Another wonderful classical music concert was added to the program of the 64th edition of the “Ohrid Summer” festival last night at the church “Saint Sophia.” Double bassist Dominik Wagner and pianist Sofia Palurović, young artists with high artistic renown, delighted the audience with their virtuosity and the carefully selected repertoire for the summer festival evening.
For pianist Palurović, who hails from Serbia but lives and works in Austria, it is a great honor to regularly perform with Wagner, with whom she shares not only the stage but also her private life.
“Music for the double bass deserves more attention than it gets. Until a few years ago, I wasn’t even aware of how much beautiful music and wonderful arrangements exist for the double bass. But playing with Dominik has convinced me of the richness of this repertoire. I am performing in Ohrid, particularly in the church ‘Saint Sophia,’ for the second time; the first time was when I was only 13 years old, participating in a competition. It was one of the most beautiful places I have ever performed,” says Palurović.
Dominik Wagner is dedicated to the ideal of bringing the double bass out of the shadow of the cello and showcasing the unique capabilities of this deepest instrument in the string family.
“I always like to combine pieces that are familiar to the audience with some compositions they may not know. Tonight we played a sonata by Beethoven and a piece by Mahler arranged for double bass and piano. These are well-known composers, but then we played Bottesini, who is more familiar among double bassists, and Andres Martin, who often surprises the audience. When they see Beethoven’s name, the audience knows what to expect, but with Martin, they are always pleasantly surprised and respond with positive reactions,” says bassist Wagner, who shared all his positive energy as a person and as an artist with the audience last night.
Wagner succeeds in his goal not only with his stage presence but also with his impressive virtuosity, lyrical melodiousness, and constant efforts to expand the repertoire for double bass through commissions of new works, transcriptions of existing compositions, and research for rare pieces. Along with his father, composer Wolfram Wagner, he transcribed a part of Dvořák’s cello concerto into a concert piece for double bass, which premiered last year in Lucerne.
