Part of: Distinctive Debuts
Cristina Gómez Godoy, Oboe
Michail Lifits, Piano
POULENC Oboe Sonata
BRITTEN Six Metamorphoses after Ovid, Op. 49
SAINT-SAËNS Oboe Sonata in D Major, Op. 166
C. SCHUMANN Three Romances, Op. 22
CARTER "Inner Song" from Trilogy
MOZART Nine Variations on a Minuet by Duport, K. 573
KALLIWODA Morceau de Salon, Op. 228
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Distinctive Debuts is supported by endowment gifts from The Lizabeth and Frank Newman Charitable Foundation and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation.
The last work Poulenc completed before he died in 1963, the Oboe Sonata memorializes a musical tradition that was fast changing beyond recognition. His demise, observed Jean Cocteau, was “a disaster for French music.”
Britten’s gift for dramatic characterization is on display in this set of short oboe solos. In the manner of 19th-century character pieces, each “metamorphosis” presents a musical sketch of a figure from classical mythology.
Like Poulenc’s, Saint-Saëns’s Oboe Sonata is a valedictory work. Imbued with the spirit of 1920s neoclassicism, the music is redolent of 18th-century models, the first movement resembling an aria, the last a propulsive toccata.
Clara Schumann composed her Three Romances for the great Hungarian violinist Joseph Joachim. In their fanciful spontaneity of expression, they bear a marked family resemblance to her husband Robert’s beloved character pieces.
Carter was known for the sophisticated virtuosity of his compositional technique. The apparent simplicity of this oboe solo masks what one scholar has identified as Carter’s trademark sense “of many different things going on at once.”
Mozart was at the peak of his fame as a keyboard virtuoso when he wrote this bravura set of variations on a stately dance by Jean-Pierre Duport, the celebrated cellist who served as director of chamber music at the Prussian court.
A significant figure in early–19th-century German music, Czech composer Johann Wenzel Kalliwoda is all but forgotten today. This exuberantly melodious showpiece illustrates the qualities that his contemporaries found so compelling.
Spanish oboist Cristina Gómez Godoy combines technical brilliance with musical expressiveness, stunning virtuosity with artistic sensitivity and “miraculously effortless instinctiveness” (Süddeutsche Zeitung). She impresses audiences at major festivals and concert halls around the world with her profound musicality and color-rich sound. In 2012, at the age of 21, she joined the Staatskapelle Berlin as solo English horn. In 2013, she was appointed principal solo oboe of the orchestra.
Despite her young age, Ms. Gómez has already appeared as a soloist with major orchestras such as the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Munich Chamber Orchestra at the Herkulessaal, Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo at the Sala São Paulo, Orquesta Filarmónica de Málaga, Polish Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Sopot, and West-Eastern Divan Orchestra with Daniel Barenboim. A valued guest artist, she has played principal oboe in the world’s leading orchestras, including the Berliner Philharmoniker, Filarmonica della Scala, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, London Symphony Orchestra, and hr-Sinfonieorchester, among others. She has played under renowned conductors such as Sir Simon Rattle, Riccardo Muti, Zubin Mehta, Andris Nelsons, Gustavo Dudamel, Daniel Harding, and Alan Gilbert. In 2016, she was chosen as principal oboe of the celebrated Bayreuth Festival Orchestra. As early as 2008–2009, she played solo oboe with the Real Orquesta Sinfónica de Sevilla.
Highlights of Ms. Gómez’s 2018–2019 season include recital debuts at Carnegie Hall and Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin. She also performs at the acclaimed chamber music series presented by the Fundación Juan March in Madrid and at the Sala José Iturbi of the Palau de la Música de València.
Ms. Gómez has received numerous awards from competitions that include the ARD International Music Competition in Munich and Markneukirchen International Instrumental Competition. She has given master classes in the UK, Spain, Brazil, Taiwan, and Germany at the Universität der Künste Berlin, where she was appointed to the adjunct faculty in October 2015.
Born in Linares in 1990, Ms. Gómez Godoy studied at the Barenboim-Said Foundation’s Academia de Estudios Orquestales in Seville, and later at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Rostock with Gregor Witt. She lives in Berlin and plays a Ludwig Frank “Brilliant model” oboe.
Michail Lifits is rapidly gaining international attention with his captivating musicality. In highly acclaimed solo recitals at major concert venues and as an accomplished chamber musician, he has moved audiences and critics worldwide. Season highlights have included performances with the Munich Chamber Orchestra and Munich Symphony Orchestra; debuts with the NDR Radiophilharmonie, Valencia Orchestra, and Orchestra dell’Arena di Verona; and performances at the Kissinger Sommer, Schwetzingen, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Bürgenstock, l’Épau, and Salzburg festivals.
Since winning the 57th Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition in 2009, Mr. Lifits has performed in many of the world’s major venues, including Lincoln Center, Berlin’s Philharmonie, Hamburg’s Laeiszhalle, Milan’s Sala Verdi, Zurich’s Tonhalle, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Brussels’s Palais des Beaux-Arts, and Munich’s Herkulessaal and Neue Philharmonie. As a soloist, he has appeared with renowned orchestras that include the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, The Hague Philharmonic, Heidelberg Philharmonic Orchestra, Haydn Orchestra of Bolzano and Trento, Moscow Soloists Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra della Fondazione Teatro Lirico Giuseppe Verdi di Trieste, and Orchestre International de Genève.
Mr. Lifits is also a popular guest artist at renowned international festivals that include the Verbier Festival, Rheingau Musik Festival, Festival Pianistico Internazionale di Brescia e Bergamo, Festival d’Auvers-sur-Oise, Klavier-Festival Ruhr, Bergen International Festival, Menuhin Festival Gstaad, and BBC Proms.
Since 2011, Mr. Lifits has recorded exclusively for Decca Classics. His debut album of works by Mozart, released in 2012, received excellent reviews and was named CD of the month by many leading classical music magazines and radio stations. His second recording—piano sonatas by Schubert—was released in early 2015, marking the first recording in his planned release of Schubert’s complete piano works. His most recent album (2017) is dedicated to Shostakovich’s Op. 34 Preludes and Piano Quintet, recorded with the Szymanowski Quartet.
Mr. Lifits was born in 1982 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. He studied with Karl-Heinz Kämmerling and Bernd Goetzke at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover, and with Boris Petrushansky at the International Piano Academy “Incontri col Maestro” in Imola, Italy. Mr. Lifits has been a Steinway Artist since 2014.
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