Christian Poltéra, Ronald Brautigam

Ludwig van Beethoven: Sonata No. 2 in G minor op. 5 - Sonata No. 3 in A major op. 69 - Sonata No. 28 in A major op. 101 - Sonata No. 1 in C major op. 102

Christian Poltéra and Ronald Brautigam perform all three of Beethoven's cello sonatas alongside the Sonata op. 101 in a single evening.

Swiss cellist Christian Poltéra studied in Salzburg and Vienna with, among others, Boris Pergamenschikow and Heinrich Schiff. In 2004 he received the Borletti Buitoni Award and was appointed a BBC New Generation Artist. He has appeared with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, the Wiener Symphoniker and the Tonhalle Orchester Zürich, as well as at festivals including Salzburg, Lucerne, the Schubertiade, the Schleswig Holstein Festival and the BBC Proms. Chamber music is a particular passion - his regular partners include Isabelle Faust, Sharon Kam and Esther Hoppe. Since 2013 he has directed the Kammermusiktage Büsingen and teaches in Lucerne. He plays two exceptional instruments: a cello by Antonio Casini (1675) and the Stradivari cello "Mara" (1711).

Ronald Brautigam is equally at home on the modern grand piano and the historical fortepiano. His complete recordings of Beethoven, Haydn and Mozart are regarded as benchmark releases; the Beethoven sonatas earned him the Edison Award and the Annual Prize of the German Record Critics. He has performed with orchestras ranging from the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra to the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, collaborated with leading period-instrument ensembles, and was for many years a professor at the Musikhochschule Basel.