Kulturzentrum Holds Classical Music Concert at Assembly Hall

Vogel playing the violin accompanied by Sylvestre on the piano

Kulturzentrum, the ever-active Lebanese-German Association for the Promotion of Culture, on May 8 held a classical music concert at Assembly Hall. The performance was repeated on May 9 at the Kulturzentrum Aula Auditorium and on May 10 at the University of Balamand in north Lebanon.

The concert at Assembly Hall, which was organized in collaboration with AUB and with the support of the German Embassy in Lebanon, lasted for almost an hour and consisted of selected works from the repertoires of Mozart, Fauré, and Szymanowski.

Performing musicians Annette Barbara Vogel on the violin and Stephan Sylvestre on the piano have a stellar musical background and have been performing in music festivals worldwide. Since January 2004, Vogel, who grew up in Germany, has been a professor of music at the University of Western Ontario in Canada. Her virtuosity and passion for the violin have been widely acclaimed, as evidenced by her presence on various international music contest juries and her celebrated performances in many different countries across the globe.

Likewise, Sylvestre is a professor of music at the University of Western Ontario and has performed as pianist worldwide. He has also won awards at international music contests, among them the Prix d'Europe and the Canadian Music Competition. In the production of his critically acclaimed CDs, he has collaborated with topnotch artists of international caliber, such as James Campbell and Ransom Wilson.

The dual performance of the two musicians was met with prolonged applause and left the audience with the feeling that with music so first class and impeccably performed, classical music ought to be more widely heard.