Announcements and information about the ‘Dialogkonzerte’
are sent out via a mailing list, which you can subscribe to via
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For concerts with limited seating
or if you require a wheelchair or walking frame
, we also recommend registering at
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Motto: “Stay curious!”

The “Dialogue Concerts at the University of Oldenburg” are organised by the Institute of Music in co-operation with the Association for Music Theatre Productions within the subject of Music at the University of Oldenburg e. V. and the City of Oldenburg’s Cultural Office; Associate Professor Dr Kadja Grönke has sole responsibility for the academic conception and implementation of the series.

The series offers thematically focused programmes in the field of so-called classical music, structured roughly in a 1:2 ratio of presentation/information to music/concert programme. These no-budget events last approximately 100 minutes and are suitable for both seasoned music lovers and concert novices of all ages. They take place at various venues across Oldenburg with free admission (though donations are welcome) and help to foster links between university teaching and the city’s cultural life.

To ensure that the dialogue concerts can continue to be offered free of charge, they are supported by a network of partners and sponsors. One-off donations in the form of tax-deductible bank transfers are also most welcome and go entirely towards financing the next concerts:
Donation account with LZO (account holder: University of Oldenburg)
IBAN: DE46 2805 0100 0001 9881 12 / BIC: SLZODE22
Reference (very important!): FST 53 402 225 80: Dialogue Concerts
> The payment reference ensures that the bank transfer is used exclusively
for the Dialogkonzerte
- Please note: If the specified payment reference is not included, the donation will go into the university’s general budget and will not benefit the Dialogkonzerte . So please enter “FST 53 402 225 80: Dialog Concerts”!
- For donations of 300 euros or more, the university will issue a donation receipt on request.

In 2025, the “Dialogue Concerts at the University of Oldenburg celebrated ten years of activity. To mark the occasion, a comprehensive flyerwas published to mark the occasion, containing general information about the concert series, the programmes from the first 10 years, as well as dates and artists’ biographies for the anniversary year.

All programme booklets can be accessed via the menu item “archive” as full-text PDFs.

“… Thank you very much for sending us the programme for the theme day ‘Carl von Ossietzky
today’ on 30 June 2024, which we are delighted to add to the University Archives’ collection.
For us as the University Archives, there is no question that we should collect materials relating to the concerts
. As an archivist, but above all as a scholar of academic and university history
, I have a deep understanding of what constitutes a university. This extends
beyond the fields of research, teaching and administration. I find
the exchanges between key figures from the university and
the surrounding spheres of politics, business, society and culture particularly fascinating. From this
perspective, the ‘Dialogue Concerts’ are an important element of the history
of our university.”
(Dr Gunnar Zimmermann, University Archives of the University of Oldenburg, 22 July 2024)

- - -
By the way: the Dialogue Concerts also have an Instagram account …

Sunday, 5 July 2026, 7.30 pm, St Peter’s Forum Church:
60 Sounds. Old and new from 11 years of ‘Dialogue Concerts at the University of Oldenburg’.
Countertenor Nicholas Tamagna (Bremen), recorder player Luisa Klaus (Bremen), performer Silvia Rutkowski, gong player and narrator Kadja Grönke, pianists Jasche Nemtsov (Berlin/Weimar) and Paul Mertens (Berlin) and harpsichordist and organist Johnnes von Hoff (Oldenburg) in dialogue with world premieres and second performances from 11 years of ‘Dialogue Concerts at the University of Oldenburg’ and very early music, i.e. works by Roberto Reale, Sarah Nemtsov, Paul Mertens-Pavlowsky, Violeta Dinescu, Alexander Veprik, Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Jacques Hotteterre, Henry Purcell, John Dowland and Johann Sebastian Bach. Featuring a Schimmel piano, a harpsichord by Dietrich Hein and the Forum organ by Anton Feith and Siegfried Sauer. Concept and presentation: Kadja Grönke.
Encore: J. S. Bach: Aria ‘Kron und Preis’ from the cantata ‘Tönet, ihr Pauken’ BWV 214.
Organised by the Institute of Music/Grönke, in co-operation with the Association for Musical Theatre Productions, the Cultural Office of the City of Oldenburg, Forum St. Peter and instrument maker Dietrich Hein.
Review by Horst Hollmann, NWZ, 8 July 2026, p. 11.

Sat 4 July 2026, 7.30 pm, PFL auditorium:
Jewish female composers past and present.
The pianist and musicologist Prof. Jascha Nemtsov (Berlin/Weimar) performs and discusses piano music by Fanny Hensel, Yevgenia Yakhina, Myriam Marbe, Ursula Mamlok, Sarah Nemtsov and Eta Tyrmand. On a Steinway grand piano. Concept: Jascha Nemtsov.
Encore: Arthur Lourié: Waltz ( Paris, 1920s)
The event forms part of the University of Oldenburg’s programme of events and information on the topics of anti-Semitism, anti-discrimination and democracy.
Organised by the Institute of Music/Grönke, in co-operation with the Association for Musical Theatre Productions and the Cultural Office of the City of Oldenburg.

Sat, 20 June 2026, 5.00 pm, Varel Castle Church and
Mon, 22 June 2026, 7.30 pm, Trinity Church, Oldenburg:
‘De zoete Zoomertiden’. Early Baroque music from England and the Netherlands on the theme of ‘Summer’.
Recorder player Luisa Klaus (Bremen), viola da gamba player Ekaterina Kuzminykh (Bremen) and harpsichordist Michael Tsalka (Shenzhen) in dialogue with Kadja Grönke, performing music by Pietr Luidhens, Pieter Dircksz Pers, Tobias Hume, Matthew Locke, William Inglot, Anonymous, Jacob van Eyck, William Babell and Henry Purcell. Featuring a harpsichord by Dietrich Hein. Concept: Luisa Klaus.
Encore in Varel: Anonymous (17th century): Gallarde de Faraboscho.
Encore in Oldenburg: Henry Purcell: Ground in C minor.
Organised by the Institute of Music/Grönke, in co-operation with the Association for Musical Theatre Productions, the Cultural Office of the City of Oldenburg, instrument maker Dietrich Hein and the Barthel Foundation Varel, the church music department of Varel Castle Church, and the church music department of the Church of the Holy Trinity.

Sun, 14 June 2026, 5.00 pm, PFL auditorium:
De nos oiseaux. An artistic project by Hélène de la Forêt to mark the 130th anniversary of the birth of the Romanian poet Tristan Tzara.
Soprano Laura Tatulescu (Bucharest) and pianist and composer Hélène de la Forêt (Bucharest) will perform the song cycle ‘De nos oiseaux’ by Hélène de la Forêt, accompanied by video projections by Cristi Farcaș. Performed on a Steinway grand piano. Host and technical support: Kadja Grönke. Concept/composition: Hélène de la Forêt.
Encore: No. 9: Chanson Dada I.
Organised by the Institute of Music/seminar “Listening in Context: Women Composers from Romania” (Grönke), in co-operation with the Association for Music Theatre Productions and the Cultural Office of the City of Oldenburg.

Sat, 13 June 2026, 7.30 pm, Assembly Hall of the Altes Gymnasium:
Violeta Dinescu’s ‘Kaleidoscope of Memories’: A project for ‘Jugend Musiziert’ and the final concert of an improvisation workshop based on pieces by Violeta Dinescu.
The group of pupils: Irla Syfuß (Altes Gymnasium Oldenburg, flute), Carl Rabbels (Liebfrauenschule Oldenburg, trombone), Clara-Sophie Kleffner (Cäcilienschule Oldenburg, violin), Louisa Marie Kleffner (Liebfrauenschule Oldenburg, violin), Helene Dewald (Cäcilienschule Oldenburg, double bass) and Viktor Min (Altes Gymnasium Oldenburg, piano), as well as participants in the workshop ‘Improvising on pieces by Violeta Dinescu’ featuring music by Violeta Dinescu. Performed on a Steinway grand piano. Concept and presentation: Kadja Grönke.
Organised by the Institute of Music/Seminar ‘Listening in Context: Women Composers from Romania’ (Grönke), in co-operation with the Association for Music Theatre Productions and the Cultural Office of the City of Oldenburg.
Both the performance by the group of pupils and that by the improvisation group are documented on Thorsten Gubatz’s YouTube channel.
Review by Christoph Keller, NWZ, 16 June 2026.

