Cellist Xuanhan Xu is currently pursuing a master’s degree at the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy University of Music and Theatre in Leipzig under Prof. Peter Bruns. Her extraordinary talent was recognized early on: at the age of thirteen, she began her studies with Prof. Gustav Rivinius. She is one of the most award-winning young cellists of her generation, having won, among other prizes, first prize at the Pablo Casals International Award for Young Cellists (2020) and the David Popper International Cello Competition (2013). Since 2024, she has been a scholarship recipient of the Instrument Fund of the German Music Foundation; in 2025, she was awarded the Germany Scholarship.
The programme ranges from rarely performed works to major classics of Romantic chamber music, offering a multifaceted insight into the expressive possibilities of the cello. Together with pianist Annegret Bruns, Xuanhan Xu performs works by Nadia Boulanger, Franz Schubert and David Popper in the first half – ranging from the finest French musical poetry, through Schubert’s lyrical expressiveness, to Popper’s virtuoso »Dance of the Elves«.
In the second part, the ensemble expands to a string sextet. Together with five young chamber musicians, Xuanhan Xu presents Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s »Souvenir de Florence« – a masterpiece of Romantic chamber music which, with passionate intensity, virtuoso brilliance and extraordinary sonic richness, provides a resplendent conclusion to the concert evening.
PERFORMERS
Xuanhan Xu violoncello
Annegret Bruns piano
Yukino Takehara violin
Elisaweta Oreschkow violin
Johann Pätzold viola
Beatriz Aragón Carreño viola
Irene Rico violoncello
PROGRAM
Nadia Boulanger
Trois Pièces for Violoncello and Piano
Franz Schubert
Sonata for Arpeggione or Violoncello and Piano in A minor, D 821 »Arpeggione«
David Popper
Elfentanz für Violoncello und Klavier op. 39
- Interval -
Piotr I. Tschaikowsky
String Sextet in D minor, Op. 70 »Souvenir de Florence«
