Xenia Jankovic

The Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival

5-10 September 2022

Tuesday 6 September and Wednesday 7 September 2022

J.S.Bach / Dmitri Sitkovetsky Three part inventions

Friday 9 September 2022
L.v.Beethoven Septet in E flat major, op. 20

Saturday 10 September 2022

F.Schubert String quintet in C major, D956

F. Mendelssohn Octet for strings in E flat major, op. 20

Click here for the video.

May 22, 2022 6pm

Xenia Jankovic, Violoncello

Jacqueline Bourgès-Maunoury, Piano

Tchaikovsky, Dvořák, Chopin

Church of Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre

Festival Omaggio a Palladio, Vicenza, Italy

Capella Andrea Barca

Sir András Schiff, Piano

Thursday, April 28, 2022 • Teatro Olimpico

Bach, Brahms, Schumann, Mendelssohn

Friday, April 29, 2022 • Basilica dei Santi Felice e Fortunato

Mendelssohn

Saturday, April 30, 2022 • Teatro Olimpico

Bach, Brahms, Mendelssohn, Schumann

Sunday, May 1, 2022 • Teatro Olimpico

Bach, Schumann, Brahms

The Ensemble Inspirimus founded by Xenia Jankovic, plays in many different formations. On this album it is a group of eight successful cellists, all of whom are currently students of Prof. Jankovic at the Detmold University of Music in Germany. During the pandemic in 2021, the extreme situation of the lockdown welded this wonderful group of enthusiastic young musicians into the strong ensemble that they are, full of inspiration and spirit.

The most important legacy of the project is to put culture in the very centre of social development and redefine culture as a key for economic development based on knowledge, innovation and creativity.

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Within the “Migrations” program Xenia Jankovic together with chamber orchestra “Camerata Novi Sad” performs:

Programm: P. I. Tchaikovsky: Andante cantabile op.11

                                 Pezzo capriccioso op.62

S. Rachmaninov: Vocalise Op.34 No.14

A. Glazunov:          Chant du Ménestrel op.71

A. Dvořák:              Silent Woods  op.68/5   

                                  Rondo op.94

I. Jevtic:                 Le rêve d’un amoureux (2014)

                                 Allegretto – Lento

                                 Molto Adagio – Moderato

                                 Finale – Allegrissimo

Concert: 9th of April

CD recording: 11-13th of April

After two years without a live audience, the Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival, directed by Elena Bashkirova, will be returning one last time to the atmospheric stage in the Glass Courtyard of the Jewish Museum Berlin from the 3rd to 7th of April 2022. A thrilling, multifaceted festival of chamber music from Classical Vienna to the present.

For all information and about the program, click here.

This recording was made in an especially inspiring environment – the unique view of the surrounding mountains and the Geneva lake, the architecture of the Fallot castle with its fascinating organ in the middle and, most of all, the musical history of these rooms. L. Vierne (organ player and favorite student of C. Franck), E. Ysaÿe (violinist, to whom Franck dedicated his sonata), J. Thibaud (who played Franck in the most authentic way), A. Cortot (one of the most authentic Chopin interpret), P. Casals (one of the greatest cellists) among many other musicians and friends of the Fallot family, were often spending time in the castle and playing in these same rooms. We strongly felt this special spirit and the connection to the music of C. Franck and F. Chopin. 

For further information, click here.

Click for video.

These films of the Bach Cello Suites were made in the Church of St. George in Staro Nagoricane, North Macedonia. Built in the 14th century, this church is considered one of the finest examples of Christian churches of its time and is situated on the border between Macedonia and Serbia.

As a child I visited many old and beautiful churches in former Yugoslavia with my father, who was a choral conductor and a great admirer of the fresco art. The atmosphere of orthodox monasteries and churches like Studenica, Sopocani or Staro Nagoricane, as well the sound of the choral music which I heard there, stayed in my heart and had a profound influence on my imagination and experience of art and music in general.

When I first started to play Bach at the age of 7, I imagined playing it in these churches. I immediately sensed (and learned about) the deep connection which Bach’s music has to religion and the bible. For me, this world was in these churches. The powerful and colourful frescos would come to life and could speak to me. This was in 1960s and 70s during the communist era; I lived in Belgrade and Moscow, where any connection to religion and the church had to be hidden.

Even in the last 30 years, I faced another problem in my wish to play Bach in one of these churches: that the Orthodox Church forbids instrumental music; only singing is allowed. After several unsuccessful attempts I had to accept that this was impossible, but still held on to the dream of doing so one day. Finally, miraculously, it became possible for me to record in this church – just for a single day! I feel extremely lucky and grateful that I was able to get permission to record these films in one day in the exceptional Church of St. George in Staro Nagoricane.

The limitation of one day and one church turned out to be just right for this project. In the films we see always the same church and frescos, but at different times of the day and with changing atmospheres inside, according to the character of the particular suite. To me personally, each fresco has many layers and varied meanings, which gradually came to me through seeing and experiencing them in different periods of my life. In listening to the music and seeing the images in this film it is not necessary to know which fresco is shown and why; the approach could be more like that of the Orthodox church service – simply emotional surrender.

Sergei Prokofiev: Sinfonia Concertante /Aram Khachaturian: Cello Concerto

It is particularly interesting to hear these two cello concertos side by side. Despite their different musical language, both works have a strong theatrical side so typical for Prokofiev’s and also Khachaturian’s music. Both concertos are written in the last years of the Stalin era, within just six years of each other (1946 and 1952), and both are in E minor!