Fri 12 June 2026, 7.30 pm, PFL auditorium:
Dona nobis pacem. Music by female composers from Romania.
Soprano Laura Tatulescu (Bucharest), mezzo-soprano Claudia Codreanu (Bucharest), cellist Angelika Bönisch (Oldenburg) and pianist Ana-Iulia Giurgiu-Bondue (Lille/Bucharest) in dialogue with Kadja Grönke, featuring world premieres by Violeta Dinescu, Ana-Iulia Giurgiu-Bondue and Rucsandra Popescu, as well as music by George Enescu, Tiberiu Brediceanu, Mihail Jora, Paul Constantinescu, Adina Dumitrescu, Livia Teodorescu-Ciocănea, Myriam Marbe, Carmen Petra-Basacopol and Felicia Donceaneau, performed by varying ensembles. Featuring a Steinwy grand piano. Concept: Kadja Grönke and the participants.
Organised by the Institute of Music/Seminar ‘Listening in Context: Women Composers from Romania’ (Grönke), in co-operation with the Association for Music Theatre Productions and the Cultural Office of the City of Oldenburg.
Excerpts from the concert are documented on Thorsten Gubatz’s YouTube channel .

Wednesday, 13 May 2026, 8.00 pm, PFL auditorium:
“Project Phoenix”. Music and poetry from Romania.
Violinist Mircea Lazăr (Bucharest) and pianist Ana-Iulia Giurgiu-Bondue (Lille/Bucharest) will perform works by Nicolae Coman, Felicia Donceanu, Tiberiu Olah, Diana Iulia Simon, George Enescu, Cătălin Creţu, Ana-Iulia Giurgiu-Bondue, Violeta Dinescu and Béla Bartók. Actor Ioan Ionescu (Bucharest) and Kadja Grönke (Oldenburg) will recite poetry by Lucian Blaga, Iulia Hașdeu, Mihai Eminescu, Marin Sorescu, Nina Cassian, Nichita Stănescu and Ion Minulescu in Romanian and German. Featuring a Steinwy grand piano. Concept: Ana-Iulia Giurgiu-Bondue.
Encore: Borșa (dance from Maramureș)
Organised by the Institute of Music/seminar ‘Listening in Context: Women Composers from Romania’ (Grönke), in co-operation with the Association for Music Theatre Productions and the Cultural Office of the City of Oldenburg.
Review by Christoph Keller, NWZ 18 May 2026.

Tue, 17 March 2026, 7.30 pm, Forum St. Peter:
Forest and Trees.
Pianist Faraz Forouzandeh (Oldenburg) performs piano music by Robert Schumann, Edvard Grieg, Jean Sibelius and Christoph J. Keller (world premiere); Kadja Grönke (Oldenburg) reads poems on the theme by Heinrich Heine, Christian Friedrich Hebbel, Joseph von Eichendorff, Mikhail Lermontov/Rilke, Rudaki/de Finélong, Friedrich Rückert and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Accompanied by a Yamaha grand piano. Concept: Kadja Grönke.
Encore: Chopin: Étude Op. 25 No. 1 with Hermann Hesse: ‘The Birch’.
Co-operation between the Institute of Music/Grönke, the Association for Music Theatre Productions, the Cultural Office of the City of Oldenburg and the Forum St. Peter.
Review by Horst Hollmann, NWZ, 20 March 2026.

Mon, 2 March 2026, 7.30 pm, PFL auditorium:
In the Protective Circle of Sounds.
Pianist Olga Riazantceva-Schwarz, violinist Aida López-Borrego and cellist Paula Sagastibelza (all from Bremen) in dialogue with Kadja Grönke and piano trios by Maurice Ravel and Georgi Sviridov. Featuring a Steinway grand piano.
Encore: Dmitri Shostakovich: Prelude, from: Five Pieces for Two Violins and Piano, version for piano trio.
Organised by the Institute of Music/Grönke, in co-operation with the Association for Music Theatre Productions and the Cultural Office of the City of Oldenburg.

Tue, 2 December 2025, 7.30 pm, PFL auditorium:
Connections. Musical Images.
Pianist Werner Barho (Weener) in dialogue with Kadja Grönke and Violeta Dinescu, alongside solo piano works by Sergei Rachmaninoff, Claude Debussy and Franz Liszt, and two world premieres by Oldenburg composers Violeta Dinescu and Christoph Keller. Performed on a Steinway grand piano. Concept: Kadja Grönke, Werner Barho.
Encore: Alexander Scriabin: Prélude.
Organised by the Institute of Music/Seminar ‘Reflections on Music (in) Our Time’ (Grönke), in co-operation with the Association for Music Theatre Productions and the Cultural Office of the City of Oldenburg.
Review by Horst Hollmann, NWZ 6 December 2025

Saturday, 8 November 2025, 7.30 pm, Assembly Hall of the Altes Gymnasium:
Friedrich Gottlieb Nagel’s ‘Tanzbüchlein’ (1766 & 1767) as a living presence.
A dance performance featuring historical music, historical dance and modern musical and dance interventions.
Introductory lecture and deciphering of the historical dance notation: Birte Hoffmann-Cabenda. Choreography of the historical and modern dance sections: Iris-Michaela Schmidtmann. Music by Friedrich Gottlieb Nagel, Arcangelo Corelli, Jean-Baptiste Lully, Marc-Antoine Charpentier and Violeta Dinescu (world premiere). Featuring the Schlosstanzerey zu Oldenburg (Iris-Michaela Schmidtmann, Birte Hoffmann-Cabenda, Sonja Bayerlein, Sarah Lea Hofmann, Kenichi Ikei, Roy Cabenda) as well as Ulla Levens (Oldenburg; violin) and Tammo Falkenberg-Wilken (Oldenburg; piano and harpsichord). Featuring a harpsichord by Dietrich Hein and a Steinway grand piano. Concept: Iris-Michaela Schmidtmann.
Encore: Nagel: Kontratanz (with the audience).
Organised by the Institute of Music/Seminar ‘Reflections on Music (in) Our Time’ (Grönke), in co-operation with the Association for Music Theatre Productions, the Cultural Office of the City of Oldenburg and the Altes Gymnasium Oldenburg.

Mon, 27 October 2025, 7.30 pm, Forum St. Peter:
Creativity as a Path to Freedom: Didactic Children’s Piano Music from Eastern Europe.
Lecture with live music.
Lecture by musicologist Associate Professor Dr Kadja Grönke (Oldenburg), musical examples and a concert to follow: Paul Mertens (Berlin). Featuring piano music by, amongst others, Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Elena Gnessina, Dmitri Shostakovich, Aram Khachaturian, Mieczysław Weinberg, Josef Achron, György Kurtág and Violeta Dinescu. Performed on a Yamaha grand piano.
Encore and concert programme: Mieczysław Weinberg: Children’s Book, Op . 16.
Organised by the Institute of Music/Seminar ‘Reflections on Music (in) Our Time’ (Grönke), in co-operation with the Association for Music Theatre Productions, the Cultural Office of the City of Oldenburg and the Forum St. Peter.

Fri, 15 August 2025, 7.30 pm, PFL auditorium:
Carl Baermann – Father and Son. A musical journey of discovery through the 19th century.
Clarinettist Emily Worthington (York) and pianist Daniel Grimwood (Kent) in dialogue with Kadja Grönke, featuring music for clarinet and piano by Carl Baermann Sr. and Jr., Franz Schubert/Baermann, Carl Maria von Weber/Baermann and Violeta Dinescu. Featuring a replica of an 1875 Baermann-Ottensteiner clarinet and a historically appropriate grand piano from the French piano-making firm Érard (Paris) dating from 1850. Concept: Emily Worthington.
Encore: Violet Dinescu: Evening Devotion.
Organised by the Institute of Music/Seminar ‘New Music on Early Instruments and its Presentation’ (Grönke), in co-operation with the Association for Music Theatre Productions, the Cultural Office of the City of Oldenburg and Piano Rosenkranz.

Wednesday, 2 July 2025, 7.30 pm, Trinity Church:
‘Like the Birds of the Sky’. French Baroque music and related works by Oldenburg composers.
Recorder player Luisa Klaus (Bremen) and harpsichordist Michael Tsalka (Shenzhen) in dialogue with Kadja Grönke, featuring music by Jean-Baptiste Drouart de Bousset, François Couperin, Christoph Keller, Roberto Reale, Paul Mertens-Pavlowsky and Violeta Dinescu. (A repeat of the programme from 4 July 2023.) Featuring a harpsichord by Dietrich Hein. Concept: Kadja Grönke.
Encore: Violeta Dinescu: Evening Prayer.
Organised by the Institute of Music/Seminar ‘New Music on Early Instruments and its Presentation’ (Grönke), in co-operation with the Association for Music Theatre Productions, the Cultural Office of the City of Oldenburg, the church music department of the Trinity Church and instrument maker Dietrich Hein.

