Pan & Apoll
Water Music for flute and harp
“One of the most remarkable features of water is the ability to adapt: you pour it into a round receptacle and it becomes round, you pour it into a square one and it becomes square.”
Philip Kapleau
Can water take on a form of music? The two musicians of the Cologne Gürzenich Orchestra want to answer this question in the program they chose for this CD.
Growing up on the seaside of Adriatic and on the Bavarian lakes, the two met at the river Rhine and after a few concerts together, they quickly decided they wanted to expand their musical collaboration.
Let us take you on a diverse journey and be a part of the revival of the musical contest between Pan and Apollo: You will be taken to the nymphs of antiquity, to an admiral who was also a composer, under the sea to meet the fish and sea plants and to famous fountains and rivers. Water is a precarious habitat for many – and we are of course aware of the environmental issues concerning its preservation. “Save the Whale” was a Greenpeace initiative and Toru Takemitsu used it in his musical piece “Toward the Sea III” for alto flute and harp. In his piece he also emphasizes the connection between meditation and music.
After this program you might feel like Khalil Gibran: „Looking at a drop of dew, I discovered the secret of the sea“.
CD Pan & Apoll – Water Music for flute and harp
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Antonia Schreiber
When Antonia Schreiber began playing the harp at the age of 11, and it was a dream come true. To this day, she is full of enthusiasm for her instrument, its expressive musical potential and its broad spectrum of sound.
Antonia Schreiber studied with celebrated teachers such as Helga Storck in Munich, Charlotte Balzereit in Vienna and Germaine Lorenzini in Lyon. She also gained significant impetus from François Leleux, Cristina Bianchi, Isabelle Moretti and Sarah O’Brien.
Antonia Schreiber has won many prizes at national and international competitions. She has been the recipient of scholarships from foundations such as Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben and Villa Musica Mainz. As a soloist, she has appeared with leading orchestras such as the MDR-Sinfonieorchester Leipzig and the Staatsorchester Braunschweig.
At the present day, Antonia Schreiber is the principal solo harpist in Cologne’s Gürzenich Orchestra. From 2008 to 2011, she played at the Vienna State Opera and with the Vienna Philharmonic. Before that, she was a scholarship holder in the „Orchestral Academy of the Munich Philharmonic” and a member of the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra and the National Youth Orchestra of Germany.
Alongside her orchestral activities, Antonia Schreiber delights in playing chamber music. She makes guest appearances at various festivals and chamber music series and is a founder of the Auros Trio (flute, viola, harp).
The duo CD „Pan and Apoll – Water music for flute and harp“ was released in October 2020 by Haenssler Classic. Other recordings include Four Songs by Johannes Brahms with Audi Youth Choir and Kent Nagano and a premiere recording of „CROWD“, Sir Harrison Birtwistle’s piece for solo harp.
Antonia Schreiber loves to rediscover unjustly neglected works and find a new audience for them as well as developing creatively original concert programmes.
Alja Velkaverh
Slovenian flutist Alja Velkaverh began her studies in the local music school of Piran, before being accepted at the academy of music in Ljubljana at the early age of 16. She was then accepted in to the class of Hansgeorg Schmeiser at the University of Music in Vienna and at the same time gained her masters in the Lorenzo Perosi Academy in Italy, studying with Peter-Lukas Graf.
In 2005 she won the position in the orchestral academy of the Bavarian Radio orchestra in Munich and a year later began her professional path as the principal flutist of the Bamberg Symphony orchestra.
In the following years she held principal flute positions in the Leipzig Gewandhaus orchestra, the Stuttgart Philharmonic orchestra and is since 2010 principal flutist of the Gürzenich orchestra in Cologne.
As regular guest she performs with other orchestras, such as Swedish Radio orchestra, La Scala di Milano, Munich Opera, Frankfurt Opera, Konzerthaus Berlin, Vienna Symphonic orchestra, London Philharmonic orchestra and many others.
As a soloist and chamber musician Alja has performed in Korea, Japan and Taiwan with the Gewandhaus Bach Orchestra, played concerts in Slovenia with the Chamber orchestra of Slovenian Philharmonic, solo concerts with Klassische Philharmonie Bonn, Münster Kammerorchester, Aachner Kammerorchester and in 2017 and 2020 solo concerts with Gürzenich orchestra in Cologne Philharmonie.
She is cofounder of the Chamber music series Kammermusik Köln and participated in chamber music festivals including KampLintfort, SoNoRo in Bucharest, Chamber Jam in Düsseldorf, Stift Chamber music Festival in Holland, Chamber music Festival of Dijon Opera and Krumbach Chamber music Festival in Austria.
2016–2018 Alja held a teaching position in the University of Music in Cologne and in 2018–2019 in the University of Frankfurt.