Projects
On this site you will find proposals for recital programmes and moreover thoughts that accompany and guide me in my artistic work.
Maybe you would like to book one of the projects. But of course you can also just read, question, comment, or inspire a new project with your suggestions! The list of repertoire may provide you with a rough idea about the possibilities you have.
In any case please write to mail@janfiliptupa.com.
Between “street” and art
Programme for cello solo
A performance as talk-concert, together with the composer Ignacio Fernández Bollo, is also possible.
The Solo is probably the most intimate and most sensitive art form that an artist can choose to deal with the cosmos of human whims, dreams and passions.
With his commitment for contemporary music, Jan-Filip Ťupa has inspired the birth and shape of new musical works. As he has influenced them, so have they also changed him in the process of dealing with them and their genesis: not only his technique and his musical abilities, but also his aesthetical ideals and even his personality. Traces of this development can be found in the programme for cello solo. Two compositions dedicated to him, examples of latest musical invention, stand together with central pieces of the twentieth century, which have opened the way for the following ones and – when compared to them – appear again in a different light.
The aesthetical thread that binds them together is the walk on the border between ‘street’ and art, the mingling and the overcoming of the categories ‘popular’ and ‘serious’ and ultimately the crossing of the European musical tradition frontier into a new unheard-of world.
The programme depicts this development, beginning with Zoltán Kodály who saw it as his life-work to integrate the Hungarian cultural tradition in his music, and ending with the young Chilean composer Ignacio Fernández Bollo, the ‘gentle barbarian’ (to speak with words by Bohumil Hrabal), who calls himself the “proletarian among the academic composers”. (He also presents the talk-concert in his absolutely unique way.)
Situated between these two poles are the linking parts of their musical bloodline: György Ligeti and Manfred Stahnke, “a romantic against his will who would like to give the western music back a bit of the spontaneity, flexibility and interaction that it has lost in a century-long process of musical division of labour and structural abstraction” as Niklas Wilson calls him.
In addition Bernd Alois Zimmermann, the outsider of New Music, highly rational, and yet full of metaphysical yearning. A stranger in this grouping? Maybe, only to the appearance.
| Zoltán Kodály |
Sonata op. 8 |
| György Ligeti |
Sonata (1948/53) |
| José Ignacio Fernández Bollo |
Solos (2003/04) |
| Manfred Stahnke |
AnaBChronicles (2005) |
| Bernd Alois Zimmermann |
Sonata (1960) |
„Rock“
Programme for cello and violin
It is, admittedly, fairly bold to call the music in this programme ‘Rock’. But if you use the term ‘street’ to evoke ‘Pop’ – and is not the street the home of the people? – then the term ‘Rock’ aims to the heart of the matter.
With a similar background to the programme for cello solo, but naturally less intimate, in exchange full of vigour and tempo, with breathtaking moments of lightning interaction and petrified tension, Jan-Filip Ťupa and Rebecca Huber play duos for cello and violin by Maurice Ravel, Ignacio Fernández Bollo and Jan Feddersen. The music overflows with beautiful changes: it is at once wild, once tender, but always heartfelt and with a trace of anarchistic humour.
The idea of a programme for the two instruments emerged during the planning of a tour of Chile, which Jan-Filip Ťupa and Ignacio Fernández Bollo accomplished together with the composer Jan Feddersen and the violinist Anna Faber in October 2005 with the assistance of the Goethe Institut. Their concerts in Santiago inspired some Chilean composers to write new duos for violin and cello as well. As soon as these works have been realized, the basic idea of the programme (namely the phenomenon of transfer of a language into another cultural environment, its adaptation, modification and transformation) will gain further clarity.
