Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy - Sontraud Speidel and Franziska Lee

Complete performance of the orchestral works that the composer himself transcribed for piano four hands, with Prof. Sontraud Speidel (Karlsruhe) and Prof. Franziska Lee (Stuttgart) at the piano

Piano duo Lee-Speidel

Programme

Concert Overture No. 2 "The Hebrides – Fingal's Cave" op. 26

Overture to the Singspiel „Soldatenliebschaft“ (1820)

Overture for Wind Band op. 24

Overture to the opera „Die Hochzeit des Camacho“ op. 10

Interval

Symphony No. 3 in A minor op. 56 "Scottish"

Andante con moto – Allegro un poco agitato Vivace non troppo Adagio Allegro Vivacissimo – Allegro maestoso assai

About the artists: Sontraud Speidel and Franziska Lee

Sontraud Speidel is Professor of Piano at the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe and is regularly a visiting professor in Korea, in the USA, in Israel, in Japan, in China, in Taiwan and in various countries in Europe. She is especially committed to nurturing young pianists.

Sontraud Speidel is a Steinway Artist, an honorary member of the Werner-Trenkner-Gesellschaft, an honorary member of the Tonkünstlerverband Baden-Württemberg and an honorary member of the Inner Wheel Club Nordschwarzwald. She has been awarded the Bundesverdienstkreuz. She performs regularly in European countries, in the USA and in Asia at festivals, with orchestras, in solo recitals and as a chamber musician. World premieres and first performances also feature in her programmes. In 1979, at the invitation of Federal Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, she gave a piano recital at the Palais Schaumburg in Bonn.

She regularly serves on juries at national and international competitions. Her discography has grown to over 50 CDs and includes numerous solo and chamber music CDs with rarely played repertoire.

Franziska Lee has already made a name for herself as an exceptional pianist with her debut CD "L'heure exquise", which contains a programme of works by French composers of the 20th century. In 2021 her second CD "London nights", with piano works by English composers of the 20th century, was produced by CAPRICCIO. Recordings from these CDs have been presented by several European radio stations. Franziska Lee is a first-prize winner at several international competitions, including the "Concorso Internazionale di Esecuzione Musicale Giovani Musicisti" in Treviso/Italy and the "Internationaler Musik-Wettbewerb Premio Città di Padova", and the "Dr. Hermann Büttner Klavierwettbewerb" of the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe. In 2016 she won first prize at the "Grand Prize Virtuoso International Music Competition" in London.

The pianist, described in the press as a "lyrical jewel", performs throughout Europe. Debuts followed with the Karlsruher Kammerorchester, with the Dortmunder Philharmoniker, with the Polish symphony orchestra Toruń, with the Philharmonie Baden-Baden and with the Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz. In 2022 Franziska Lee was admitted to the circle of Steinway Artists. In 2023 her appearances at Hessischer Rundfunk in Frankfurt and at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden were broadcast on SWR2 as live recordings.

With effect from the summer semester of 2023, Franziska Lee was appointed Professor of Piano at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Stuttgart.

Admission: 20 euros, members of the Circle of Friends 15 €