The Musagetes-Quintet
Yasuko Fuchs-Imanaga, flute - Peter Michel, oboe - Antje Gerber, clarinet -
Arturo Pantaleón, French horn - Elisabeth Böhm-Christl, bassoon
The ancient Greek god Apollo's byname was Apollon Musagetes, i.e. the leader of the Muses. They were godesses who presided over various arts (poetry, history, music, etc.). Vase paintings show Musagetes with the kithara. Originally a god of shepherds, he must have been actively concerned with music. Apollo embodied the supreme values of music as a performing art and provided an ideal model of the professional musician, the harmony of the various arts; perhaps a notion of the playing-balance of these five so different wind instruments.
Founded in Berlin 1988, the members of this ensemble (partly free-lance artists, partly in the employment of orchestras, in addition to being active in education) have been widely acknowledged in Berlin's musical scene. Beside the standard repertory of the nineteenth century they have especially been engaged in the important contemporary literature of their kind. Though the music of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and Reicha, Danzi, Spohr, Klughardt, Lachner, Onslow and Taffanel is an essential part of their activities, they are nevertheless much interested in modern music. Their programmes do them credit for less-known works and for non-European wind music. A characteristic of the group are the premières and first performances as pioneer work. For the twentieth century have to be mentioned composers like Zilcher, Barber, Baur, Farkas, Françaix, Holst, Ibert, Ligeti, Zemlinski, Badinski, Sutcliffe, Leclaire, Bernal Jimenez, Pantaleón, Márquez, Kuri-Aldana, Santoveña, Atehortua, Campbell, Deak, Carusso, Escobar.
Besides performances in Berlin, the Musagetes-Quintet has successfully gone on tours through Germany and other European countries.
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