Cello summit meeting in Liestal

After a two-year break, Liestal is once again becoming a cello hotspot and is back with 19 events between September 2 and 9. Its artistic director is the young German cellist Maximilian Hornung, who has won important music prizes and is successful all over the world.

The CD box set published a few weeks ago by "NZZ am Sonntag" profiles the most important classical music festivals in Switzerland. In addition to the expected candidates such as Lucerne, Verbier and Gstaad, one CD is dedicated to the 2016 VivaCello Festival. A rare success? "Yes and no", says 32-year-old master cellist Maximilian Hornung. "VivaCello has been popping up musically in the Stedtli at irregular intervals for 18 years, producing sensational and extraordinary things, and not just with regard to the cello. Even the list of names of the cellists who have performed since then impresses me." Mischa Maisky, Ivan Monighetti, Sol Gabetta, Nicolas Altstaedt and Steven Isserlis have played here, and the celebrity series will continue in 2018 with young Swiss star Chiara Enderle, old master Pieter Wispelwey from Holland, the German Daniel Müller-Schott, Thomas Demenga (who conducted the festival in 2003 & 2006) and the Swede Frans Helmerson, among others.

In 2016, VivaCello said goodbye with Rossini's William Tell Overture in front of 900 guests in Liestal's Rathausstrasse. So what will the 70 or so professional musicians offer over eight days in 2018, just music for the cello? "Even if it were possible to get by with it, after all the instrument has been shining on concert stages for a good 400 years and every composer of note has left works for the cello, variety and diversity are my main concerns," explains Hornung. It doesn't always have to be concert halls. "A coffee does its bit to give us a boost for the day, combined with a short concert at Caffè mooi, there's no better way to start the day," enthuses the young cellist. And there is another composer to whom Hornung pays special homage: Ludwig van Beethoven. "Beethoven's five sonatas for cello and piano taught anyone who hadn't yet grasped the cello's possibilities by the end of the 18th century a better lesson. The cello can express everything in music, and it touches us to the core." Before celebrating Beethoven's 250th anniversary in 2020, the biggest in many years, VivaCello will be paying homage to the composer several times, especially on Sunday, September 9th, with plenty of Beethoven, from the 1st Sonata to the 7th Symphony.

The festival will begin with the free event "Cello for All" on September 2 in the Liestal town church. A huge cello orchestra will play film music in which every cellist can take part, there will be musical cabaret with the Duo Calva and a self-portrait of a cello, narrated by the self-confessed cello fan Kurt Aeschbacher and the young musician Chiara Enderle. Numerous concerts will take place throughout the week at the Kulturhotel Guggenheim, the Kulturscheune and the Stadtkirche Liestal.
"It's a soul of an instrument, and that's why it appeals to us so strongly," Lukas Ott, the former mayor, confessed enthusiastically after attending a concert.

Advance booking www.kulturticket.ch