September 22, Sunday, 4 pm
Museum of Applied Art, Arsenalo g. 3A
The Art of Bach
Bach solo violin music transcribed for cello
Markku Luolajan-Mikkola – cello, Finland
Like many others who received their first taste of rock music and inspiration from Led Zeppelin or Jimi Hendrix, cellist Markku Luolajan-Mikkola went further and took a serious interest in the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. Having played a considerable amount of music by Bach’s predecessors on the viola da gamba, and later the Baroque cello, the performer remains enamoured by this music’s polyphony, its rich harmony, dance-like rhythms and other distinctively Baroque characteristics. “I have played Bach in order to learn everything related to music and the instrument, but above all for my joy or consolation. I feel that Bach’s music contains the whole human experience: cognition, emotion and metaphysics are in balance and connect in perfect harmony”, says the cellist. This tireless adherent and proponent of J. S. Bach’s music is taking on new challenges – to play Bach’s music originally written for solo violin on his own instrument – the cello.