NEXT CONCERT PERFORMANCES:
2023 was an anniversary year of two composers whose works are very important part of my creative activities: František Hertl (50 years death anniversary) and Johannes Brahms (190 years since this giant in music history was born). Tribute to the work of the less known, but wonderful Czech composer Hertl was given by Božo Paradžik and Annalisa Orlando with two recitals for double bass and piano, with all Hertl's pieces for double bass and piano (please check the videos just below, under "earlier projects").
And while the work on Hertl's works was mainly completed in 2023, Božo Paradžik's since 20 years ongoing big Brahms-project "Double Bass Goes Brahms" still isn't - it will reach its peak in 2024. Recording sessions with chamber music pieces by Johannes Brahms adapted for double bass are already scheduled: more than 4 hours of total running time of Brahms music are being actively prepared. In great gratitude to the Freiburg University of Music, which supported Božo Paradžik's work on the Brahms project with a research semester that he was allowed to take, there will be in 2024 a total of three recitals at the university to present the repertoire to the public. So far scheduled:
THU 18 April 2024
FREIBURG (D), Chamber Music Hall of the Musikhochschule at 19:00
Series "Together", chamber music concerts with performances of the professors together with the students
Brahms Piano Trio opus 8, rarely played first version -1854 (half of the concert, ca 50 minutes)
Božo Paradžik (double bass- interpretation of the cello part) with Katharina von Behren (violin) and Miki Ueda (piano)
Online-tickets: please click here
THU 16 May 2024
FREIBURG (D), Chamber Music Hall of the Musikhochschule at 19:00
Full recital, programme: Songs by Johannes Brahms in an instrumental version
Božo Paradžik (double bass) and Maria Sofianska (piano)
Online-tickets: please click here
MON 21 October 2024
FREIBURG (D), Chamber Music Hall of the Musikhochschule at 19:00
Full recital, programme: Sonatas Johannes Brahms
Božo Paradžik (double bass) and Maria Sofianska (piano)
Online-tickets: link TBA
EARLIER PROJECTS:
APRIL 2023
FREIBURG (D), Chamber Music Hall of the Musikhochschule
Recital dedicated to František Hertl performed with Annalisa Orlando (piano). A video with a less known work by Hertl "Four Compositions" for double bass and piano has been meanwhile released on YouTube (premiere video release of the entire work on YouTube):
JULY 2022
LJUBLJANA (SLO), Križanke Church
Recital shared with Latica Honda Rosenberg. A video with first movement of the seldom performed first version of Piano Trio in B major opus 8 by Johannes Brahms (composed 1853) with Latica Honda Rosenberg (violin) and Annalisa Orlando (piano) has been meanwhile released on YouTube:
AUGUST 2020
LJUBLJANA (SLO) - KNIGHT'S HALL
Recital at the Ljubljana Festival with Hansjacob Staemmler (piano). Programme: A. Pärt: Mirror in the Mirror / J. Brahms: Sonata No. 1 in E minor / L. van Beethoven: Sonata No. 2 in G minor Op. 5 N°2 / M. Bonis: Sonata F major, Op. 67
Ljubljana Festival has broadcasted this concert as a livestream. Video recording can be watched HERE (Facebook page by the Festival Ljubljana)
JANUARY 2020
MANCHESTER (UK) - RNCM Concert Hall
The most challenging and most exciting solo project of the concert season 2019/2020 with live performance of Vivaldi's Concerto in E minor RV409 has taken place short before outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic. The concert was recorded and it is uploaded on YouTube:
MAY 2019
MUSIKHOCHSCHULE FREIBURG (D) - "CONCOURS DE PARIS" 1895-2006
Kammermusiksaal, 19:30
Programme: original pieces for double bass & piano written mainly throughout the 20th century for the competition "Concours du Conservatoire National de Musique de Paris" (1895-2006), read here more about the competition (please take with humor the "English version" on this external site and use a translator instead)
Compositions for double bass & piano by: Eugène Bigot, Henri Büsser, Jacques Castérède, Charles Chaynes, Alfred Desenclos, André Dulaurens, Serge Lancen, Alain Margoni, Marcel Mirouze and Victor Serventi, as well as nearly unknown, fantastic sonata for cello and piano by Mel Bonis performed by Božo Paradžik and Hansjacob Staemmler
READ HERE MORE ABOUT THE COMPOSERS, ABOUT THE COMPETITION AND ABOUT THE PIECES (only in German)
The concert was recorded and it is uploaded on YouTube:
Most of my double bass students from Freiburg have been performing at least one piece in this concert. All the pieces are composed for the competition of the graduating students of the Conservatoire National de Musique in Paris. Common to these works is that they are skillfully composed for the piano and that they are mostly multipartite: they all have a slow part, a fast part and a short cadenza. Some of these compositions contain three parts plus a cadenza. Stylistically, the works are very different, you will find pretty much everything between the purely romantic sounds, then typical impressionist harmonies and whole-tone scales until a bit more "modern" forms and harmonies for that time (albeit still quite conservative from our point of view today) where some pieces experiment with slightly abstract harmonies, jazz and swing elements, half-improvisation, etc. The works also differ very strongly in character, the audience will be able to enjoy pretty much the whole pallet from humorous to profound.
Many of Božo Paradžik's earlier projects and performances have been recorded and can be watched any time on Božo Paradžik's YouTube channel