Belgium at the European Broadcasting Union Competition, Camille Thomas was awarded the 1st price and was named “New Talent of the Year 2014”. Her many awards – Révélation Classique ADAMI 2010, prizewinner from the Fondation Banque Populaire Natixis and Fondation Bleustein-Blanchet pour la Vocation, among others – have already ensured her invitations to give recitals at such prestigious venues as the Salle Gaveau, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, the Victoria Hall in Geneva, the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, Jerusalem Music Center and the Berlin Konzerthaus. She regularly appears as a soloist with chamber music partners such as Sinfonia Varsovia, the Philharmonie Baden-Baden, the Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra, the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre Symphonique de Bretagne, the Ensemble Orchestral de la Baule, the United Nations Orchestra, the Cappella Orchestra Academica of Berlin..She has won numerous prizes at national and international competitions, including the Seventh Antonio Janigro International Competition, the Yamaha Music Foundation, the Europe String Competition, the Edmont Baert Competition and the Léopold Bellan Competition. She has also been awarded the Prix Berthier of the AMOPA. Alongside her activities as a soloist, she has a passion for chamber music. In 2011 and 2012 she was selected to participate in Seiji Ozawa’s International Music Academy in Switzerland. She is also regularly invited to play with such chamber music partners as Frank Braley, Gérard Caussé, Menahem Pressler, Beatrice Berrut and Julien Libeer, among others. Born in Paris in 1988, Camille is now completing advanced studies (Konzertexam) with Wolfgang- Emmanuel Schmidt at the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt in Weimar. She studied in Frans Helmerson’s class at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler in Berlin, after working with Marcel Bardon and Philippe Muller in Paris and Stephan Forck in Berlin. She has worked with some of today’s most important musicians such as Steven Isserlis, Anner Bylsma, Tabea Zimmermann, Natalia Shakovskaya, Ralph Kirschbaum, David Geringas or Gabor Takacs-Nagy as a participant of the Verbier Festival Academy, the Kronberg Academy, the IMS Prussia Cove. Her debut album for the label Fuga Libera (Outhere) featuring works by Rachmaninoff, Kabalewski and Auerbach has been very well received by the international press. JULIEN LIBEER "The complete musician, uniting at any musical moment a true knowledge of the piece, a solid intellectual grasp and an infallible instinct for the impalpable." Maria João Pires Ever since receiving the prestigious Juventus Award - previously awarded to e.g. Piotr Anderszewski and Emmanuel Pahud - at the age of 20, Julien Libeer has been described by national and international press as one of the most remarkable musicians of the younger generation. Since then, he has been the guest of the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, London’s King’s Place Concert Hall, the Théâtre de la Ville (Paris), and the Menton and Radio France Montpellier festival (France). Since 2012, Maria João Pires takes him under her wing and proposes to share the stage on regular occasions. After acclaimed debuts in the Palau de la Musica Catalana (Barcelona) and the Auditorio Nacional (Madrid), next concerts will lead him to the Barbican Hall in London and the Amsterdam Concertgebouw in the Master pianists series, among others An ardent chamber musician, Julien Libeer studied with the Artemis and Alban Berg String Quartets, and performs with artists such as Augustin Dumay, Julian Steckel, Alissa Margulis, Alena Baeva… The 2014-2015 season marks the beginning of long term collaborations with, among others, Camille Thomas and Lorenzo Gatto. After finishing his studies with distinguished professors Daniel Blumenthal (Brussels) and Jean Fassina (Paris), Julien Libeer becomes 'artist in residence' at the Queen Elisabeth College of Music. He works for two years under supervision of Abdel-Rahman El Bacha, before joining the class of Maria João Pires, until 2014. He has benefitted from regular advice of Dmitri Bashkirov. .