Vercammen Merel & Dina Ivanova - Symbiosis

Fakta Violinist Merel Vercammen and pianist Dina Ivanova are releasing their debut album. The album will include their absolute favourite Sonata for violin and piano: the Franck Sonata. We will combine this Sonata with compositions by two female composers: Poldwoski (daughter of the famous composer Henryk Wieniawski) and Mathilde Wantenaar.

Poldowski wrote her Sonata for violin and piano at a time when women weren't allowed to vote. She had a very interesting life, especially for a woman of her time; she travelled across Europe as a concert pianist, designed haute-couture for the British Royal Family and wrote beautiful late-romantic compositions. The Sprookjes (fairytales) by twenty-five-year-old composer Mathilde Wantenaar were written about a century later. Female composers are still a minority in classical music, and with this album we would like to draw some extra attention to these two wonderful female composers.

"I've played the Franck Sonata ever since I was fifteen years old and it has always been my favourite. I've worked on this Sonata with all my teachers and have performed it on many occasions afterwards, which has led to an interpretation which encompasses my whole artistic development. When I first played this work with Dina (in Dutch I would call her a 'klavierleeuwin', Keyboard Lioness!) it felt very natural. From the very beginning it was clear for us that we wanted to record this Sonata on cd together." - Merel