By David N. Young
When the Fauré Quartett takes the Segestrom stage March 19, the world-famous German group will be joined on stage by Venezuelan standout Luis Primera, a double bassist currently studying at the prestigious Coburn School in Los Angeles.
“This is so exciting for me,” said the 26-year-old performer, who said he is “so honored” to take the stage with the piano quintet only for two shows, one at Segerstrom and the other in San Diego.
Segerstrom Center for the Arts welcomes back the Fauré Quartett, joined by double bassist Luis Primera on March 19, 2019 at 8:00pm in Samueli Theater. The concert features a unique pairing from the repertory of piano quintets that include the double bass, along with Frank Bridge’s delightfully tuneful Phantasy.
Quartett members include Dirk Mommertz, piano; Erika Geldsetzer, violin; Sascha Froembling, viola; and Konstantin Heidrich, cello.
Primera began his musical studies at the Simón Bolívar Conservatory when he was 14 years old. He is a member of Latin American Academy of Double Bass. He was Principal Bass of the Carabobo Young Orchestra of Venezuela for 6 years, and a semi-finalist in the 2015 ISB Competition and 2016 Bass Europe Competition. Luis has performed with the Simon Bolivar Orchestra of Venezuela and Carabobo Youth Orchestra of Venezuela as soloist. He participated with the Simon Bolivar Orchestra, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel, in many tours around the United States, South America, Middle East, and Europe.
During these tours, he performed at important halls and festivals. He is currently a candidate for a Performance Diploma at the Colburn School Conservatory where he studies with Peter Lloyd.
Despite all that, Primera said he hopes to “learn from them” while referring to the Faure Quartett, though he says he “knows their music” and believes that his double bass will be a great addition.
“When you play with great artists who seem to already know everything, you really do learn from them,” said Primera. “I really think I will do a good job with them,” he said.
While in the U.S.A. for the past three years, the political situation in his home country of Venezuela has worsened. “I stay in touch and hope to help my family there,” he said.
According to the SCFTA, the Fauré Quartett has established itself as one of the world’s leading piano quartets within just a few years. Dirk Mommertz (piano), Erika Geldsetzer (violin), Sascha Froembling (viola) and Konstantin Heidrich (cello) have discovered new sound fields in chamber music and perform compositions outside the mainstream chamber music repertoire.
They are visionary in their approach and highly regarded for their experiments and discoveries; be it performances with the NDR Big Band, collaborations with artists like Rufus Wainwright or Sven Helbig, appearances in clubs like the Berghain, Cocoon Club or “Le Poisson Rouge” in New York or TV shows in KIKA or “Rhapsody in School,” getting children excited in chamber music. When they released their album “Popsongs” in 2009, there was a great deal of buzz in the press and audience. In the following year, the ensemble was awarded the ECHO Classic for their album “classic beyond borders,” their second award after their recording of Brahms’ piano quartets (Chamber Music recording of the year, 2008).
Other prizes include the German Music Competition, the ensemble prize from Festspiele Mecklenbug-Vorpommern, international competition and recording awards, Music Prize Duisburg and Brahms prize Schleswig Holstein. The musicians of the Fauré Quartett are pioneers in many ways. After they met during their studies in 1995 in Karlsruhe for the 150th anniversary of Gabriel Faure, the quickly realized that this combination offered new insights into undiscovered repertoire. In 2006, they signed a contract with Deutsche Grammophon, promoting them to the Champions League of classic music business.
They made highly regarded benchmark-recordings with works by Mozart, Brahms, Mendelssohn and pop songs from Peter Gabriel and Steely Dan. Sony Classical has just released works from Mahler and Richard Strauss.
Worldwide tours raise their profile abroad and international masterclasses are part of their work with artists like Primera.
Single tickets start at $39 and are now available online at www.SCFTA.org, at the Box Office at 600 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa or by calling (714) 556-2787. For inquiries about group ticket savings of 10 or more, please call the Group Services office at (714) 755-0236.
Venezuelan standout Luis Primera
