Rising Stars | Valérie Fritz - Learn to un­learn

Learn to unlearn - Valérie Fritz, cello

A cello on the back weighs seven kilos. However, its tradition weighs considerably heavier and can sometimes become a burden when exploring new paths. Austrian cellist Valerie Fritz addresses her classical background as well as her love for performative works that go beyond mere cello playing.

This concert is part of the Rising Stars Festival in Harpa, in May 2026.

LEARN TO UNLEARN

Manuel Zwerger (1992)
VIOLIN TUITION (2023) for Violoncello and Video

Georges Aperghis (1945)
II. Récitation Quatre from Récitations pour violoncelle seul (1980)

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750)
Prélude + Courante from Solo Suite Nr. 2

Jennifer Walshe (1974)
The Sheer Task of Being Alive (2025) for solo cello and voice

Simon Steen-Andersen (1976)
Study for string instrument #3 for cello and video

Benjamin Britten  (1913 - 1976)
Lento (introduzione) from Solo Suite Nr. 3

George Crumb (1929 - 2022)
Toccata from Sonata for Solo Cello

Peter Eötvös (1944 - 2024)
Two poems to Polly (1998) for a speaking cellist

Birgitta von Schweden(1303- 1373)
Latuit, for cello and electronics

Michael Beil (1963)
String Jane (2016) for cello and live-video 

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A cello on the back weighs seven kilos. However, its tradition weighs considerably heavier and can sometimes become a burden when exploring new paths.

Learn to unlearn is an act of self-empowerment, a self-determined and personal program that offers insight into the intimacy and conflicts between a musician and her instrument. In the tension between tradition and progress, positioning in the music market, and personal authenticity, Valerie Fritz addresses her classical background as well as her love for performative works that go beyond mere cello playing.

The thematic arc of the solo program is woven together by three works with video by Manuel Zwerger, Steen-Andersen, and Michael Beil, which humorously engage with the association-laden string instrument: Why and for what purpose learn to play the cello, if not to perform Bach's "Cello Song" or "The Swan"? The humorous reckoning with the hits of the cello repertoire winks at the inexhaustible content of more or less valuable tutorials and recordings on social media and raises the question of how one is supposed to compose for this instrument nowadays.

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Jennifer Walshe writes the following about her new piece, The Sheer Task of Being Alive:

"Commissioned by Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Bozar Brussels, Casa da Música Porto, Kölner Philharmonie, Konzerthaus Dortmund, Musikverein Wien and European Concert Hall Organisation (ECHO).

This piece is for cello, but the performer also uses their voice and body. The piece should be amplified, with the performer preferably wearing a headset to pick up vocal sounds. The vocal mode is delicate, intimate – the performer is suspended in the internal mumbling of an astronaut floating in zero gravity during a spacewalk. This is piece is part of a series of works about Mars and space - the opening lines comes from remarks made by a NASA commentator during the launch of the Perseverance rover to Mars on July 30, 2020. It is preferable that the performer does not wear shoes during the performance, as astronauts on board the ISS operate for the most part in socks."

Rising Stars