Friedrich Thiele (cello) and Elisabeth Brauss (piano)

PROGRAMME:
Robert Schumann
Adagio and Allegro, Op. 70

Claude Debussy
Sonata for Cello and Piano in D Minor

Dmitri Shostakovich
Sonata for Cello and Piano in D Minor, Op. 40

Julius Klengel
Scherzo in D Minor, Op. 6

Performed by Friedrich Thiele (cello) and Elisabeth Brauss (piano)

tonali

The concert will take place with the amicable support of the Senate and Ministry of Culture of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg

About the Concert

„It is different. It is creative, idiosyncratic and trend-setting in all aspects. It is much more than a difficult to win music contest – TONALi. It drives top sponsorship and at the same time initiates the impulse for cultural education. It addresses young composers, high potential young musicians and numerous young listeners (more than 10,000 in 12 Hamburg based schools), who often find to classical music because of TONALi. It is a total work of art, which has been cleverly and effectively adjusted to the actual music situation. The city of Hamburg, which has strong musical scene, can be proud of TONALI, which no one today wants to miss anymore and which has found much attention far beyond Hamburg.
It is with much personal solicitousness and respect in my role as honorary president that I see the rapid development of TONALi. This unique and highly demanding music project, initiated in 2009 by two young cellists Amadeus Templeton and Boris Matchin will see its fourth edition in 2014 as a result of tireless dedication, voluntary commitment and the support of many personalities, institutions and sponsors.
The 2014 competition focuses on the violin. 12 violinists (with residence in Germany), all aiming for a solo career, may qualify and compete to win the TONALi-prize worth 10,000 Euro. Those making it to the final, will be invited to perform a violin concert in the big hall at Laeiszhalle Hamburg with the renowned The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen. This poses a strong incentive for the young musicians to perform at their very best and makes them happily engage themselves with TONALi fundamental principles:
• A distinctive interest in the future of classical concerts, which in its format looks for new ideas, new rituals and contemporary communication.
• Active discussion about the question the musician can take more responsibility for the development of classical concert future.
• The willingness to widely communicate these new formats, encouraged by TONALi by its unique school activities that prove a contemporary relation between audience and musician.
TONALi sets a trend as a result of its threefold structure: „writing (composition prize), performing (Grand Prix) and listening (TuttiContest)“ and challenges many in various ways. Christoph Eschenbach, Conductor and TONALi Honorary President.
The next stage of collaboration between the Mariinsky Theatre and TONALi came with the new cultural and educational project The Sounds of Change. The task of the project is to interest young audiences in classical music concerts and involve them in organising such concerts on a practical level – right in their schools.

Official website: www.tonali.de

About the performers

Elisabeth Brauß (piano) was born in 1995 to musical parents and received her first piano lessons at the age of four. At the age of six she was accepted into the piano class of Elena Levit, and in 2008 she also began studying in the class of Matti Raekallio. From 2004 to 2007, Elisabeth Brauß was a student of the Preliminary Institute of Early Development for the Musically Gifted (VIFF) at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover. From 2007 to 2010 she studied at the Hochschule as part of the Institute of Early Development for the Musically Gifted (IFF), the only programme of its kind in Germany. Since 2010 she has studied at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover in the class of Bernd Goetzke.
Over this period, Elisabeth Brauß has given numerous concerts as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestral soloist. These have included performances with the hr-Sinfonieorchster, the Bochumer Symphoniker, the Dortmunder Symphoniker, the Macao Youth Symphony Orchestra, the NDR Radiophilharmonie and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen.
Elisabeth Brauß has appeared at such venues as the Konzerthaus in Berlin, the Laeiszhalle in Hamburg, the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg and the Beethovenfest Bonn as well as at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival and the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern several times. International concert tours have taken her to China, the USA, Norway, the Ukraine and Taiwan.
In addition to 1^st prizes at the Steinway Piano Competition in Hamburg and at the International Grotrian Steinweg Competition in Braunschweig, she was awarded the Emerging Artists Prize at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival 2010 and the Emerging Artists Prize of the Praetorius music award, presented by the state of Lower Saxony in 2012.
In August 2013 she won the TONALi Grand-prix together with the Audience Award in Hamburg. As the winner she has performed with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen at the Laeiszhalle in Hamburg.
For the 2013-2014 season she received a scholarship from the Mozart Gesellschaft Dortmund. In 2014 she also received a scholarship from the Hans und Eugenia Jütting-Stiftung and from the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes. In January 2015 she won the competition Ton und Erklärung in Frankfurt and performed together with the hr-Sinfonieorchester.

Friedrich Thiele (cello) was born in 1996 in Dresden. Since 2007 he has been a pupil of the Landesgymnasium für Musik Carl-Maria von Weber in Dresden. From 2006-2011 he was a pupil of Ulf Prelle, the Cello Soloist of the Dresdner Philharmonie.
In 2008 he won 2^nd prize at the International Cello Competition in Liezen (Austria).
In 2009 he won 2^nd prize at the International Dotzauer Competition for Cello in Dresden.
In 2010, at the national competition Jugend musiziert in Germany Friedrich Thiele won 1^st prize and a special prize from the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben. Since then he has received a scholarship from them, and he performs on a French cello from the German Fund of Musical Instruments.
He has taken part in a number of master-classes conducted by Götz Teutsch, Stephan Forck, Alban Gerhardt and Peter Bruns. Friedrich is a young student in the class of Peter Bruns in Leipzig.
Since autumn 2012 he has been a member of Live Music Now in Leipzig. In September 2015 he won 3^rd prize and the Audience Award at the TONALi competition in Hamburg. In the final round he played the Rococo Variations with the Kammerphilharmonie Bremen.

Age category 6+