Press

Warm tones penetrate through the classroom door into the corridor of the Warstein Music School. Sometimes they are high, sometimes muffled and deep. This range suggests that this is a special woodwind instrument - the clarinet. It is played by the young music school teacher Andreas Hermanski, who studies at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln, Wuppertal, and has won a difficult internal competition. Proud of this is also music school director Michael Baronowsky, who likes to rely on young professionals.

 

German premiere

Hermanski plays the clarinet concerto "Concert Fantastique" by Rolf Martinson, composed in 2010 for the famous star clarinettist Martin Fröst. With this performance the piece will have its German premiere.

The work is divided into three parts and is connected by cadenzas of the solo clarinet.

The great special features are the large symphonic instrumentation of the orchestra as well as the fast bravura and slow, intimate passages.

The clarinet's complete tonal range is used as well as modern playing techniques, the possibilities of the instrument are explored.

"Although he is so young, he has great pedagogical skill and ability," praises Baronowsky. He became aware of the young musician in 2012 through a colleague in Soest, when he was looking for new teachers for the Warsteiner music school. At the time, Hermanski was just 21 years old and had just begun his studies in the Wuppertal branch of the Musikhochschule. "It is extremely difficult to get a place there. That's why I knew he had to be very good both professionally and instrumentally," the music school director recalls.

This is not the first time that Baronowsky has put his faith in young talent. "We always have very young colleagues on our team. Sina Stark also started with us as a music school teacher when she was just in her second semester, and stayed until she had a family change.

Young colleagues feel comfortable
This is also a sign that the young colleagues at the Warstein School of Music feel well looked after and accepted. "If I have the impression that a young musician is competent and has pedagogical skills, I have no problems with age, quite the contrary," emphasizes Baronowsky. "We have always had very good experiences with young people - although we do not only take young teachers."

In any case, Andreas Hermanski still seems very young after six years as a teacher at the music school, even if he is sitting next to the fifth graders in the wind class at the Warsteiner Gymnasium. He looks after them as well as clarinettists in solo lessons. "He has an incredibly broad spectrum," praises Baronowsky.

Started teaching in the USA at the age of twelve
Hermanski acquired this early on. He received his first clarinet lessons at the age of twelve in the USA, in the state of Alaska, where he lived at the time. "A schoolmate at the time gave me the idea Similar to the music lessons here at the high school with the wind class, there are also music lessons in Alaska. I tried the clarinet - and I enjoyed playing so much that I stuck with it."

Thus he acquired special musical skills not only in his university studies, but above all in master classes in Montepulciano and with renowned chamber music ensembles such as the Minguett Quartet.

Versatile use of the clarinet fascinates
On the clarinet, Hermanski is fascinated by its versatility, explains Hermanski - whether in jazz or chamber music - and that the instrument offers so many possibilities that can be exploited today by new playing techniques - for example, holding a tone for several minutes without breathing.

These new techniques will also be used in the "Concert Fantastique", which Hermanski will perform as soloist together with the orchestra of the Musikhochschule in the Stadthalle Wuppertal. He won this special concert at an internal university competition, which takes place every semester as part of the university's music education program and in which he convinced professors and the General Music Director of the Wuppertal Symphony Orchestra - WP