Thomas Simaku ‘con-ri-sonanza’ UK Premiere

Thomas Simaku’s work con-ri-sonanza for piano & strings will receive its UK premiere at the 2021 North York Moors Festival on 14th August.

The piece will be performed by internationally renowned artists Daniel Lebhardt (piano), Benjamin Baker and Sasha Raikhlina (violins), Bryony Gibson-Cornish (viola), and Claude Frochaux (cello) at Welburn Manor in North Yorkshire.

Thomas Simaku - 'con-ri-sonanza' (2019)

Con-ri-sonanza received its world premiere at the 2019 Moderne Muziek Nijmegen Festival, performed by pianist Joseph Houston and Quatuor Diotima, who recorded it as part of Simaku’s eponymous album of chamber music released by the Swedish label BIS Records in November 2020 – the album has since received much international acclaim.

Described by the German magazine Das Klassik & Jazz as “a piece to throw yourself into wholeheartedly”, con-ri-sonanza explores a network of relationships embedded in its title: consonanza, risonanza, con risonanza; as the French magazine Diapason put it, “piano and strings seem to stare each other down, alternating, and mutually accompanying each other. At the moment of fusion, a spectral chord is once more indexed on the lowest string of the cello, bringing with it a much-awaited resolution."

The recording with the score may be heard here.