Salle Cortot celebrates Fauré centenary
Florence Lockheart
Monday, October 21, 2024
The Paris venue is set to host violinist Cristian de Sá and pianist Keigo Mukawa in a celebration of Fauré’s music and contemporaries, featuring violin sonatas from different stages of his life
Anglo-Portuguese violinist Cristian de Sá and Japanese pianist Keigo Mukawa are set to meet in Paris this week (24 October) for a concert marking the centenary of the death of composer Gabriel Fauré.
Just a few days before the hundredth anniversary of Fauré's death on 4 November 1924, the duo will pay tribute to the composer, presenting his two violin sonatas. Written 40 years apart (1876 and 1916), the two works illustrate the mind of a man at radically different stages of his life; youth and maturity.
Pianist Keigo Mukawa was named third prize winner at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in 2021 © Queen Elisabeth Competition/Derek Prager
The two sonatas are paired with works by Maurice Ravel – Sonate Posthume (1896), composed during his years in Gabriel Fauré's composition class at the Paris Conservatoire – and two works by Debussy: La plus que lente and La fille aux cheveux de lin. This historically-focused programme will be performed in close proximity to where some of these works were originally premiered, in particular the first sonata, which premiered at Salle Pleyel.
Having made his debut at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and then with the Gulbenkian Orchestra in Lisbon, de Sá’s most recent performance at the Salle Cortot saw him play alongside Renaud Capuçon as part of the cellist’s New Generation initiative. Capuçon was also a driving force in bringing de Sá and Mukawa together for this centenary concert.
The concert is made possible by arts funding charity the Wavendon Foundation.