Liederabend - Veronika Dünser and Luca De Grazia

What's it about?

Veronika Dünser and Luca De Grazia This Liederabend (song recital) spans a wide, sensitive arc between love, nature, longing, and the universal language of music. The concert opens with songs by Robert Stolz, which, with life-affirming lightness, show how love – in both big and small ways – brightens everyday life and sustains relationships. The song "Hier im Wald mit dir zu liegen" by Vorarlberg composer Gerda Poppa then creates an intimate, nature-bound image of togetherness. Longing, secret passion, and deep connection characterize the following stations of the evening – from the urgent "Heimliche Aufforderung" to the touchingly calm "Befreit," which tells of a love that outlasts even transience. "Fisches Nachtgesang" creates an almost silent soundscape, before Franz Schubert impressively unfolds the entire spectrum between natural idyll, myth, tension, and dark passion with "Die Forelle," the "Lied eines Schiffers an die Dioskuren," and the dramatic "Der Zwerg." The famous piano song "Auf dem Wasser zu singen" also takes up this poetic connection between nature and transience. In "Kleine Erde," based on a poem by Elene Spoerl, the focus finally shifts to the fragility of our planet and to a mindful connection with the world around us. After the intermission, the evening turns to the boundless language of music. Folk songs from Spain, Ticino, Ireland, Israel, Vorarlberg, Lebanon, and the Czech Republic invite listeners on a sonorous journey through different cultures. In "Lied ohne Worte," this journey finds its quiet, timeless conclusion – beyond language and translation. The passionate finale is set by Johannes Brahms' Gypsy Songs, in which dance-like energy, melancholic longing, and fiery drama combine to create a captivating conclusion. This atmospheric evening is presented by the Austrian mezzo-soprano Veronika Dünser, who completed her training in Feldkirch and Vienna and can be experienced on important stages at home and abroad – including in Vienna, Bern, Klagenfurt, at the Salzburg Festival, and in numerous concert and Liederabend formats. She has worked with conductors such as Ivor Bolton, performed with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, and is a sought-after interpreter in both opera and concert. She is accompanied on the piano by Luca De Grazia, born in Lugano, trained in Switzerland, Austria, Italy, and France. He is an internationally active pianist, chamber musician, and song accompanist who regularly participates in renowned masterclasses, opera studios, and festivals and works, among others, at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz and at international academies. A Liederabend full of colors, stories, and moods – between intimacy, nature, passion, and the unifying power of music.