Tue, 1 July 2025, 7.30 pm, Trinity Church:
Thinking outside the box.
Harpsichordists Michael Tsalka (Shenzhen) and Diana Weston (Sydney), Baroque cellist Angelika Bönisch (Oldenburg) and singer Simone Bielefeld (Oldenburg) in dialogue with Kadja Grönke, featuring music by Georg Philipp Telmann, Christoph Keller, Johann Christian Bach, Elena Kats Chernin, Leonardo Coral, Padre José Gallés, Reena Esmail, Diana Blom and Violeta Dinescu. Featuring instruments by Dietrich Hein.
Organised by the Institute of Music/Seminar ‘New Music on Early Instruments and its Communication’ (Grönke), in co-operation with the Association for Music Theatre Productions, the Cultural Office of the City of Oldenburg, the church music department of the Trinity Church and instrument maker Dietrich Hein.
Review by Horst Hollmann: NWZ, 4 July 2025

Sunday, 29 June 2025, 11.15 am, Assembly Hall of the Altes Gymnasium:
A joyful trio.
Marcia Hadjimarkos (Cluny), Diana Weston (Sydney) and Michael Tsalka (Shenzhen) in dialogue with Kadja Grönke, featuring music for harpsichords, clavichords and toy pianos for two to six hands by Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, Violeta Dinescu, Padre Rafael Anglés, Padre Antonio Soler, Wilhelm Friedrich Ernst Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Johann Sebastian Bach and Yann Tiersen. Featuring instruments by Dietrich Hein and toy pianos from the collection of Christiane Abt.
Organised by the Institute of Music/Seminar ‘Contemporary Music on Early Instruments and its Presentation’ (Grönke), in co-operation with the Association for Music Theatre Productions, the Cultural Office of the City of Oldenburg and instrument maker Dietrich Hein.

Saturday, 28 June 2025, 5.00 pm, Assembly Hall of the Altes Gymnasium:
You only hear what you know. The clavichord, harpsichord, toy piano and Baroque cello explained through discussion and music.
A moderated concert-talk.
Marcia Hadjimarkos (Cluny), Diana Weston (Sydney), Christiane Abt (Oldenburg), Michael Tsalka (Shenzhen), cellist Angelika Bönisch (Oldenburg) and instrument maker Dietrich Hein (Oldenburg) in conversation with Kadja Grönke, featuring music for keyboard instruments and Baroque cello by Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, Padre Rafael Anglés, Elena Kats-Chernin, Violeta Dinescu, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Johann Sebastian Bach, Charles Gounod and Markus Hansen. Featuring clavichords and harpsichords by Dietrich Hein, toy pianos from Christiane Abt’s collection and a historical cello. Presented by Kadja Grönke.
Organised by the Institute of Music/Seminar ‘New Music on Early Instruments and its Presentation’ (Grönke), in co-operation with the Association for Music Theatre Productions, the Cultural Office of the City of Oldenburg and keyboard instrument maker Dietrich Hein.

Wednesday, 25 June 2025, 7.30 pm, Assembly Hall of the Altes Gymnasium:
Music for the clavichord – past and present.
Clavichord and toy piano player Marcia Hadjimarkos (Cluny) in conversation with Kadja Grönke, featuring music by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Anton Webern, John Harbison, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Violet Dinescu and Graham Lynch on clavichords by Christoph Friedrich Schmal and Dietrich Hein (Oldenburg), as well as music by Alexander Tansman, Guy Klucevsek, Isida Kazue Rockzaemon, Diana Blom, Sonia Markiewicz, Markus Hansen and Violeta Dinescu on toy pianos from the collection of Christiane Abt (Oldenburg). Guest: Christiane Abt (Oldenburg), toy piano.
Organised by the Institute of Music/Seminar ‘New Music on Old Instruments and its Presentation’ (Grönke), in co-operation with the Association for Music Theatre Productions, the Cultural Office of the City of Oldenburg and instrument maker Dietrich Hein.

Monday, 23 June 2025, 7.30 pm, Assembly Hall of the Altes Gymnasium:
Fantasia, Evening Music and Fairy Tales. Works for one and two harpsichords from Johann Sebastian Bach to Christoph Keller.
Harpsichordist Diana Weston (Sydney) and harpsichordist Michael Tsalka (Shenzhen) in dialogue with Kadja Grönke, performing works for one and two harpsichords by Padre Vicente Rodríguez, Johann Sebastian Bach, Christoph Keller, Violeta Dinescu and Diana Blom. On instruments by Dietrich Hein (Oldenburg).
Encore: Violeta Dinescu: Storybook No. 6 (world premiere)
Organised by the Institute of Music/Seminar ‘New Music on Early Instruments and its Presentation’ (Grönke), in co-operation with the Association for Music Theatre Productions, the Cultural Office of the City of Oldenburg and instrument maker Dietrich Hein.

Fri, 6 June 2025, 7.30 pm, Lambertussaal in St Lamberti:
Cello solo through the ages.
Cellist Sergei Istomin (Ghent) in dialogue with Kadja Grönke, featuring works for solo cello by Johann Sebastian Bach, Julius Klengel, Paul Hindemith and Violeta Dinescu.
Organised by the Institute of Music/Seminar ‘New Music on Early Instruments and its Presentation’ (Grönke), in co-operation with the Association for Music Theatre Productions, the Cultural Office of the City of Oldenburg and the Church Music Department of St Lambert’s Church.

Thursday, 5 June 2025, 7.30 pm, St Lamberti Church:
The Instrument Makes the Music.
Pianist Ziad Kreidy (Paris) and cellist Sergei Istomin (Ghent) in conversation with Kadja Grönke, featuring music by Frédéric Chopin, Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Wilhelm Fitzenhagen, Ziad Kreidy (world premiere) and Violeta Dinescu. Featuring a historically appropriate concert grand piano by the French piano-making firm Pleyel (Paris) from 1857, restored by Piano Rosenkranz (Oldenburg), and a historical cello from Bohemia dating from around 1800.
Encore: Claude Debussy: ‘Beau soir’, arranged for cello and piano by Alexander Grechaninov.
Organised by the Institute of Music/Seminar ‘New Music on Early Instruments and its Presentation’ (Grönke), in co-operation with the Association for Music Theatre Productions, the Cultural Office of the City of Oldenburg, the Church Music Department at St Lamberti and Piano Rosenkranz.
Review by Volkmar Stickan: NWZ, 11 June 2025.

Tue, 3 June 2025, 7.30 pm, St Lamberti Church:
Music for a historic Pleyel grand piano.
Pianist Ziad Kreidy (Paris) in dialogue with Kadja Grönke, featuring piano music by Frédéric Chopin, Déodat de Séverac, Edvard Grieg, Modest Mussorgsky, Ziad Kreidy and Violeta Dinescu. Featuring a historically appropriate concert grand piano by the French piano-making firm Pleyel (Paris) from 1857, restored by Piano Rosenkranz (Oldenburg).
Encore: Erik Satie: Gymnopédie.
Organised by the Institute of Music/Seminar ‘New Music on Early Instruments and its Presentation’ (Grönke), in co-operation with the Association for Music Theatre Productions, the Cultural Office of the City of Oldenburg, the Church Music Department at St Lamberti and Piano Rosenkranz.
Excerpts from the concert can be heard on Ziad Kreidy’s YouTube channel and Instagram account.

Mon, 7 April 2025, 7.30 pm, PFL auditorium:
Hungarian Fantasy.
Pianist Erik Breer, known as Nottebohm (Dresden), performs and discusses piano music based on Hungarian themes by Ernő Dohnányi, Béla Bartók, Amy Beach and Violeta Dinescu. On a Steinway grand piano.
Encore: Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach.
Organised by the Institute of Music/Grönke, in co-operation with the Association for Music Theatre Productions and the Cultural Office of the City of Oldenburg.
Review by Horst Hollmann: NWZ, 10 April 2025.

Sun, 16 March 2025, 5.00 pm, St Gertruden Chapel (corner of Nadorster Str. and Alexanderstr.):
Hildegard von Bingen: Medieval and contemporary sounds for St Gertrude’s Night.
Charity concert to raise funds for the restoration of the medieval frescoes in the chapel.
Gaby Bultmann (Berlin) sings, plays and explains music by Hildegard von Bingen and related new compositions by Andreina Constantini (world premiere), Violeta Dinescu and Mayako Kubo for voice, recorders, fiddle, singing glasses, percussion and loops. Concept: Gaby Bultmann.
Encore: Violeta Dinescu: Evening Prayer.
Organised by the Institute of Music/Grönke, in co-operation with the Association for Music Theatre Productions, the Cultural Office of the City of Oldenburg and the church music department of St Lamberti Church.
All donations collected in the collection box went to the fund for the restoration of the medieval frescoes in the Gertrude Chapel. Thank you to all the donors!
Feedback from Pastor Tom Oliver Brok: “Dear Ms Grönke [ …]. It was a musically wonderful and emotionally moving evening. […] Thank you very much for securing the [ Mariann Steegmann] Foundation as a sponsor, so that the proceeds [ from the collection] go towards the chapel. […] Warm regards, Tom Brok”.
Feedback from composer Mayako Kubo, with the subject line “It was an unforgettable concert”: “Thank you very much for yesterday’s concert at the Gertrudenkapelle. It will remain one of my most unforgettable concerts.”