Hitherto the programme, which is about 60 – 70 minutes long, may be extended with solo repertoire for both instruments. A joint performance with the composer Ignacio Fernández Bollo in the form of a talk-concert is also possible.
| Maurice Ravel |
Duo for cello and violin |
| Jan Feddersen |
Duo (2005) for cello and violin |
| José Ignacio Fernández Bollo |
Duo (2005) for cello and violin |
In croce – a programme for the sacred space
Duo cello/organ
Together with organist Alexander Moseler
In croce, meaning “on the cross”, is the title of Sofia Gubaidulina’s stirringly dramatic composition for cello and organ from the year 1979, a work of highest symbolic potency. Besides the religious meaning, ‘in croce’ also refers to the intersecting of the two instruments’ tunes. Bringing together these two very different voices – different in their character and in their use – is a difficult but an equally attractive undertaking. This can be seen in context with Johann Sebastian Bach’s sonatas for viola da gamba and cembalo, which in the version for cello and organ turn into wonderful trio sonatas with an almost palpable polyphony.
Only the smaller part of the works from this programme spanning more than two and a half centuries has been explicitly written for cello and organ, yet their home is the sacred space. Antonio Vivaldi, who has been priest at the Ospedale della Pietà in Venice, has written his sonatas for cello and basso continuo for the use during the holy mass. A sign of a personal spirituality on the other hand is the ‘Prayer’ by Jewish composer Ernst Bloch, an expression of his affectionate, fervent relationship with God.
| Antonio Vivaldi |
Six Sonatas for cello and basso continuo RV 40, 41, 43, 45-47 |
| Sofia Gubaidulina |
In croce for cello and organ |
| Johann Sebastian Bach |
Sonata for cello and cembalo in D, BWV 1028 |
| Ernst Bloch |
Prayer „From Jewish Life“ Nr.1 |
About the idea of the ‘talk-concert’
Jan-Filip Ťupa: “The idea of the talk-concert emerged during a joint performance with the composers Ignacio Fernández Bollo and Jan Feddersen and the violinist Anna Faber in October 2005 in Santiago de Chile.
Actually we were still in the final rehearsal, when the hall was suddenly full of curious and somewhat sceptical listeners. The beginning of the event was delayed, so we started to talk with the audience. Soon there was a lively conversation in full swing. The listeners showered us with questions and also told us about their own experiences with music. This interest was so motivating for us that we played extraordinarily passionately and freely. Our enthusiasm again set fire to the audience. The people could hardly be restrained in their participation and curiosity. Some youths even stood up on their chairs during the applause, shouting: “That’s music you have to make, with that you’re gonna change people’s whole way of thinking!”
Considering the moderate temperament of the European audience, I would not expect such a reaction over here. Nevertheless I am sure that by including the listeners, by paying attention to their impressions and feelings – especially with a music that stirs and challenges one to make a statement – the experience that every single person takes home from the concert will be livelier and more meaningful!”
Repertoire
Works with orchestra
| Joseph Haydn |
Concerto in C Hob.VIIb:1 |
| Joseph Haydn |
Concerto in D Hob.VIIb:2 |
| F. Robert Volkmann |
Concerto in a op. 33 |
| Robert Schumann |
Concerto in a op. 129 |
| Edouard V. A. Lalo |
Concerto in d |
| Peter I. Tchaikovsky |
Rococo Variations op. 33 (original version) |
| Peter I. Tchaikovsky |
