Huijing Han, piano & Ulrike Hübschmann, narrator

Program

"The secret of life is life itself"
Dora Pejačević and Rosa Luxemburg – two women, two radical spirits, contemporaries in a world in upheaval. The Croatian composer Pejačević left behind a passionate piano oeuvre of great romantic intensity; the political thinker Luxemburg wrote texts of surprising beauty and tenderness. Pianist Huijing Han and narrator Ulrike Hübschmann weave music and words into an evening that is both thought-provoking and deeply moving – a testament to how close art and life can truly be.

We hear excerpts from “Letters from Prison” by Rosa Luxemburg and compositions by Dora Pejačević

Works:

  • Chrysanthemen Op. 19 (very brief prelude)

Intro

  • Erinnerung Op. 24
  • Reading 1
  • Nocturne No. 2 from Two Nocturnes Op. 50
  • Reading 2
  • Vor deinem Bilde from Two Piano Sketches Op. 44
  • Reading 3
  • Impromptu Op. 9 (a)
  • Reading 4
  • Nocturne No. 1 from Two Nocturnes Op. 50
  • Reading 5
  • Walzer-Capriccio II Op. 28
  • Reading 6
  • Schneeglöckchen from Blumenleben Op. 19
  • Reading 7
  • Rote Nelken from Blumenleben Op. 19
  • Reading 8
  • Veilchen from Blumenleben Op. 19

Rosa Luxemburg’s transfer from the fortress in Wronke to a prison in Breslau

  • Reading 9
  • An Dich from Two Piano Sketches Op. 44
  • Reading 10
  • Adagio from Sonata Op. 57
  • Reading 11
  • Allegro con fuoco from Sonata Op. 57
  • Reading 12
  • Andante espressivo from Sonata Op. 57
  • Reading 13
  • Berceuse Op. 2
  • Reading 14
  • Trauermarsch Op. 14
  • Reading 15
  • Klage Op. 17
  • Reading 16
  • Lilien from Blumenleben Op. 19

Outro

  • Chrysanthemen from Blumenleben Op. 19

Duration: approx. 65 minutes. Subject to change.

What moved us to create this musical reading?

Rosa Luxemburg lived from 1871 to 1919. Someone once said that she is one of Germany’s “best-known unknowns”. She is familiar above all as a politician - but that reduces her enormously. This programme is not about her politics; it is about the human being, about the woman Rosa Luxemburg. We have interwoven excerpts from Luxemburg’s “Letters from Prison” with the extraordinary piano music of the composer Dora Pejačević, an Austro-Hungarian countess whose music is only now being rediscovered. Dora Pejačević lived from 1885 to 1923 - the two women were contemporaries. They knew each other, admired each other, and met in person.

In exploring their lives, we discovered many parallels. Both were truly exceptional women for their time - exceptionally educated and exceptionally political. And both, as women, possessed a powerful drive for freedom. They complement each other also because their characters were complex, tension-filled, and many-sided in similar ways. In one moment one finds radiant cheerfulness, in the next a leaden heaviness. Poetry and delicacy give way swiftly to resolution and force of will. We often found all of this at once - in a single letter by Rosa Luxemburg, or in a single composition by Dora Pejačević. And not least: both died young and under dramatic circumstances.

The letters presented here were written between May and December 1917; one excerpt is taken from a letter of May 1918. They are not, however, read in chronological order.

Huijing Han, piano

Huijing Han is one of the most versatile pianists of her generation. Born in Shanghai, she combines technical brilliance with profound expressive depth, moving with equal command between the classical-romantic repertoire and contemporary crossover projects - as a soloist as much as a sought-after chamber music partner. Her studies took her from Shanghai to the Hochschule für Musik „Hanns Eisler“ Berlin and ultimately to the Universität der Künste Berlin, where she completed her Konzertexamen with Prof. Klaus Hellwig and studied chamber music with Prof. Antje Weithaas. Masterclasses with Amadeus Webersinke and Russell Sherman were equally formative.

Her awards include First Prize at the Berlin Piano Competition of the Renate Schorler Foundation, the Artur Schnabel Prize of the UdK Berlin, and First Prize at the 15th International Chamber Music Competition in Illzach, France. Since 2018 she has been a Steinway Artist.

Huijing Han performs regularly in Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland and China. On the personal invitation of Daniel Barenboim she took part in his Beethoven workshop and appeared at Carnegie Hall in New York. Live recordings – among them Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A minor Op. 54 – were broadcast on RBB. Further significant venues include the Chamber Music Hall of the Berlin Philharmonie, the Cadillac Shanghai Concert Hall, and the Emil Schumacher Museum in Hagen, where she curates her own concert series.

Alongside her performing career she has taught at the Universität der Künste Berlin since 2016 and at the HfM Hanns Eisler since 2007, and holds guest professorships at several universities in China. She is also active with crossover concerts at the Music & Technology Festival Shanghai and with chamber music programmes across Germany. A further dimension of her artistry is the musical reading – an engagement with the lives of remarkable creative figures that she finds particularly rewarding. Together with the actress Ulrike Hübschmann she has developed two programmes: “Clara & Robert Schumann” and “Dora Pejačević and Rosa Luxemburg”.

Ulrike Hübschmann, narrator

Ulrike Hübschmann studied at the Hochschule für Schauspielkunst "Ernst Busch" in Rostock and Berlin, followed by engagements at the Berliner Ensemble, the Ernst Deutsch Theater Hamburg and other stages. She is a sought-after audiobook and radio drama narrator, has been nominated for and awarded the German Hörfilmpreis, and works in film and television, including the Tatort series.

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