MAHLER CHAMBER SOLOISTS & ALEXANDER MELNIKOV
johannes Brahms Piano Quartet no. 3 in C minor op. 60
Franz Schubert Piano Quintet in A major D 667 "The Trout"
Piano Alexander Melnikov / Violin Gregory Ahss / Viola Béatrice Muthelet / Cello Konstantin Pfiz / Double Bass Burak Marlali

Since the beginning of 2012, tours carried out by MCO chamber music ensembles have become a new part of the MCO's activities. A chamber-music style of playing shapes the MCO’s musical character in a fundamental way and has played a central role since the orchestra’s founding. In recent years, concerts with smaller formations of players have become increasingly important, and since summer 2011 all chamber performances have appeared under the name Mahler Chamber Soloists.

In the future, MCO Soloists will perform on their own tours on a regular basis. This will enhance the MCO’s presence at its residences; in addition, these small, flexible ensembles can perform at a great variety of locations and venues - from private living rooms to bars and clubs to large concert halls - and thereby reach correspondingly diverse audiences.

Four section leaders will play the Mahler Chamber Soloists' first European tour with Russian pianist Alexander Melnikov, beginning in Pistoia before heading to Ferrara and finally Gonzaga. The programme consists of Brahms’ Piano Quartet no. 3 and Schubert’s "Trout" Quintet, two masterpieces of the chamber music literature for piano and strings. Alexander Melnikov and the MCO have just released a CD of Shostakovich's Piano Concertos.