Sun, 2 March 2025, 5.00 pm, Jochen-Klepper-Haus at the Dreifaltigkeitskirche:
Georg Philipp Telemann – a musical biography.
A staged concert for young and old alike.
The ChiaroScuro Duo (Johanne Braun and Gaby Bultmann, Berlin: recorders, transverse flute, baroque oboe, brummtopf, baroque violin, harpsichord, vocals) performing music by Georg Philipp Telemann and recitations from his autobiography. Featuring a harpsichord by Dietrich Hein.
Encore: Telemann: ‘Bum, bum, bum, bum faranno i timpani’
Organised by the Institute of Music/Grönke, in co-operation with the Association for Music Theatre Productions, the Cultural Office of the City of Oldenburg, the church music department of the Trinity Church and the instrument maker Dietrich Hein.

Sat, 15 February 2025, 7.30 pm, PFL auditorium:
The History of the Harp in Words and Sound.
A moderated concert-talk.
Harpist Eva Bäuerle-Gölz (Münster) in conversation with Barbara Overbeck (Münster), featuring works for solo harp by Guillaume de Machaut, traditional Scottish, traditional Elizabethan, traditional Irish, Turlough O’Carolan, François-Joseph Nadermann, Mikhail Glinka, Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Alphonse Hasselmans, Marcel Tournier, Claude Debussy, Carlos Salzedo, Henry Mancini, Susann McDonald/Linda Wood, Gertraud Gorter, Deborah Henson Conant and Violeta Dinescu. Presented and curated by Barbara Overbeck.
Encore: Ank van Campen: Variations on a Welsh Carol.
Organised by the Institute of Music/Seminar ‘Reflections on Music (in) Our Time’ (Grönke), in co-operation with the Association for Music Theatre Productions and the Cultural Office of the City of Oldenburg.
Review by Andreas R. Schweiberer: NZWZ, 19 February 2025

Saturday, 30 November 2024, 7.30 pm, PFL auditorium:
On Seeking and Finding: A musical journey of discovery into the life of Liszt’s pupil Charlotte Blume-Arends.
Lecture and book presentation with music.
Music researcher Helmut Brenner (Meerbusch) in conversation with Kadja Grönke, accompanied by piano music by Franz Liszt, performed by pianist Erik Breer (Dresden).
Encore: Amy Beach: Waltz.
Organised by the Institute of Music/Seminar ‘Reflections on Music (in) Our Time’ (Grönke), in co-operation with the Association for Music Theatre Productions and the Cultural Office of the City of Oldenburg.

Thursday, 4 July 2024, 7.30 pm, Jochen-Klepper-Haus at the Trinity Church:
Brückenbogen.
The pianist and musicologist Prof. Jascha Nemtsov (Berlin/Weimar) will perform and discuss piano music by composers from Poland and Ukraine, including Frédéric Chopin, Władysław Szpilman, Yevgenia Yakhnina, Matvey Gosenpud and Nikolai Silvansky. Performed on a Kawai grand piano. Concert: Jascha Nemtsov.
Encores: Frédéric Chopin: Nocturne in C-sharp minor and Gustav Lewin: Caprice.
Organised by the Institute of Music/‘Carl von Ossietzky Today’ seminar (Grönke), in co-operation with the Association for Musical Theatre Productions and the church music programme of the Church of the Holy Trinity.
Review by Christoph Keller: NWZ, 5 July 2024.

Sun, 30 June 2024, 4.00 pm, PFL auditorium:
Carl von Ossietzky Today and Composing at and for the Institute of Music.
Final presentation of the seminar ‘Carl von Ossietzky Today’.
Students from the University of Oldenburg will premiere nine new works composed for the seminar: by Violeta Dinescu, Krystoffer Dreps, Christoph Keller, Paul Mertens-Pavlowsky, Rucsandra Popescu, Roberto Reale, Olga Riazantceva-Schwarz, Friedemann Schmidt-Mechau, Leon Łukasiewicz. Pianists Werner Barho (Weener) and Christiane Abt (Oldenburg) will perform piano music by Gustavo-Becerra-Schmidt, Violeta Dinescu and Gertrud Meyer-Denkmann (world premiere). On a Steinway grand piano. Concept: Kadja Grönke.
Concert as part of the university’s anniversary celebrations ‘50 Years Open to New Paths”.
Organised by the Institute of Music/Seminar “Carl von Ossietzky Today” (Grönke/Barho), in co-operation with the Association for Music Theatre Productions.
Review by Horst Hollmann: NWZ, 1 July 2024
Interview with Ralf Eismann and Kadja Grönke about the concert on Oldenburg’s local radio station OEins on 24 June 2024 as part of the “KlassikKultur” series, edited by Ralf Eismann.
Feedback from a member of the audience: “Before we meet again on Thursday at the next concert in Osternburg, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you once more for the wonderful event last Sunday at the PFL. I was very impressed by the whole project you’ve put together with your students. I was able to follow the various compositions easily, found the performances interesting and, above all, was truly impressed by the young people, for whom Ch. Keller’s piece at the end was a perfect fit. This was the first time I’ve seen you present your work with the students, and I can fully understand and appreciate your enthusiasm and dedication.” (M. Möck)

Saturday, 22 June 2024, 8.00 pm, University of Oldenburg Auditorium:
Students from the seminar ‘Carl von Ossietzky Today’ ( Grönke/Barho) will present, as part of the Institute of Music’s concert to mark the university’s anniversary‘50 Years Open to New Paths’, compositions by Paul Mertens-Pavlowsky and Rucsandra Popescu as a pre-premiere ahead of the dialogue concert on 30 June 2024. Presented by Kadja Grönke.
Organised by the Institute of Music, in co-operation with the Association for Music Theatre Productions and the Dialogue Concerts.

Sat 2 March 2024, 7.30 pm, Jochen-Klepper-Haus at the Trinity Church:
Music in Words: Schubert and Pushkin.
Pianist Paul Mertens (Berlin) performs piano music by Franz Schubert; Kadja Grönke (Oldenburg) recites the first chapter of Alexander Pushkin’s ‘novel in verse’ *Eugene Onegin*, adapted by Ulrich Busch. Performed on a Kawai grand piano.
Encore: Pushkin and Schubert.
Organised by the Institute of Music/Grönke, in co-operation with the Association for Musical Theatre Productions and the Church Music Department of the Trinity Church.

Sat, 2 March 2024, 4.00 pm, Jochen-Klepper-Haus at the Trinity Church:
Musical Childhoods: Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo Galilei and Johann Joachim Quantz.
A staged (family) concert for young and old alike, aged between 7 and 99, featuring the Duo ChiaroScuro (Johanne Braun and Gaby Bultmann, Berlin). With a harpsichord by Dietrich Hein. Concept, acting and various historical instruments: Johanne Braun and Gaby Bultmann.
Encore: Thoinot Arbeau: Sword Dance.
Organised by the Institute of Music/Grönke, in co-operation with the Association for Music Theatre Productions, the church music department of the Trinity Church and instrument maker Dietrich Hein.

Tue, 9 January 2024, 7.30 pm, PFL auditorium:
East and West: Prince Peter of Oldenburg as a composer.
Pianist Daniel Grimwood (Kent) in conversation with Kadja Grönke, featuring piano music by Prince Peter of Oldenburg, Adolph von Henselt and Peter Tchaikovsky/Paul Pabst. Performed on a Steinway grand piano. Concept: Kadja Grönke.
Encores: Conor Linehan: Intermezzo and Franz Liszt: Chasse neige from: Études d’exécution transcendante.
Organised by the Institute of Music/Seminar ‘Oldenburg Music History in the 19th Century’ (Grönke), in co-operation with the Association for Music Theatre Productions, the Department for Study Affairs/Research-Based Learning at the University of Oldenburg, and the Lower Saxony State Archives/Oldenburg Branch.
Review by Andreas Schweiberer, NWZ 12 January 2024
A particularly lovely piece of feedback after the concert: “Hello Prof. Grönke, that was a truly wonderful concert last night! My husband was delighted to see me come home looking so radiant.”
And better than any review are attentive ears:“Dear Mr Grimwood, thank you so much for your concert in Oldenburg. I was very happy to be there and I was especially delighted by your first encore, which is called, if I’ve got it right, Intermezzo [by Conor Linehan]. [...] Let me describe to you what I saw before my eyes when I heard this music. I’m not a musician myself, just someone who enjoys playing the piano, and it always helps me to visualise things, to have some visual ideas to connect with the music I’m hearing. And this is what unfolded in my mind as I listened to the intermezzo: I saw an open winter landscape, bright with patches of water scattered throughout, and the temperature slowly dropping below zero until everything that had previously been moving, shaking or flowing now came to a standstill, gradually freezing into stillness – not in a sombre mood or foreshadowing impending dark events, however, but bathed in glorious, glittering and optimistic sunshine. So thank you again – even if this is entirely subjective – for this new music you presented in Oldenburg! With great respect, Yours, Gudrun Gleba (a happy listener)”

Tue, 21 November 2023, 7.30 pm, Forum St. Peter:
Grete Wehmeyer: musicologist, pianist, powerhouse.
Lecture and panel discussion with live music.
Musicologist Anna Schneider (M.A., Cologne) and contemporary witness Brigitte Schulten (Bad Zwischenahn) in conversation with Kadja Grönke. Musicological lecture on Grete Wehmeyer by Anna Schneider. Piano music by Paul Hindemith, Anton Webern, Arnold Schönberg, Béla Bartók and Erik Satie, performed by Werner Barho (Weener). Performed on a Yamaha grand piano.
Encore: Béla Bartók: The Bagpiper.
Organised by the Institute of Music/Grönke in co-operation with the Association for Music Theatre Productions, the Department for Study Affairs at the University of Oldenburg and the Forum St. Peter.

