When Andreas Scholl’s voice meets Edin Karamazov’s lute, time stands still. These two kindred spirits have shared a musical journey for over 30 years, and now they return to the music that shaped their lives: the haunting songs of John Dowland and timeless melodies that whisper of love and longing.
Andreas Scholl is one of the world’s most celebrated countertenors, renowned for his pure tone and emotional depth. Edin Karamazov is a master of the lute and is widely recognised for his exceptional musicianship and collaborations with leading artists. He has recorded and performed with Sting on several albums, introducing the sound of the lute to a global audience.
Scholl and Karamazov have shared a musical friendship spanning over 30 years, and their performances radiate the trust and sensitivity that only decades of collaboration can bring.
For this special concert, Scholl and Karamazov return to the music closest to their hearts: the timeless songs of John Dowland and traditional pieces that have accompanied them throughout their careers. Edin Karamazov will also perform a selection of solo lute works, offering the audience an even deeper insight into his artistry.
This is more than a performance. It is the culmination of decades of shared artistry, captured in a way that honours the depth and authenticity of the music. Experience sound in its purest form. There will be no screens or filters — just voice, lute and the silence between the notes.
This concert is the presentation of Andreas Scholl’s first-ever analogue recording, which was captured with pure warmth by Berlin’s LowSwing Records.
Andreas Scholl
Born in Germany, Andreas Scholl trained with the Kiedricher Chorbuben choir and later at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis under Richard Levitt and René Jacobs. A world-renowned countertenor, he has won numerous awards, including the ECHO Award, and released acclaimed recordings with Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, and Harmonia Mundi. His discography spans Bach cantatas, Handel arias, Purcell, Vivaldi motets, and John Dowland’s lute songs.
Scholl has performed leading operatic roles—including Giulio Cesare and Rodelinda—at major houses like Glyndebourne, the Met, and Salzburg Festival. He has appeared with the Berliner Philharmoniker, New York Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and was the first countertenor invited to the Last Night of the Proms in 2005.
Edin Karamazov
Renowned for his virtuosity on lute and guitar, Edin Karamazov has captivated audiences and critics worldwide. He has performed and recorded with leading early music ensembles and artists, including the Hilliard Ensemble, Hesperion XX, Andreas Scholl, Dorothee Oberlinger, Nuria Rial, and Sting.
Karamazov has appeared at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Wigmore Hall, Philharmonie Berlin, Konzerthaus Berlin and Vienna, Herkulessaal Munich, and at major festivals such as Schleswig-Holstein, Rheingau, Mosel, Istanbul Bach, and Espinho. His repertoire spans early music to contemporary works, bridging composers from John Dowland and J.S. Bach to Leo Brouwer, Ravi Shankar, and Astor Piazzolla.
His discography includes solo albums Come Heavy Sleep, XXI, The Lute is a Song, Songs From the Labyrinth (with Sting), Wayfaring Stranger, A Musical Banquet (with Andreas Scholl), and collaborative projects with Stefan Milenkovich, Boris Andrianov, and Dorothee Oberlinger. Karamazov studied classical guitar under Sergiu Celibidache’s mentorship and baroque lute with Hopkinson Smith at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis.
ART EXHIBITION
“Soft memories” by Katsuhiko Matsubara
Katsuhiko Matsubara creates a painted space in which spirit and matter, the inner and outer worlds, and East and West harmoniously intertwine. Working primarily in oil, he builds his surfaces through alternating layers that appear almost to float—delicate and subtle—set against areas of earthy solidity. Countless pigments engage in microscopic symbioses, forming a pictorial world he describes as an “ecosystem” or “garden.” For Matsubara, painting is “an experience rooted in the body while simultaneously touching the mind.” Rather than depicting concrete motifs, he orchestrates a complex interplay of color, texture, and layered brushstrokes that unfolds like a living kaleidoscope. The surface undergoes continual transformation, resisting fixation and evolving into an organic, flowing microcosm that invites viewers into a perceptual space where bodily presence and spiritual experience evoke time, memory, and emotion. Grounded in an animistic worldview that does not separate spirit from matter and shaped by a mythic sense of interconnectedness among all beings, Matsubara engages in dialogue with his cultural roots while reinterpreting Western modern art—Impressionism, the Nabis, and Symbolism—into a visual language that reconciles opposites into a balanced whole. His painting, like a multifaceted ecosystem interweaving cultural and personal experiences, guides viewers toward their own inner depths.
Katsuhiko Matsubara is a Japanese-born painter (born 1986 in Tokyo) who lives and works in Berlin. He studied at the University of Fine Arts Hamburg from 2016 to 2021 under Prof. Anselm Reyle.
Matsubara’s work is characterized by richly layered oil paintings that evoke fluid, internal landscapes—almost like organic ecosystems. He describes his creative process as “develop my paintings like living beings.” His artistic themes draw on mythology, animism (the idea that non-living things have a spiritual essence), and the interplay between the spiritual and the material world.
A formative influence on his work comes from his childhood: he spent time in his grandparents’ garden on the outskirts of Tokyo, where his grandfather grew chrysanthemums—this connection to nature deeply shaped his visual vocabulary.
His notable exhibitions include “You have body, I have body” at Künstlerhaus Bethanien in Berlin (2020) and “The Garden” at REITER Galerie in Berlin (2024).
