Ensemble Raro
Alaxander Sitkovetsky, violin
Razvan Popovici, viola
Bernhard Naoki Hedenborg, cello
Diana Ketler, piano
Ensemble Raro was formed in 2004 by four extraordinary young musicians.
The inspiration for the ensemble’s name comes from Robert Schumann’s invented alter ego, Master Raro- a member of the Davidsbund and a mediator between Florestan and Eusebius, the two characters that were Schumann’s musical doubles, the contrasting voices of his creative psyche. Master Raro was, therefore, something of a balancing force and represented a sound judgement and a need to find unconventional ways of going forward.
In this sense, Ensemble Raro is constantly looking for creative programme forms, in which they aim to establish new cultural, musical and literary connections. The projects “Love is…” and “Mozart - 1791” with Wolf Euba as reader, as well as very successful experimental performances together with DJs and video artists are just a few examples of their programmes.
Ensemble Raro is the ensemble in residence at the Chiemgauer Musikfruehling Festival in Traunstein, SoNoRo Festival in Bucharest, Kobe International Music Festival, Pelerinages in Munchen and Mozartiade in Augsburg.
Ensemble Raro is actively involved in performing contemporary chamber music repertoire. They gave a British and German premieres of Peteris Vasks’s Piano Quartet. Their performances of Walter Braunfels’ and George Enescu’s works in Pelerinages series in Munich received a high critical acclaim.
Ensemble Raro’s partners in various chamber music formations have included Daishin Kashimoto, Konstantin Lifshitz, Adrian Brendel, Claudio Bohorquez, Baiba Skride, Priya Mitchell, Carolin Widmann, and other excellent musicians.
Besides a regular collaboration with the Bavarian Radio, Ensemble Raro’s performances have been broadcast on NHK (Japan), TVR, RRC and RRM (Romania).
Ensemble Raro has given master classes in Romania and Japan. The new educational programme for talented young Romanian chamber musicians ” SoNoRo- INTERFERENCES” is one of Raro’s new exciting projects.
For this season, performances are planned in France, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, UK, Latvia, Romania and Japan.