Mon, 30 October 2023, 7.30 pm, PFL auditorium:
From Oldenburg’s musical history. 19th-century piano music from and for Oldenburg, performed on a historic Érard grand piano dating from 1850.
Pianist and musicologist Thomas Synofzik (Zwickau) in conversation with Kadja Grönke, featuring piano music by Clara and Robert Schumann, Aloyse Pott, Albert Dietrich, Heinrich von Sahr, Prince Peter of Oldenburg and Johannes Brahms. Performed on a historically appropriate grand piano by the French piano-making firm Érard, dating from 1850.
Encores: Prince Peter: Notturno and Heinrich von Sahr: Andante tranquillo from Op. 3.
Organised by the Institute of Music/Seminar ‘Oldenburg’s Musical History in the 19th Century’ (Grönke), in co-operation with the Association for Music Theatre Productions, the Department for Study Affairs/Research-Based Learning at the University of Oldenburg, the Lower Saxony State Archives/Oldenburg Branch and Piano Rosenkranz.
Review by Horst Hollmann, NWZ 1 November 2023, p. 13.
Interview with Ralf Eismann and Kadja Grönke about the concert on Oldenburg’s local radio station OEins on 23 October 2023 as part of the ‘KlassikKultur’ series, edited by Ralf Eismann.
Particularly lovely feedback after the concert:“Good evening, Ms Grönke, thank you once again for the wonderful evening. You have once again unearthed a real gem. It starts with the programme: nothing but highly interesting pieces and composers. It struck me in this context that most of the pieces were genuine early works: 24 years old, 29 years old, 26 years old, 21 years old! (Brahms) and so on. That alone was exciting enough to draw one into the emotional world of the composer’s thoughts. All these pieces may not have possessed the virtuosity of a Chopin, but I consider that entirely appropriate when one considers for whom the pieces were written: performers as well as listeners. I think that was very well thought out. With Clara Schumann’s *Arabesque* (1868), it struck me that, at the time of the performance in Oldenburg, she had already been a widow for 12 years – yet she was still able to carry her husband with her between the covers of her score. A somewhat wistful yet enchanting image.
The Allegretto by Heinrich von Sahr reminded me vaguely of a composition by my father. That was very emotional for me, but perhaps more on that another time…
Then the performer: Thomas Synofzik had delivered his interpretations wonderfully in keeping with the spirit of the era. I asked him afterwards whether the arpeggios were his trademark or whether they were due to 19th-century performance practice. He then told me about the recording cylinders from the century before last (I’d already seen and heard some in Bruchsal), on which one can beautifully trace the development of piano performance. Another ‘shining star’ of the evening.
And finally, the Érard grand piano. There’s not much more to say about that. Simply brilliant in tone. And, combined with the performance technique, the differences and characteristics of timbre and dynamics came across particularly clearly.
I experienced this evening intensely on several levels at once. And I’m sure there are one or two more things that could be added. I hope that for the other members of the audience, too, the evening proved to be such a special experience.
I’m looking forward to the next dialogue concert,
Yours, Carl-Mathias Wilke”

Tue, 15 August 2023, 7.30 pm, PFL Concert Hall:
Lisztiana.
Pianist Daniel Grimwood (Kent) in dialogue with Kadja Grönke, featuring piano music by Franz Liszt, Adolph von Henselt, Sophie Menter, William Sterndale Bennett and Juliusz Zarebski. Performed on a historically appropriate grand piano by the French piano-making firm Érard, dating from 1850.
Encores: L. Hardtberg: ‘Eier-Polka’ and Adolph Henselt: ‘Wiegenlied’.
Organised by the Institute of Music/Grönke in co-operation with the Association for Music Theatre Productions, the Adolph Henselt Society e. V., the Tchaikovsky Society e. V. and Piano Rosenkranz.
Review by Volker Stickan, NWZ, 16 August 2023.
Advance notice in several newspapers and on Oldenburg’s local radio station OEins on 14 August 2023 in the ‘KlassikKultur’ series, edited by Ralf Eismann.
Recordings of the works by Liszt and Henselt and the encore are available on Daniel Grimwood’s YouTube channel .

Tue, 4 July 2023, 7.30 pm, Trinity Church:
Like the Birds of the Sky (double programme booklet in conjunction with the Composers’ Colloquium on 2 July 2023).
Recorder player Luisa Klaus (Bremen) and harpsichordist Michael Tsalka (Shenzhen/The Chinese University of Hong Kong) in dialogue with Kadja Grönke, featuring solo and duo works by Jean-Baptiste de Bousset and François Couperin, as well as world premieres by Violeta Dinescu (Oldenburg), Christoph Keller (Oldenburg), Paul Mertens-Pavlowsky (Berlin) and Roberto Reale (Hanover). Featuring a harpsichord by Dietrich Hein.
Encore: Bousset/Hotteterre: Rossignol vainqueur.
Organised by the Institute of Music/Seminar ‘Target-Group-Oriented Music and Science Education in Children’s Concerts’ (Grönke), in co-operation with the Association for Music Theatre Productions, the church music department of the Trinity Church and instrument maker Dietrich Hein.
Advance notice of the three concerts on 2 and 4 July 2023 in the NWZ.
Review by Volkmar Stickan, NWZ, 5 July 2023.
Interviews with Ralf Eismann, Christoph Keller and Kadja Grönke on the three events on 2 and 4 July 2024, broadcast on Oldenburg’s local radio station OEins on 26 and 29 June 2023 as part of the ‘KlassikKultur’ series, edited by Ralf Eismann.

Sunday, 2 July 2023, 5.00 pm, PFL concert hall:
Birds over Oldenburg. New music for recorder and harpsichord.
Composers’ Colloquium/post-concert discussion following the ‘Dialogue Concert: Like the Birds of the Sky’ on 4 July 2023.
Recorder player Luisa Klaus (Bremen), pianist and harpsichordist Michael Tsalka (Shenzhen/The Chinese University of Hong Kong), along with Violeta Dinescu and Christoph Keller (composition) and Dietrich Hein (instrument maker) in conversation with Kadja Grönke. Featuring a Steinway grand piano.
Organised by the Institute of Music/Seminar “Target-Group-Oriented Music and Science Education in Children’s Concerts” (Grönke), in co-operation with the Association for Music Theatre Productions.

Sun, 2 July 2023, 11.30 am, PFL auditorium:
From Nightingale to Nachtigaul.
A children’s and family concert on the theme of ‘Birds’ for young and old alike, aged 4 to 99.
Recorder player Luisa Klaus (Bremen) and pianist and harpsichordist Michael Tsalka (Shenzhen/The Chinese University of Hong Kong) performing music by François Couperin, Violeta Dinescu and Paul Mertens-Pavlowsky. Presented by: Johannes Dörr (University of Oldenburg/Grönke Seminar) and Kadja Grönke. Featuring a Steinway grand piano
Organised by the Institute of Music/Seminar ‘Target-Group-Oriented Music and Science Education in Children’s Concerts’ (Grönke), in co-operation with the Association for Music Theatre Productions.

