THOMAS HAMPSON / KSENIJA SIDOROVA

One hundred and fifty albums, 80 operatic roles, a regular presence in all the great halls of the world, both in recital and in opera: the cultural impact left by Thomas Hampson is already immense. For the Verbier Festival, the baritone has put together an original programme with accordionist Ksenija Sidorova, world ambassador for her instrument, winner of the ECHO Prize in 2017, and stage companion to artists as varied as Nemanja Radulović, Paavo Järvi and Juan Diego Flórez. In this programme, excerpts from Winterreise, revitalised by the sometimes mocking, sometimes melancholy sounds of the accordion, are set against melodies by Kurt Weill, whom many consider to be the Schubert of the 20th century. The famous Youkaili, for example, is taken from his music for Marie-Galante, a play whose erotic atmosphere questions morality and the rules of social propriety. Reflecting the dangerous Europe of the 1930s, Weill’s music uses a resolutely song-like style to show all the ambiguity of the Old Continent on the edge of war.

The duo also compares Astor Piazzolla’s Tango Nuevo with Igor Stravinsky’s Tango, which, with its subtle rhythmic shift, gives new life to the dance that Stravinsky appreciated when he moved to the United States.