The well-known and popular French cello and piano duo Jérôme Pernoo and Jérôme Ducros will perform at Unisa on Sunday 24 November at 16:00 in the Enoch Sontonga Hall.
The duo, which has delighted South African audiences with their complete mastery of their instruments on many occasions over the years, will perform the Sonata for viola da gamba in D major, BWV 1028 by J S Bach, Jérôme Ducros’ own composition Fantaisie and the Sonata in D, Op 40 by Shostakovitch.
Apart from teaching at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, Jérôme Pernoo maintains an active international performing career and has produced numerous recordings.
His first visit to South Africa was in 1996 when he won the Unisa International String Competition.
Pernoo has for many years performed in duo with leading French pianist Jérôme Ducros, an artistic partnership that is acclaimed internationally. His CD recordings include the Bach Suites (recorded live in 1998), the Ricercati of Giovanni Batista degli Antonii and Domenico Gabrieli, and, with Jérome Ducros, the Rachmaninov and Bridge cello/piano sonatas. Some of his releases include the Cello Concerto No.2 by Saint-Saëns with the Orchestre de Bretagne and the Cello Concerto by Offenbach with Les Musiciens du Louvre.
Apart from his performing career Jérôme is the founder and artistic director of the music festival Les vacances de Monsieur Haydn at La Roche Posay, and a cello professor at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris. He plays a modern cello specially made for him by Franck Ravatin, as well as a Baroque cello and a piccolo cello, both being 18th century Italian instruments of the Milanese school.
"This cellist is a glowing personality, a musician already fully in his prime, the young master of an instrument which, for some time now, has been producing some important talents in France." Le Monde
"Jérôme Pernoo, the instrumental revelation of the year, is more than worth going out of one's way to hear. He is worthy of being adopted." Diapason
Pianist Jérôme Ducros, his long-time accompanist since 1995, is an active performer and has also collaborated with artists such as Gautier Capuçon, Paul Meyer, Michel Portal, Nicholas Angelich, Dawn Upshaw, Ian Bostridge and Philippe Jaroussky.
As a composer, Ducros is attracted to the cello. In May 2013 the first CD dedicated to his works was released with his Piano Quintet and the Trio for violin, cello and piano.
Jérôme DUCROS was awarded a Premier Prix avec félicitations by unanimous decision of the jury at the CNSM de Paris in 1993, and in 1994 won second prize and the special prize for the best performance of the set piece (Incises by Pierre Boulez, premiered in the final round) at the first Umberto Micheli International Piano Competition, organised by Maurizio Pollini with Luciano Berio as president of the jury.
Since then his concert career has blossomed. He has given recitals at the Festival de Radio France et de Montpellier, the Orangerie de Sceaux, La Roque d'Anthéron, the Théâtre du Châtelet, the Auditorium du Louvre, Radio France (where he is a regular guest), as well as in London, Geneva, Rome, Berlin, New York, Tokyo, South Africa, and at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw.
He has been heard as a soloist with such ensembles as the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonie de Chambre de Paris, Orchestre National de Lyon, and Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, under conductors including Emmanuel Krivine, Marc Minkowski, Christopher Hogwood, and Sergiu Comissiona.
As an enthusiastic chamber musician, he has played alongside Augustin Dumay, Michel Portal, Michel Dalberto, Paul Meyer, Gérard Caussé, Tabea Zimmermann, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Renaud and Gautier Capuçon, the Quintette Moraguès, the Quatuor Parisii,
Tickets are sold only at the door at R90 for adults and R70 for students and pensioners.
For further information contact Alet Joubert at the Unisa Music Foundation,Tel: 012 429 3336/3311 or Cell: 084 763 4079. www.unisa.ac.za/musicfoundation