Sat, 21 January 2023, 7.30 pm, as a 90-minute version (for all ages) and
Sun, 22 January 2023, 4.00 pm, as a 60-minute version (primarily for families with children) at the Jochen-Klepper-Haus of the Dreifaltigkeitskirche:
“My sister spent the whole day at the harpsichord”.
The ChiaroScuro Duo (Johanne Braun and Gaby Bultmann; Berlin) present a staged concert for young and old on the childhood and lives of the composers Hildegard von Bingen, Francesca Caccini, Wilhelmine von Bayreuth and Anna Amalie of Prussia. Concept, acting and music on various historical instruments: Johanne Braun and Gaby Bultmann. Featuring a harpsichord by Dietrich Hein.
Organised by the Institute of Music/Seminar ‘Reflections on Music and Science Education (in) Our Time, with a Focus on Music Education for Children’ (Grönke), in co-operation with the Association for Music Theatre Productions, the church music department of the Trinity Church and instrument maker Dietrich Hein.
Review by Horst Hollmann, NWZ 23 January 2023, p. 12

Tue, 25 October 2022, 7.30 pm, PFL auditorium:
Facets of Love.
Mezzo-soprano Beth Taylor (Glasgow) and pianist Marcia Hadjimarkos (Cluny) in dialogue with Kadja Grönke, performing songs by Ludwig van Beethoven, Alma Mahler, Hector Berlioz, Claude Debussy, Erik Satie and Marguerite Monnot. Performed on a Steinway grand piano.
Encore: Ralph Vaughan Williams: Orpheus with his lute.
Organised by the Institute of Music/Grönke, in co-operation with the Association for Music Theatre Productions.

Mon, 17 October 2022, 7.30 pm, PFL Concert Hall:
An Evening for Violeta Dinescu. Romanian music for soprano and piano.
Soprano Elisabeta Laura Tătulescu (Bucharest) and pianist Ana Giurgiu Bondue (Lille) in dialogue with Kadja Grönke, featuring music by Myriam Marbe, Violeta Dinescu and other composers from Romania. Performed on a Steinway grand piano. Concept: Kadja Grönke, Laura Tătulescu.
Encore: Violeta Dinescu: Liebeszauber ( world premiere)
Organised by the Institute of Music/Grönke, in co-operation with the Association for Music Theatre Productions.
Review by Horst Hollmann, NWZ, 19 October 2022, p. 13.
Poster for the CD release tour: Paris, Oldenburg, Iași, Bucharest.
> The CD produced as part of the project received the Romanian National Cultural Fund Award on 15 May 2023. As one of 43 projects submitted, of which 10 were awarded prizes, the CD won in the ‘International Cultural Cooperation’ category. Here is a photo from the awards ceremony, which was broadcast live on the Romanian cultural TV channel TVR Cultural. From left to right: Ștefan Costache (communications specialist), Monica Isăcescu (project manager) and Laura Tătulescu (soprano).

Monday, 13 June 2022, 7.30 pm, PFL concert hall:
Roots and Wings. Piano music by composer-pianists.
Pianist Daniel Grimwood (Kent) in conversation with Kadja Grönke, featuring music by Felix Blumenfeld, Frédéric Chopin, John Field, Mikhail Glinka, Adolph von Henselt, Sofie Menter, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Anton Rubinstein and Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Performed on a Steinway grand piano. Concept: Kadja Grönke, Daniel Grimwood.
Encores: Picforth: *In nomine* (1520) for viola consort, arranged for solo piano by Daniel Grimwood; Alexander Levine: *Simply Sky * from *Sentimental Values*.
Organised by the Institute of Music/Seminar ‘History of Russian Piano Music’ (Grönke/Barho), in co-operation with the Association for Music Theatre Productions, Forum St. Peter, the Henselt Society e. V. and the Tchaikovsky Society e. V.
Review by Christoph Keller, NWZ, 15 (online) and 16 (print) June 2022.

Wed, 8 June 2022, 7.30 pm, Forum St. Peter:
Tchaikovsky 2022 – André Parfenov in dialogue with Tchaikovsky’s scores. Workshop concert.
The Parfenov Duo (Iuliana Münch, violin, and André Parfenov, piano; Mönchengladbach) in dialogue with Kadja Grönke, and Tchaikovsky arrangements and adaptations by André Parfenov compared with Tchaikovsky’s original works. Featuring a Yamaha grand piano. Concept: Kadja Grönke.
Encore: André Parfenov: Tango.
Organised by the Institute of Music/Seminar ‘History of Russian Piano Music’ (Grönke/Barho), in co-operation with the Association for Music Theatre Productions, Forum St. Peter and the Tchaikovsky Society e. V.

Thursday, 19 May 2022, 7.30 pm, Forum St. Peter:
Children’s Worlds. Eastern European piano music for children from Joseph Achron to Mieczysław Weinberg – and Tchaikovsky is featured too.
Pianist and musicologist Prof. Jascha Nemtsov (Berlin/Weimar) in conversation with Kadja Grönke, featuring music by Elena Gnessina, Joseph Achron, Lazare Saminsky, Dmitri Shostakovich, Mieczysław Weinberg and Peter Tchaikovsky. Featuring a Yamaha grand piano. Concept: Kadja Grönke.
Encore: Tchaikovsky: ‘Mama’ from *Children’s Album*, Op . 39.
Organised by the Institute of Music/Seminar ‘History of Russian Piano Music’ (Grönke/Barho), in co-operation with the Association for Music Theatre Productions, Forum St. Peter and the Tchaikovsky Society e. V.
Review by Horst Hollmann, NZW 21 May 2022.

Thu, 24 February 2022, 7.30 pm, St Lamberti Church, Oldenburg:
Romantic Nature.
Pianist Ziad Kreidy (Paris) in dialogue with Kadja Grönke, featuring Romantic piano music by Robert Schumann, Hermann Goetz and Stephen Heller. Performed on a historically appropriate grand piano from the French piano-making firm Pleyel, dating from 1847.
Encore: Frédéric Chopin: Nocturne.
Organised by the Institute of Music/Seminar ‘Reflections on Music (in) Our Time’ (Grönke), in co-operation with the Association for Music Theatre Productions, the church music department of St Lamberti Church and Piano Rosenkranz.
Review by Volker Stickan, NWZ 26 February 2022.
The musical performance can be heard and watched in full on Ziad Kreidy’s YouTube channel.

Tue, 11 February 2020, 7.00 pm, Trinity Church:
A dieu & mon amour.
A repeat performance of the concert held on 5 November 2019.
Axel Weidenfeld (baroque lute and theorbo; Oldenburg) and Luisa Klaus (recorders; Bremen) and French Baroque music by François Couperin, Bénigne de Bacilly, Michel Lambert, Charles Dieupart, Ennemond Gaultier le vieux, Charles Mouton, Jean-Baptiste Drouart de Bousset and Robert de Visée.
Organised by the Institute of Music/Seminar ‘Reflections on Music (in) Our Time’ (Grönke), in co-operation with the Association for Musical Theatre Productions and the Church Music Department of the Trinity Church.

Tue, 4 February 2020, 7.00 pm, Forum St. Peter, Oldenburg:
Melodrama and Related Genres.
Final presentation of the ‘Melodrama’ seminar.
Students from the University of Oldenburg and the pianists Christoph Keller (Oldenburg) and Paul Mertens (Berlin) will perform and interpret works by Franz Liszt, Franz Schubert, Christoph Keller, Paul Mertens-Pavlowsky and others. Accompanied by a Yamaha grand piano. Concept and presentation: Kadja Grönke.
Encore: Franz Schubert: Abschied von der Erde.
Organised by the Institute of Music/‘Melodram’ seminar (Grönke), in co-operation with Forum St. Peter.

Tue, 28 January 2020, 7.00 pm, Marble Hall of the Palace:
The Magic of the Clavichord: 18th-century keyboard music on three historical instruments.
Clavichordist Marcia Hadjimarkos (Cluny, France) in conversation with Kadja Grönke, featuring 18th-century music performed on clavichords by Tieffenbrunn (Copenhagen 1796), Schmahl (Regensburg 1794) and Friedrici (copy by Dietrich Hein, Oldenburg 2019).
Encores: Nicholas Joseph Hüllmandel: Sonata and a piece by Michel-Paul-Guy de Chabanon.
Organised by the Institute of Music/Seminar ‘Reflections on Music (in) Our Time’ (Grönke), as the closing concert of the ‘Clavichord’ workshop at the University of Oldenburg, in co-operation with the instrument maker Dietrich Hein and the Association for Music Theatre Productions.
Review by Hort Hollmann, NWZ 31 January 2020
Preview, NWZ 25 January 2020.

Tue, 5 November 2019, 7.00 pm, the Marble Hall of the Castle:
A dieu & mon amour.
Axel Weidenfeld (baroque lute and theorbo; Oldenburg) and Luisa Klaus (recorders; Bremen) in dialogue with Kadja Grönke and French Baroque music by François Couperin, Bénigne de Bacilly, Michel Lambert, Charles Dieupart, Ennemond Gaultier le vieux, Charles Mouton, Jean-Baptiste Drouart de Bousset and Robert de Visée.
Encore: Bénigne de Bacilly: Il n’est lé.
Organised by the Institute of Music/Seminar ‘Reflections on Music (in) Our Time’ (Grönke), in co-operation with the Association for Music Theatre Productions.

