classic meets art: Cathy Josefowitz

For the third time, Hauser & Wirth Zurich hosts the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich as part of the ‘classic meets art’ concert series. On 19 March, a string sextet will perform Arnold Schönberg’s ‘Verklärte Nacht’ in the exhibition ‘Cathy Josefowitz. Release’ on the ground floor of our Limmatstrasse location. For the first time in the series, two dancers will accompany the concert, activating the exhibition with their performance.

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String sextet, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich:
Isabelle Weilbach-Lambelet Violin
Philipp Wollheim Violin
Katja Fuchs Viola
Katarzyna Kitrasiewicz-Łosiewicz Viola
Paul Handschke Cello
Benjamin Nyffenegger Cello

Dancers:
Neel Jansen
Graciela Martinez

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The evening will begin with an introduction to the exhibition and the musical work, followed by the concert and dance performance (30 min).

Doors open: 6.30 pm
Start of event: 7 pm

Book your tickets here.
The ticket price includes one complimentary drink.

Hauser & Wirth Zurich
Limmatstrasse 270
Ground floor 

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About the exhibition
New York-born, Swiss-raised artist Cathy Josefowitz (1956 – 2014) created a wide-ranging oeuvre spanning drawing and painting, performance and dance. The breadth of her creative output is now on view in a solo exhibition at Hauser & Wirth Zurich, Limmatstrasse. Josefowitz’s first in Zurich. ‘Cathy Josefowitz. Release’ focuses on her compelling progression of the figure across four decades, from the 1970s to her later shift towards abstraction, with many works shown for the first time. Her relentless and personal quest for expression unites the various works on view in Zurich, with some exhibiting elements of self-portraiture.

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About the concert

Arnold Schönberg: ‘Verklärte Nacht’op. 4, string sextet
In his sextet for strings, ‘Verklärte Nacht’ (1899), Schönberg combined symphonic poetry with chamber orchestration, creating program music for the first time. His composition is based on the poem ‘Verklärte Nacht’by Richard Dehmel, in which a woman confesses to her lover during a nightly walk that she is expecting the child of another man. He comforts her and assures her that he will accept the child as his own. The night is ‘transfigured’ by this love. Divided into five parts, each flowing without interruption into the next, the string sextet follows the story of its literary original.

It is no surprise that this tonally erratic and intense piece affronted its Viennese audience at its premiere on 18 March 1902. However, just as the music moves from despair to transfiguration, from darkness to light, the sextet soon garnered great success.On 12 December 1912, Richard Dehmel wrote to Schönberg: ‘I intended to follow the motives of my text in your composition; but soon forgot and became enchanted by the music.’

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About the dancers

About Graciela Martinez and Neel Jansen
Graciela and Neel, choreographers, dancers and teachers, have been leading their own company, Lit Dance Company, since 2019, with the support of Bühne Aarau and Aargauer Kuratorium. Currently focusing on contemporary dance and exploring the impact of external influences on the human body in their works, both have completed their training in classical dance.

Graciela Martinez studied at the Professional Conservatory of Dance in Madrid before joining the Ballet des Jeunes d’Europe in Aix-en-Provence. Her career began at the English National Ballet, followed by engagements at Ballet Leipzig, Ballet de l’Opera de Nice as a Soloist, Ballet Basel, Ensemble Aterballetto and Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz in Munich. Her repertoire includes choreographies by Mauro Bigonzetti, Ohad Naharin, Owe Scholz, Mauricio Walnrot, Karl Schreiner, Hans Hennig Paar, Erna Omarsdottir and others.

Neel Jansen completed his training in classical and contemporary dance at the Royal School of Antwerp, then joined the Ballet des Jeunes d’Europe in Aix-en-Provence and later attended the Rudra Bejart Ballet School in Lausanne. Before completing his training, Neel was selected by Maurice Béjart to join the Bejart Ballet Company in 2003. He danced for Béjart and worked with choreographers like Gil Roman, Joost Vrouenraets and Etienne Bechard. After Béjart’s passing in 2010, Neel continued dancing at Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz in Munich, working with choreographers such as Christian Spuck, Edward Clug, Marco Goecke, Alexander Ekman, Marguerite Donlon, Katja Schneider and William Forsythe, among others.

In 2010, Graciela and Neel collaborated as choreographers for the first time, creating the piece ‘Il était une fois à Shanghai’ for Expo-Shanghai 2010.