Kasparas Mikužis and Jaren Ziegler | “Viola Virtuosos”

This recital is produced by the charity PROMOTE OUR PIANISTS working together with KETTNER CONCERTS to offer live performances to outstanding young pianists.

The viola adds a radiant warmth to the orchestra but there is also a body of masterpieces, frequently overlooked, where it is the star.

Lithuanian-born pianist Kasparas Mikužis studied at the Royal Academy of Music (RAM) as an undergraduate with Professor Diana Ketler and as a postgraduate with Professor Christopher Elton. He made his Wigmore Hall debut on 4 December 2024 performing a recital featuring Rachmaninoff's First Sonata and movements from Rameau's Suite in G. He was named as one of Classic FM's Rising Stars for 2025 and was accepted as a Young Classical Artist Trust (YCAT) musician. He is also supported by the Keyboard Trust, the Countess of Munster Trust and the Hattori Foundation, among others.

Jaren Ziegler is a Londoner. He began playing the viola at the age of six and was accepted at the Junior RAM two years later to study with Jacky Woods. In 2022 at the age of 16 he became the first violist in the competition's history to win the BBC Young Musician Strings Final. In 2025, like Kasparas, he too was named as a one of Classic FM's Rising Stars. He is currently an undergraduate student at the RAM studying with Hélène Clément. Jaren plays a Stefano Scarampella viola, kindly loaded to him by the Beare's International Violin Society.

PROGRAMME

Johannes Brahms (1833–97) — Viola Sonata in F minor, Op. 120 No. 1 (1895)

Originally written for the clarinet, Brahms was sceptical about whether his reluctant arrangement for the viola would be viable.

Paul Hindemith (1895–1963) — Viola Sonata, Op. 11 No. 4 (1919)

Hindemith was a versatile musician, composer, performer, and teacher. whose compositions show a free treatment of traditional forms. He liked to write music for solo instruments whose potential had been neglected by other composers.

Manuel de Falla (1876–1946) — Four Spanish Pieces ​(1906–09)

Originally scored for piano solo and dedicated to Albeniz's Iberia, de Falla later arranged them for viola and piano.

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