Mon, 1 July 2019, 7.00 pm, University Library Hall, Oldenburg:
Jewish Musical Worlds.
The pianist and musicologist Prof. Jascha Nemtsov (Weimar/Berlin) will perform and discuss music by Juliusz Wolfsohn, Joseph Achron, Lazare Saminsky, Alexander Weprik, Joachim Stutschewsky, Jakob Schönberg and Viktor Ullmann. Performed on a Steinway grand piano.
Encores: Alexander Weprik, from: 3Jewish Folk Dances and Arthur Lourié: Waltz.
Organised by the Institute of Music/Seminar ‘Concerts: Concepts, Programmes, Background, Outreach’ (Grönke), in co-operation with the Association for Music Theatre Productions.

Sunday, 23 June 2019, 11.00 am, Assembly Hall of the Altes Gymnasium Oldenburg:
Tchaikovsky’s Cellists.
Cellist Sergei Istomin (Ghent) and pianist Michael Tsalka (Valencia) in conversation with Kadja Grönke, featuring music by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Karl Dawydow, Wilhelm Fitzenhagen, Anatoli Brandukow and Carl Eduard Schuberth. Featuring a Steinway grand piano. Concept: Kadja Grönke
Encore: Anton Rubinstein: Melody.
Organised by the Tchaikovsky Society, as part of the 26th Annual Conference of the Tchaikovsky Society e. V., in co-operation with the University/Institute of Music/Seminar “Concerts: Concepts, Programmes, Backgrounds, Outreach Methods’ (Grönke).

Saturday, 22 June 2019, 7.00 pm, Assembly Hall of the Altes Gymnasium, Oldenburg:
An evening dedicated to Tchaikovsky’s patron, Mrs von Meck.
Concert with a reading.
Pianists Michael Tsalka (Valencia) and Paul Mertens (Berlin), cellist Sergei Istomin (Ghent) and soprano Stephanie Kühne (Oldenburg) in conversation with Kadja Grönke, featuring music by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Anton and Nikolai Rubinstein, Claude Debussy, Adolph Henselt, Adele aus der Ohe, Sophie Menter, Władysław Pachulski and Karl Dawydow, as well as verses from *Eugene Onegin* by Alexander Pushkin in various languages, recited by Michael Tsalka (Hebrew, English), Sergei Istomin (Russian), Valérie Guillaume (French), Ronald de Vet (Dutch) and Kadja Grönke (German). Performed on a Steinway grand piano. Concept: Kadja Grönke.
Encore: Pushkin: Eugene Onegin, Chapters I/1–2 in all available languages.
Organised by the Tchaikovsky Society, as part of the 26th Annual Conference of the Tchaikovsky Society e. V., in co-operation with the University/Institute of Music/Seminar ‘Concerts: Concepts, Programmes, Backgrounds, Outreach Methods (Grönke).

Tue, 14 May 2019, 7.00 pm, Library Hall, University of Oldenburg:
In Dialogue with Bach: Composing in the Camp.
The pianist and musicologist Prof. Jascha Nemtsov (Weimar/Berlin) will perform and discuss music by Vsevolod Saderazki, Viktor Ullmann and Gideon Klein. Accompanied by a Steinway grand piano. Concept: Jascha Nemtsov.
Encore: Władysław Szpilman: Mazurka.
Organised by the Institute of Music/Seminar ‘Concerts: Concepts, Programmes, Background, Outreach’ (Grönke), as part of the conference ‘Music in Soviet Prison Camps (GULag)’ on 13 and 14 May 2019 at the University of Oldenburg (Grönke), in co-operation with the Association for Music Theatre Productions.

Tuesday, 29 January 2019, 7.00 pm, Forum St. Peter:
Fugue Games.
Pianist Daniel Herscovitch (Australia) in dialogue with Kadja Grönke and the cycle “Ludus tonalis” by Paul Hindemith, as well as fugues by Johann Sebastian Bach and Robert Schumann. Performed on a Yamaha grand piano. Concept: Daniel Herscovitch.
Encore: Paul Hindemith: ‘Fünftonstück’.
Organised by the Institute of Music/Seminar ‘Reflections on Music (in) Our Time’ (Grönke) and Christiane Abt’s practical piano seminar, final concert of the workshop ‘Paul Hindemith’s piano cycle “Ludus tonalis”’ at the University of Oldenburg (Herscovitch/Grönke), in co-operation with the Forum St. Peter.

Mon, 12 November 1918, 7.00 pm, Assembly Hall of the Altes Gymnasium Oldenburg:
On the Road. Between Leipzig and Haifa. Music for mandolin and piano.
Mandolinist Alon Sariel (Hanover) and pianist Michael Tsalka (Valencia) in dialogue with Kadja Grönke, featuring music by Ignaz Moscheles, Yehezkel Braun, Paul Ben Haim, Menachem Zur and Marc Lavri. Performed on a Steinway grand piano.
Encore: Marc Lavri: ‘Sher’ ( No. 1) from 3 Jewish Dances.
Organised by the Institute of Music/Composers’ Colloquium, in co-operation with the Association for Music Theatre Productions.

Wednesday, 7 November 2018, 7.00 pm, Marble Hall at Oldenburg Castle:
The Glass Harmonica. Dennis James (USA) presents his instrument. A concert-talk with glass harmonica player Dennis James (USA) and music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Joseph Aloys Schmittbaur, Johann Abraham Peter Schulz, Joseph Haydn, Ludwig van Beethoven and others.
Organised by the Institute of Music/Composers’ Colloquium, in co-operation with the Association for Music Theatre Productions.

Tue, 6 November 2018, 7.15 pm, Library Hall, University of Oldenburg:
Curiosity Alert! Music for glass harmonica and harpsichord through the ages.
Harpsichordist Michael Tsalka (Valencia) and glass harmonica player Dennis James (USA) in dialogue with Kadja Grönke, featuring music by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Johann Gottlieb Naumann, John Baptist Vanhal, Johann Abraham Peter Schulz, Ludwig van Beethoven, Leonardo Coral, Gabriele Toia (world premiere), Ann Carr-Boyd and Apasia Nasopoulou. Featuring a harpsichord by Dietrich Hein.
Organised by the Institute of Music/Seminar ‘Reflections on Music (in) Our Time’ (Grönke), in conjunction with the workshop ‘Harpsichord and Glass Harmonica’ at the University of Oldenburg, in co-operation with instrument maker Dietrich Hein and the Association for Music Theatre Productions.

Monday, 5 November 2018, 7.00 pm, Library Hall, University of Oldenburg:
Women Composers – from the Baroque to the Present Day.
Pianist Michael Tsalka (Valencia) in conversation with Kadja Grönke, featuring music by Elisabeth-Claude Jacquet de La Guerre, Marianne Martinez, Elena Katz-Chernin, Aloise Pott (world premiere), Aspasia Nasopoulou, Clara Schumann, Lili Boulanger, Cécile Chaminade and Violeta Dinescu. Featuring a Steinway grand piano. Concept: Michael Tsalka.
Encore: Aloyse Pott: Impromptu.
Organised by the Institute of Music/Composers’ Colloquium, in co-operation with the Association for Music Theatre Productions.

Mon, 15 October 2018, 7.00 pm, Piano-Rosenkranz concert hall:
Nachtstücke.
Pianist Kristian Nyquist (Mannheim/Karlsruhe) in dialogue with Kadja Grönke and Nocturnes by Frédéric Chopin, John Field and Carl Czerny. Featuring two historically appropriate instruments from the French piano-making firm Pleyel: a piano from 1832 and a grand piano from 1857.
Encores: Frédéric Chopin: Funeral March from Piano Sonata No. 2 (upright piano) and Mazurka (grand piano)
Organised by the Institute of Music/Composers’ Colloquium, in co-operation with Piano-Rosenkranz.

Monday, 27 August 2018, 7.00 pm, Assembly Hall of the Altes Gymnasium, Oldenburg:
Jeux à deux. French piano music for four hands.
The piano duo Ines Bartha and Gianfranco Sannicandro (Salzburg) in dialogue with Kadja Grönke, featuring music by Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, Erik Satie, Cécile Chaminade, Francis Poulenc and Igor Stravinsky. Performed on a Steinway grand piano.
Encore: Ottorino Respighi: Pini della villa Borghese.
Organised by the Institute of Music/Composers’ Colloquium, as part of the seminar ‘French Piano Music’ (Grönke/Barho), in co-operation with the German Association of Composers.

