Milan Al-Ashab, violin

Milan began playing the violin at age five. He won the Kreisler Competition in 2018, but before that he had gone home with prizes in Weimar, Prague and Poznan, among others. He performs tonight with pianist and composer Adam Skoumal, who has also won many prizes at international competitions, including in Prague, Porto, Pinerolo, Carlsbad and New York. The program also includes the pianist's own composition, in which he has incorporated gypsy music. But they begin with Mozart's refined yet heartbreakingly sad violin sonata in E flat. Prokofiev's 2nd violin sonata is very accessible, playful and lyrical for his standards. Knowing that his days were numbered - he was suffering from colon cancer - Debussy worked, as he himself said, "like a madman, as if I had to do it tomorrow" on his only violin sonata. Indeed, it became his last completed work. Full of sadness and nostalgia. With a yearning gypsy melody here and there. And that, in turn, fits seamlessly with the last work on the program: Ravel's rousing ode to gypsy music: Tzigane.

A selection of cheeses & a glass of wine (or an alternative) are included in the ticket price.