Rehearsal and Performance Positions in the Lied-Duo
There is a distinctive dynamic that is present within the Lied-Duo; the interactions between a pianist and a singer, communicating together the intentions of a composer and a poet creating a unique four-way companionship. But why did several professional singers, when interviewed about ensemble dynamics in the Lied Duo rehearsal and performance, say something along the lines of ‘Trust is built during the rehearsal, and you need empathy in the performance’, and ‘We need different thought processes in the two’? What are the specific interpretive challenges within the Lied Duo that differentiate it from other ensembles? The crucial difference in the physical set-up of the Lied Duo between performance and rehearsal clearly sets this formation apart from ensembles that have been researched in the past, such as the piano duo, the string quartet, or the vocal ensemble, which formations tend to rehearse and perform in the same physical setup. My research focuses on the different cognitive-affective processes that take place during Lied Duo rehearsal and performance, and this is a short demonstration of how different these two setups really are.
Internal Supervisors and External Advisors: Deniz Peters (KUG) and Julius Drake (KUG).
Zsófia Faragó
Piano
The Hungarian-born pianist Zsófia Faragó is a chamber musician focusing mainly on the art song repertoire. Her work has taken her to different concert halls in Austria, Germany, Hungary, the UK, and India. Apart from her freelancing career with her regular Lied Duo partners, Zsófia holds a position at the University of Szeged, Faculty of Music as a repetiteur and vocal coach, and has also worked as an accompanist at various international master classes. She started playing the piano at the relatively late age of 16 and since then went on to study in the UK, Germany, and Austria studying with Hartmut Höll, Stephan Matthias Lademann, Konrad Leitner, Markus Hadulla, and Julius Drake. While studying at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, she won the Annie Felbermayer Stipendium, and the Hardenack-Zinck-Preis at the Liedkunst in Schloss vor Husum. Apart from her work with singers, Faragó also enjoys working with composers; giving premieres and first recordings. Her first CD Project from 2013 was a product of this interest, titled ‘It’s not for Children!’. It contains recordings of 23 pieces by contemporary composers, including a work by herself. In 2022 two of her piano compositions were published in an anthology by London-based publisher Musica Ferrum.