Image: Kunsthalle Appenzell
Kunsthalle Appenzell will host a chamber concert on Friday, 7 August 2026, at 7:30 pm to mark the 120th birthday of Dmitri Shostakovich. The programme brings together works by Shostakovich, Bach and Stravinsky, with violist Johannes Erkes and pianist Dejan Lazić performing the composer’s Sonata for Viola and Piano alongside additional pieces announced by the venue.
The event is listed in Kunsthalle Appenzell’s newsletter as a ‘Ringofenkonzert’, positioning the concert within the institution’s ongoing programme rather than as a one-off outside engagement. The announcement is part of a newsletter headed by Kunstmuseum and Kunsthalle Appenzell, though the concert notice itself specifies Kunsthalle Appenzell as the venue. The date, time and location are all explicitly stated in the source material.
The programme is shaped around Shostakovich’s late work and musical lineage. The newsletter says Erkes and Lazić will play the Sonata for Viola and Piano, described there as the composer’s moving final work. It also notes that the evening opens with Bach, with the first gamba sonata in G major, and includes Stravinsky’s ‘Élegie for Viola solo’ as an intermezzo. The ‘Three Fantastic Dances for Piano’ are included as a link to Shostakovich’s student years.
A further work, the Andante from the Second Piano Concerto, is also named in the longer newsletter text as part of the concert sequence, described as celebrating Shostakovich’s lyrical side. That fuller programme detail suggests the evening is arranged as a compact survey of different facets of the composer’s output, from contrapuntal writing and chamber intimacy to more overtly melancholic and retrospective material.
Johannes Erkes is identified in the announcement as the violist, and Dejan Lazić as the pianist. No further biographical information is provided in the source material, and the notice focuses instead on the pairing of performers and repertoire. The programme’s emphasis on viola and piano is reflected in the central Shostakovich sonata and the Stravinsky and Bach works tied to the instrument’s history.
The newsletter also mentions a Bistro offering of dishes inspired by the concert programme, but this is presented as a separate hospitality note rather than part of the concert itself. The verified event details remain straightforward: a single performance at Kunsthalle Appenzell on 7 August 2026 at 19:30, built around Shostakovich’s 120th birthday and framed by Bach, Stravinsky and related piano works.