Mon, 28 May 2018, 7.00 pm, Piano-Rosenkranz concert hall:
‘Claude Debussy, French musician’. To mark the 100th anniversary of the death of the composer Claude Debussy.
Pianist Werner Barho (Weener) in conversation with Kadja Grönke, featuring music by Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, Lili Boulanger, Francis Poulenc and Olivier Messiaen. Performed on a historically appropriate Steinway grand piano from 1917.
Encore: Gian Franco Mallipiero: Homage from the collection *Le tombeau de Claude Debussy*.
Organised by the Institute of Music/Composers’ Colloquium, as part of the seminar ‘French Piano Music’ (Grönke/Barho), in co-operation with Piano-Rosenkranz at the University of Oldenburg.

Tue, 16 January 2018, 7.00 pm, Piano-Rosenkranz concert hall:
Autour d’Erik Satie – all about Erik Satie.
Pianist Marcia Hadjimarcos (Cluny, France) in conversation with Kadja Grönke on piano music by Erik Satie, Philip Glass, John Cage, Chick Corea, Francis Poulenc, Igor Stravinsky and Claude Debussy. Performed on a 1917 Steinway grand piano. Concept: Marcia Hadjimarcos.
Encore: Erik Satie: Gymnopédie No. 1
Organised by the Institute of Music/Composers’ Colloquium, in co-operation with Piano-Rosenkranz.

Mon, 15 January 2018, 7.00 pm, Piano-Rosenkranz concert hall:
Schumann Scenes.
Pianist Marcia Hadjimarkos (Cluny, France) in conversation with Kadja Grönke, featuring music by Robert Schumann and Hélène de Montgeroult. Performed on a historically appropriate grand piano by the French piano-making firm Pleyel, dating from 1857.
Encore: Hélène de Montgeroult: Étude No. 8.
Organised by the Institute of Music/Composers’ Colloquium, in co-operation with Piano-Rosenkranz.

Monday, 20 November 2017, 7.00 pm, Piano-Rosenkranz concert hall:
Seville, Granada, Aragon: Spanish music for mandolin and piano.
Mandolinist Alon Sariel (Hanover) and pianist Michael Tsalka (Valencia) in dialogue with Kadja Grönke, performing music by Isaac Albéniz, Enrique Granados, Pauline Viardot-Garcia, Francisco Tárrega, Manuel de Falla and Paul Ben Haim. Performed on a historic grand piano by the French piano-making firm Érard (Paris) dating from 1850.
Encore: Carmen Fantasy.
Organised by the Institute of Music/Composers’ Colloquium, in co-operation with Piano-Rosenkranz.

Monday, 23 October 2017, 7.00 pm, Piano-Rosenkranz concert hall:
New piano music for children.
Final presentation of the seminar ‘New Piano Music for Children’.
Students from the University of Oldenburg (piano) and the pianist Werner Barho (Weener) will perform piano music by Dmitri Shostakovich, Dmitri Kabalevsky, Béla Bartók, György Kurtág, Violeta Dinescu and others. Performed on a 1917 Steinway grand piano. Concept and presentation: Kadja Grönke, Werner Barho.
Encore: Dmitri Kabalevsky: Novellette Op. 27/5
Organised by the Institute of Music/Seminar ‘New Piano Music for Children’ (Grönke/Barho), in co-operation with Piano-Rosenkranz.

Tue, 4 July 2017, 7.00 pm, Piano-Rosenkranz concert hall:
Piano music and letters by (and featuring) Claude Debussy.
Pianist Bernd Goetzke (Hanover) reads from his translation of Debussy’s letters and performs piano music by Claude Debussy with pianist Jung Eun Séverine Kim (Hanover). Performed on a historically appropriate Steinway grand piano from 1917. Concept: Bernd Goetzke.
Encore: Debussy: *Pour évoquer Pan*, from *Epigraphes antiques*.
Organised by the Institute of Music/Composers’ Colloquium, in co-operation with Piano-Rosenkranz.
Review by Andreas Schweiberer, NWZ, 7 July 2017.

Mon, 27 February 2017, 7.00 pm, Library Hall, University of Oldenburg.
Rarities: Music for baritone and piano trio.
Composers Paul Mertens-Pavlowsky (Berlin) and Christoph Keller (Oldenburg) in conversation with Kadja Grönke and the Panta rhei piano trio (Julia Vaisberg, Naomi Binder, Sonja Asselhoven; Cologne), baritone Volker Mertens (Niederkrüchten) and music by Paul Mertens-Pavlowsky (world premiere), Christoph Keller (world premiere) and Dmitri Shostakovich. Featuring a Steinway grand piano. Concept: Kadja Grönke.
Organised by the Institute of Music/Composers’ Colloquium, in co-operation with the German Association of Composers.
Review by Horst Hollmann, NWZ, 1 March 2017.

Mon, 28 November 2016, 7.00 pm, Piano-Rosenkranz concert hall:
Friends – Colleagues – Rivals.
Pianist Michael Tsalka (Israel/Spain) in dialogue with Kadja Grönke, featuring music by Franz Liszt, Frédéric Chopin, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Ferdinand Ries, Clara Wieck-Schumann and Pauline Viardot-Garcia. Performed on a historically appropriate grand piano by the French piano-making firm Érard (Paris) from 1850.
Encore: Johann Nepomuk Hummel: Sonata (together with mandolinist Alon Sariel).
Organised by the Institute of Music/Composers’ Colloquium, in co-operation with Piano-Rosenkranz.

Monday, 17 October 2016, 7.00 pm, Piano-Rosenkranz concert hall:
Tchaikovsky – Reflections à la russe.
Pianist Erik Breer (Neuss) in dialogue with Kadja Grönke, featuring music by Peter Tchaikovsky, Frédéric Chopin, Robert Schumann, Sergei Rachmaninoff and György Ligeti. Performed on a 1917 Steinway grand piano. Concept: Kadja Grönke.
Encore: J. S. Bach: Fugue in F-sharp minor from *The Well-Tempered Clavier*, Book II.
Organised by the Institute of Music/Composers’ Colloquium, in co-operation with Piano-Rosenkranz and the Tchaikovsky Society e. V.

Monday, 4 July 2016, 7.00 pm, Library Hall, University of Oldenburg:
Homage to Franz Schubert.
Pianist Julia Vaisberg (Cologne), baritone Volker Mertens (Niederkrüchten) and pianist and composer Paul Mertens-Pavlowsky (Berlin) in conversation with Kadja Grönke, featuring music by Franz Schubert, Franz Liszt, Anselm Hüttenbrenner, Peter Tchaikovsky, Gabriel Fauré, Gustav Mahler, Johannes Brahms and Paul Mertens-Pavlowsky (world premiere). Performed on a Steinway grand piano. Concept: Kadja Grönke.
Encore: Schubert/Rellstab: Die Taubenpost.
Organised by the Institute of Music/Composers’ Colloquium.

Tue, 1 March 2016, 7.00 pm, Piano-Rosenkranz concert hall:
Fantasy Pieces.
Pianist Dana Ciocarlie (Paris) in dialogue with Kadja Grönke, featuring piano music by Robert Schumann and Jörg Widmann. Performed on a 1917 Steinway grand piano.
Encores: Robert Schumann: Novellette No . 2 and George Enescu: Carillon nocturne.
Organised by the Institute of Music/Composers’ Colloquium, in co-operation with Piano-Rosenkranz.

Thursday, 21 January 2016, 7.00 pm, Assembly Hall of the Altes Gymnasium, Oldenburg.
On the Threshold of Modernity. Marking the 100th anniversary of the death of the Russian composer Alexander Scriabin.
Pianists Christoph Keller (Oldenburg) and Werner Barho (Weener) in conversation with Kadja Grönke, featuring piano music by Alexander Scriabin. Performed on a Steinway grand piano. Concept: Kadja Grönke.
Organised by the Institute of Music/Composers’ Colloquium, in co-operation with the German Association of Composers.

Mon, 23 November 2015, 7.00 pm, Piano-Rosenkranz concert hall:
Fire.
Pianist Werner Barho (Weener) in conversation with Kadja Grönke, featuring piano music by Alexander Scriabin, Luciano Berio, Arthur Lourié and Claude Debussy. Performed on a historically appropriate Steinway grand piano from 1917. Concept: Kadja Grönke, Werner Barho.
Encore: Leoš Janáček: ‘They Chattered Like Swallows’, from *On an Overgrown Path*.
Organised by the Institute of Music/Composers’ Colloquium, in co-operation with Piano-Rosenkranz.

Monday, 9 November 2015, 7.00 pm, Piano-Rosenkranz concert hall:
Sonatas.
Pianist Raluca Stirbat (Vienna) in conversation with Kadja Grönke on the piano music of George Enescu. Performed on a historically appropriate Steinway grand piano from 1917.
Encore: Costantin Silvestri: Bacchanale, from Suite No . 3, Op. 6.
Organised by the Institute of Music/Composers’ Colloquium (as a gala concert to mark the 20th anniversary of the Composers’ Colloquium at the University of Oldenburg).