Annelien Van Wauwe and Anaïs Gaudemard

Swaying in the arms of Portuguese fado, melancholy tastes deliciously sweet. Annelien Van Wauwe is a fado superfan. In the recital of her dreams, she lets the clarinet sob and whisper in the language of Amália Rodrigues. With harpist Anaïs Gaudemard as a fellow fadista, she hijacks the melancholy of Marceneiro and the rawness of Carlos Zel, and pours it into virtuoso ornaments and hoarse melodies. A road trip through Lisbon that wanders from abandoned harbor docks to the twilight-dark pubs in Alfama. The love of clarinetist Annelien Van Wauwe for fado arose in her teenage years, when she first came into contact with the deeply melancholic yet comforting sounds of this Portuguese genre. Intrigued by the emotional intensity and pure expression of fado, she traveled to Portugal several times to experience this music live. The homesickness, the warmth, and the power of the voices, the graceful ornaments, and the brilliant dialogues between the guitars left a deep impression on her. The clear, sparkling sound of the Portuguese guitar is also strongly reminiscent of the harp, and no instrument embodies that transparency better than the harp of Anaïs Gaudemard – one of the absolute stars of her instrument. In this program, they bring fado in a way that has not been heard before: the warm, lyrical ‘voice’ of the clarinet and the delicate clarity of the harp melt together into an intimate, new sound world. With works by greats like Amália Rodrigues, Alfredo Marceneiro, and Carlos Zel, they pay tribute to this genre, which is so close to classical music. Annelien Van Wauwe De Belgische clarinetist Annelien Van Wauwe, former BBC New Generation Artist, won the Borletti Buitoni Trust Award and is the winner of the Internationale Muziekwedstrijd of the ARD. She is known for her expressive, lyrical, and virtuoso performances. Annelien Van Wauwe records exclusively for the Pentatone label. Her first album 'Belle époque' with the Orchestre National de Lille led by conductor Alexandre Bloch, was released in 2019 and won a Opus Klassik in 2020. Her concert recording 'FLOW' with the NDR Radiophilharmonie led by Andrew Manze contains basset clarinet concertos by Mozart and Henderickx and was released in 2022. In February 2027, her album with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra conducted by Nicolo Foron with clarinet concertos by Copland and Finzi will be released on the same label. Annelien Van Wauwe has performed with many leading orchestras, such as the DSO Berlin, the NDR Radiophilharmonie, the Deutsche Radiophilharmonie, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, the SWR Symphonieorchester Stuttgart, the Dresdner Philharmonie, the Frankfurter Opern- und Museumsorchester, the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, the OFUNAM Mexico, the Wroclaw Philharmonic Orchestra, the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, the Sichuan Symphony Orchestra, the Kyiv Symphony Orchestra, the Münchner Kammerorchester, the Wiener Kammerorchester, the Residentie Orkest Den Haag, the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, the Salzburg Camerata, the Mozarteumorchester Salzburg, the Brussels Philharmonic, the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, and all symphonic and philharmonic orchestras of the BBC. Annelien is the founder of the chamber music ensemble CAROUSEL, which originated in Belgium in 2019, and brings together twelve exceptional international musicians. She is a sought-after pedagogue and gives masterclasses regularly and is a clarinet teacher at the Koninklijk Conservatorium in Den Haag. www.annelienvanwauwe.com www.carousel-ensemble.com Anaïs Gaudemard Als authentic ambassador of her instrument, Anaïs Gaudemard wants to reveal the wide sound spectrum of the harp. In the booklet of her debut album with concertos by Boieldieu, Debussy, and Ginastera (Clavès Records) she stated: ‘I love the harp because of everything we don't know about it yet; for me, it is a limitless instrument.’ It didn't take long before her international soloist career took shape, after winning first prizes at the prestigious Israel International Competition (2012) and the ARD Concours in Munich (2016). As a laureate of the Thierry Scherz Prijs during the Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad (2015) and as ‘ECHO Rising Star’ 2019, nominated by the Philharmonie de Paris and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon, she made her debut on the most prestigious international stages, including the Wiener Konzerthaus, the Elbphilharmonie (Hamburg), the Barbican Centre (London), and the Concertgebouw (Amsterdam). The press praises her as ‘an expert in color, dynamics, and sound differentiation’ and writes: ‘Gaudemard’s playing is exquisite; she is clearly a name to watch’ (BBC Music Magazine). Recently, Anaïs Gaudemard received the Institut de France de Tissier-Grandpierre Prijs, in recognition of her artistic career. Anaïs Gaudemard plays a Style 23 Gold Concert Grand harp, gifted to her by harp manufacturer Lyon & Healy on the occasion of her first prize at the 18th Internationale Competitie in Israel. www.anaisgaudemard.fr