Pezzo capriccioso op. 62 |
| Antonín Dvořák |
Rondo op. 94, Klid op. 68 Nr.5 |
| Antonín Dvořák |
Concerto in b op. 104 |
| Bohuslav Martinů |
Concerto No. 1 (1931) |
| Paul Hindemith |
Concerto (1940) |
| Erich Wolfgang Korngold |
Concerto in C op. 37 |
| Hans Werner Henze |
Ode an den Westwind (1953) |
| William Walton |
Concerto (1955-56) |
| Dmitri Shostakovich |
Concerto in E flat op. 107 |
| Bernd Alois Zimmermann |
Concerto en forme de „pas de trois“ (1965/66) |
| György Ligeti |
Concerto (1966) |
| Henri Dutilleux |
„Tout un monde lointain...“ (1970) |
| Jacqueline Fontyn |
Colinda (2006) |
| Miklós Rózsa |
Sinfonia concertante op. 29 for violin, cello and orchestra |
Cello solo
| Johann Sebastian Bach |
Suites BWV 1007 – 1012, No. 1 - No. 6 |
| Julius Klengel |
Caprice in form of a Chaconne op. 43 |
| Max Reger |
Suite op. 131c No. 1 |
| Zoltán Kodály |
Sonata op. 8 |
| György Ligeti |
Sonata (1948/53) |
| Bernd Alois Zimmermann |
Sonata (1960) |
| Helmut Lachenmann |
Pression (1966) |
| Henri Dutilleux |
Trois strophes sur le nom de Sacher (1976/82) |
| Volker Heyn |
Blues in B flat (1981) |
| Otto Joachim |
Paean (1989) |
| Volker Heyn |
Core (1997) |
| José Luis Torá |
A ras de los albores más tempranos (1997) |
| Volker Heyn |
Ohne Titel 1+2 (2001/2004) |
| José Ignacio Fernández Bollo |
Solos (2003/04) |
| Sidney Corbett |
Two Spring Flowers (2005) |
| Manfred Stahnke |
The AnaBChronicles (2005) |
| Robin Hoffmann |
Schleifers Methoden (2005) |
| Sebastian Rapacki |
A life in beautiful tears (2007) |
| Anno Schreier |
Drei Landschaftsbilder (2007) |
| Robin Hoffmann |
5 Trainingseinheiten zu Schleifers Methoden (2009) |
Cello solo with electronics
| Michael Gordon |
Industry (1993) for cello and "distortion unit" |
| Alvin Lucier |
Indian Summer (1993) for cello and "pitch shifter" |
| Ernstalbrecht Stiebler |
Klangkontur (1996) for cello and "tape delay" |
| sagardía |
Dunkle Bäume, getilgte Sonnen (2002) |
| David Fennessy |
The room is the resonator (2009) |
Duo with piano
| Antonio Vivaldi |
Six Sonatas for cello and basso continuo RV 40, 41, 43, 45-47 |
| Johann Sebastian Bach |
Sonata for cello and cembalo in D BWV 1028 |
| Luigi Boccherini |
Sonata in A G4, for cello and basso continuo |
| Luigi Boccherini |
Sonata “L’Imperatrice” G deest, for cello and b.c. |
| Ludwig v. Beethoven |
Sonata in g op.5 No. 2 |
| Ludwig v. Beethoven |
Sonata in A op. 69 |
| Ludwig v. Beethoven |
Sonata in C op. 102 Nr. 1 |
| Ludwig v. Beethoven |
Sonata in D op. 102 Nr. 2 |
| Ludwig v. Beethoven |
Judas Macchabäus variations |
| Robert Schumann |
Fünf Stücke im Volkston |
| Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy |
Sonata in D op. 58 |
| Franz Schubert |
Sonata „Arpeggione” D 821 |
| Johannes Brahms |
Sonata in e op. 38 |
| Johannes Brahms |
Sonata in F op. 99 |
| David Popper |
Fantasie über kleinrussische Themen op. 43 |
| David Popper |
Spinnlied op. 55, Nr. 1 |
| Zoltán Kodály |
Sonata op. 4 |
| Gabriel U. Fauré |
Sonata in g op. 117 |
| Anton Webern |
Drei kleine Stücke op. 11 |
| Miklós Rózsa |
Duo op. 8 |
| Bohuslav Martinů |
First Sonata |
| Bohuslav Martinů |
Rossini Variations |
| Dmitri Shostakovich |
Sonata in d op. 40 |
| Benjamin Britten |
Sonata op. 65 |
| Anno Schreier |
Duo (2000) |
| José Ignacio Fernández Bollo |
El Espantapájaros for cello and microtonal piano (2002) |
For more chamber music (especially cello and piano, but also violin/clarinet, cello and piano) please visit www.praesenz.org.
Repertoire for different groups (e.g. flute, cello and piano) available on request.
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