Matinée des Jeunes Etoiles V

In 2022, Yibai Chen was honoured with the 2nd prize at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels. Making his debut in Gstaad, the cellist is diving into extraordinary repertoire: Beethoven’s “middle” Sonata No. 3 and the only Cello Sonata crafted 127 years after by the young Dmitri Shostakovich. Shostakovich continually refined the piece throughout his lifetime – only seeing its final version published in 1987, a dozen years after his passing. The composition and its transformative evolution beautifully resonate with the topic of Gstaad Menuhin Festival & Academy 2024 (“Transformation”). To intertwine these two musical pieces, Yibai Chen takes a voyage into the realm of Hebrew traditions, as captured by the Swiss-American composer Ernest Bloch: five small treasures brimming with depth and emotion, collectively titled “From Jewish Life”.