CCMusic.com

Even composers such as Rossini and Verdi revered and valued Johann Simon Mayr (1763-1845) highly. Known for a long time only as Donizetti's teacher, his oeuvre has experienced a well-deserved renaissance in recent years. The Belgian-Israeli pianist Edna Stern and the Georgisches Kammerorchester (Chamber Orchestra) Ingolstadt under Ruben Gazarian present piano concertos nos. 1 & 2. Intellectual curiosity, a questing spirit and an uncompromising rigorousness in the service of music are the three major aspects of the personality of Edna Stern and of her conception of musical interpretation. Her repertoire ranges from J.S. Bach and his son Carl Philipp Emanuel to Luciano Berio and contemporary composers, playing on period instruments as on modern ones. She has been invited to play recitals and chamber music at the Festivals la Roque d'Anthéron, Colmar, MDR, Ludiwigsburg Festsspiele, at the "Moments Musicaux" of Châtelet or at the Palais des Beaux-Arts of Brussels. She has also appeared, both with an orchestra and in solo recitals, at the Concertgebouw of Amsterdam and at the Tonhalle of Zürich. She has also played chamber music with the quartets Ebène and Lotus, The Oxalys ensemble, as well as with Alban Gerhardt, Magali Mosnier, Alexandre Tharaud and the violinist Amandine Beyer.