Hungarian Cultural Center, AMP, and pianist Renate Rohlfing present two concerts that connect works by Romantic and modern composers. “Modern Romanticism” proposes that contemporary classical music should not isolate itself from the canonical masterpieces of the past; rather, traditional classical music and its contemporary progeny should mutually contextualize each other.

The first concert presents Beethoven's exuberant late sonata and Schumann's madness-tinged folk fantasies with the modernist exploration of form and sound in the works by Kagel, Ligeti, and Webern. The second concert centers on Ligeti's monumental Horn Trio, here presented with Brahms' first violin sonata and a new composition by Derek Muro for horn trio.


About the Performers

Miss Renate Rohlfing (piano) began her piano studies in Honolulu, Hawaii at the age of three under the tutelage of Professor Peter Coraggio and Mrs. Elizabeth Coraggio. At the Manhattan School of Music she was an active member of the contemporary music ensemble, performing works such as Messiaen's Oiseaux Exotiques and Ligeti's Horn Trio. She has performed chamber music throughout the United States and Paris with her flute trio Cendres.

John Popham (cello) was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky. The New York Times has described John's playing as "graceful but variegated" and "finely polished." An active performer of contemporary music, John is a member of the Red Light Ensemble and has performed with the acclaimed TACTUS Contemporary Ensemble, ECCE, and the Nomos Trio. Recent and upcoming performances include appearances at The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, the Tank, Yale University, The New Music Collective of South Carolina, Princeton University, the Stone, and the Hanns Eisler School in Berlin. John was a student of David Geber, founding cellist of the American String Quartet. He is a co-director for The New Project of Louisville, a collaborative arts organization that produces experimental concerts in the Louisville area.