Gegenwelten (Werke von Sergei Prokofjew und Franz Schubert) Sarah Christian & Lilit Grigoryan

• Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953): Violin Sonata No. 1 in F Minor, Op. 80:
• 1I. Andante assai07:21
• 2II. Allegro brusco07:03
• 3III. Andante07:31
• 4IV. Allegrissimo07:26
• Franz Schubert (1797-1828):
• 5Fantasy in C Major, Op. 159, D. 93427:11
• Total Runtime56:32

Info for Gegenwelten (Werke von Sergei Prokofjew und Franz Schubert)

Truly great violin works far-removed from any virtuosity for its own sake have been selected by violinist Sarah Christian for her GENUIN debut release. She performs Sergei Prokofiev’s unwieldy first violin sonata and Franz Schubert’s expansive C Major Fantasy with youthful energy, combined with a great serenity and unerring sense for the works’ tensions that take our breath away. It’s no surprise to learn that she is the winner of many awards (including at the Brahms Competition and Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Prize), and has been named to one of Germany’s most sought-after concertmaster positions with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie in Bremen. Striking individuality and immense creative drive!

Sarah Christian, violin
Lilit Grigoryan, piano

Sarah Christian
Born in 1990 in Augsburg, Sarah Christian studied with Antje Weithaas at the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music in Berlin, where she also taught as Weithaas’s assistant from 2013 to 2016. She obtained her first degree at the Mozarteum University of Salzburg, where she studied with Igor Ozim and graduated with highest honors at the age of twenty. She also drew musical inspiration from master classes with Thomas Brandis, Donald Weilerstein, Rainer Schmidt, Maxim Vengerov and Miriam Fried.

Sarah Christian experienced international success as the prizewinner of numerous competitions, including First Prize at the Brahms Competition in Austria. In early 2012 she won the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Prize and Friends of Young Musicians Award. Most recently, Christian won both Second Prize and the Chamber Music Prize at the Michael Hill International Violin Competition in Auckland, New Zealand.

The violinist attaches special importance to her training as a chamber musician, also drawing inspiration from her work with the Hagen Quartet. In 2010 she reached the final round of the German Music Competition in the violin/piano duo category and won a scholarship from the National Selection of Young Artists’ Concerts. In connection with the scholarship, she performed concerts throughout Germany, including at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival. She appeared with Lars Vogt, Jörg Widmann, and Tanja Tetzlaff at the Spannungen Festival in Heimbach as well as at the Schwetzingen Festival. 2015 marked the opening season of her Freistil Chamber Music Series in Augsburg which, with cellist Maximilian Hornung, she founded and oversees as its Artistic Director.

Concerts have already led her to several European countries, China, Japan, South America and the United States. She has performed as a soloist with such ensembles as the Sibiu and Timișoara philharmonics from Romania, Camerata Salzburg, Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra and Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen. Since 2013 Sarah Christian has served as First Concertmaster of the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen.

In addition to projects with renowned conductors and soloists, she enjoys the opportunity of conducting the orchestra herself. She has already made a name for herself in this capacity and has made regular guest appearances with other orchestras, including the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and Kammerakademie Potsdam.

Lilit Grigoryan
was born in Yerevan, Armenia in 1985 and began her piano studies at the age of seven with Arkuhi Harutyunyan at the Al. Spendiaryan Music School. She completed her training at the Komitas State Conservatory of Yerevan with Sergey Sarajyan and at the Rostock University of Music and Theater in the class of Matthias Kirschnereit. From 2012 to 2016, she served as artist-in-residence at the elite Belgian music academy Chapelle Musicale Reine Elisabeth under the direction of Maria João Pires.

Lilit Grigoryan has won several prizes at international competitions. She received the prestigious Culture Award from the President of Armenia in addition to awards from the Russian Federation and City of Yerevan, among others. She has made guest appearances at international festivals including the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, Gezeitenkonzerte, Auvers-sur-Oise Festival in France, Verbier Festival in Switzerland, and Festival Midi Minimes in Belgium.

The pianist has already performed in 27 countries throughout the world. She has given piano recitals at major concert halls, including the Konzerthaus Berlin, Laeiszhalle Hamburg, Philharmonie Essen, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Salle Cortot and Cité de la musique in Paris, and BOZAR and Flagey centers in Brussels. Lilit Grigoryan has performed as a soloist with several leading orchestras, including the Sinfonia Varsovia, Gulbenkian Orchestra, Liège Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and North German Philharmonic Orchestra Rostock.

She has received scholarships from the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben and Horst Rahe Foundation, and her concerts have been broadcast on Deutschlandradio, NDR Kultur, Radio France, France 3, Musiq’3 and Public Radio of Armenia. In 2012 she released her first CD featuring works by Domenico Scarlatti, Robert Schumann, Béla Bartók and Aram Khachaturian. Together with her classmates, she founded the Partitura Association, chaired by Maria João Pires, in 2016. Lilit Grigoryan has taught at the Rostock University of Music and Theater since 2010.

This album contains no booklet.