All Bach · The French Suites
Zhora Sargsyan, piano
“Power and elegance, a sense of form and a feel for sound, brilliance and cantilena — this pianist has it all.”
— Deutschlandfunk Kultur, April 2021
Zhora Sargsyan devotes the entire evening to Bach’s French Suites. The first of them appear in the music notebook Bach kept for his wife, Anna Magdalena: dances for the home, full of French elegance, playful and endlessly inventive. Behind their light surface, they leave the interpreter a great deal to discover. In Zhora’s own words:
“My task as an interpreter begins where one believes everything has already been discovered. With the great composers, the unsaid is often more important than the long familiar.”
About the Artist:
Born in Yerevan, the Armenian-German pianist Zhora Sargsyan won the 3rd Grand Prix at the 2019 Long-Thibaud-Crespin Competition in Paris, awarded by a jury led by Martha Argerich. He has performed across Europe, Asia and Canada, including a recital at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, and has appeared as a soloist with the Orchestre National de France, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo and the Munich Chamber Orchestra. Chamber music is central to his work. For many years his duo partner was violinist Natalia Prischepenko of the Artemis Quartet, and in the 2024/25 season he toured Europe’s leading concert halls in the ECHO Rising Stars series. A graduate of the Berlin University of the Arts, where he studied with Prof. Klaus Hellwig, he lives in Berlin.
More about Zhora:
Programme
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)
French Suite No. 1 in D minor, BWV 812
Allemande – Courante – Sarabande – Menuet I & II – Gigue
French Suite No. 2 in C minor, BWV 813
Allemande – Courante – Sarabande – Air – Menuet – Gigue
French Suite No. 3 in B minor, BWV 814
Allemande – Courante – Sarabande – Anglaise – Menuet & Trio – Gigue
— Intermission —
French Suite No. 4 in E-flat major, BWV 815
Allemande – Courante – Sarabande – Gavotte – Air – Menuet – Gigue
French Suite No. 5 in G major, BWV 816
Allemande – Courante – Sarabande – Gavotte – Bourrée – Loure – Gigue
French Suite No. 6 in E major, BWV 817
Doors open: 7:30 PM
Concert begins: 8:00 PM
🎟️ Tickets As our concerts are strictly limited to 35 seats, we highly recommend booking your tickets in advance right here. (Note: We now offer discounted €10 U18 tickets for young music lovers).
🍷 The Piano Insel Experience As always, we will have a selection of fine wine, beer, and other refreshments ready for you before, during, and after the performance. You are warmly invited to stay after the concert to converse with the artist and other guests. Much like the historic musical salons, we gather for the music, but meeting other people and getting to know the musicians personally is just as much a part of the Piano Insel experience. Our doors will remain open until midnight!
PianoInsel • Martin-Luther-Straße 78, 10825 Berlin, Berlin, Germany
