ABOUT ENSEMBLE RARO
Ensemble Raro was formed in 2004 by four extraordinary young musicians. Their goal is to create unforgettable musical performances and to combine an innovative approach with the rich European tradition of intimate and genuine chamber music making.

The inspiration for the ensemble’s name comes from Robert Schumann’s invented alter ego, Master Raro - a member of the Davidsbund and a mediator between Florestan and Eusebius, the two characters that were Schumann’s musical doubles and the contrasting voices of his creative psyche. Master Raro was, therefore, something of a balancing force, representing sound judgment and the need to find unconventional ways of moving forward. In this sense, Ensemble Raro is constantly looking for new contrasting, program forms in which to establish fresh cultural, musical and literary connections. Since the members of Ensemble Raro are also in great demand as solo artists, it gives them even more possibilities to create different programs, ranging from solo pieces to quartets.

Ensemble Raro is the ensemble in residence at the SoNoRo Festival in Bucharest, Chiemgauer Musikfruehling Festival in Traunstein, Kobe International Music Festival, Pèlèrinages in Munich and Le Faure/Bordeaux. By creating these festivals, the ensemble has full artistic liberty: it has improvised with DJs, created multimedia shows with VJs from Japan and Romania, and developed literary soirées on love, Paul Wittgenstein and Bulgakow’s Master and Margarita with the actor Karl Markovics and the writer Lea Singer. Ensemble Raro is actively involved in performing contemporary chamber music repertoire, presenting the British and German premieres of Peteris Vasks’s Piano Quartet. The ensemble’s performances of Walter Braunfels’s and George Enescu’s works in the Pèlèrinages series in Munich received much critical acclaim.

Ensemble Raro’s partners in various chamber music formations included Daishin Kashimoto, Konstantin Lifschitz, Adrian Brendel, Claudio Bohorquez, Baiba Skride, Carolin Widmann, Alina Pogostkina, Marlis Petersen, Mark Padmore and other celebrated musicians. The Ensemble recently performed in the Boswil Summer Festival (Switzerland), St.Gallen Festival and Gmunden Festspiele (Austria), Riga Chamber Music Days (Latvia), Schloss Elmau and Schloss Filseck (Germany) and in Music at Plush Festival (UK). Since 2006, the Ensemble Raro has toured annually in Japan.

Besides regular collaboration with the Bavarian Radio, Ensemble Raro’s performances have been broadcast on NHK/Japan; Südwestdeutscher Rundfunk in Germany; Romanian National Television and Romanian Broadcasting Corporation; Swiss Radio; Latvian National Radio; and Radio France International.

In the last two years the Ensemble Raro released three CDs. The first, Songs and Dances of Life, was described by Radio France International as “an exceptional project.” About Canti Drammatici featuring piano quartets of Brahms and Vasks, Gramophone Magazine wrote: “Ensemble Raro bring a feisty application, impeccable polish and lively imagination to Brahms’s stormy C minor Piano Quartet...” The Seasons was released in autumn 2008 in cooperation with the SoNoRo Festival and features works by this name by Antonio Vivaldi and Astor Piazzolla.

The Ensemble Raro regularly gives master classes in Romania, Italy and Japan, and developed SoNoRo - INTERFERENCES, an extended educational project dedicated to the most talented young Romanian musicians.