Sperger Duo — Filip Jaro a Xénia Jarová

The Jaro couple have been performing as a stable concert duo since 2011. With respect to the prominent double bassist and composer Johann Mathias Sperger, they covered their work by adopting the title SPERGER DUO. With their musical interest in discovering and consonansy, they bring to life the works of forgotten double bass virtuosos and the Slovak and world chamber repertoire. They pay particular attention to the tradition of domestic repertoire (Rajter, Frešo, Kupkovič, Suchoň), the work of J. M. Sperger and the active presentation of compositions of Czech bass virtuosos of the 19th century (Míšek, Láska, Storch, Simandl, Kuchynka). They are members of the international Johann-Matthias-Sperger-Gesellschaft. As the founders of society Chamber Soloists of Johann Matthias Speger, they established the festival Bratislava Days of J. M. Sperger.

Together they won the Award for Interpretation at the Festival of Young Artists in Piešťany in 2012, they played a recital on the Slovak Radio live. They regularly perform in concert cycles Sunday Matinees in Mirbach Palace, Albrechtina, Musical Evenings at Palisády, presented at festivals like Academic Concerts in Prešov, Trenčín Music Spring, BassFest Banská Bystrica, Gala in Zichy Palace, Cultural Summer of Béla Kéler and at many solo concerts in Bratislava and other cities throughout Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Together with bassist Peter Mikuláš, they introduced rare concertant arias for bass and double bass by Mozart and Sperger. In September 2016, they introduced recitals at the 5th Biennale of the European Double Bass Congress BASS2016 PRAGUE. In April 2020, they performed in the chamber cycle of the Slovak Philharmonic — Concerts without audience.

In autumn 2016, their debut CD Sonatas for Double Bass and Piano was released, which became the first Slovak CD reviewed by the most watched European double bass site and received an extremely high professional award.

Their new 2 CD CZECH DOUBLE BASS TREASURES contains exclusive world premiere recordings that bring beautiful and highly virtuosic works of Czech double bass romanticism and art nouveau to the music world.

Repertoire

Henry Eccles (1670–1742)

Sonata in A minor

Georg Friedrich Händel (1685–1759)

Sonata in A minor

Benedetto Marcello (1686–1739)

Sonata in F major
Sonata in D minor

Willem de Fesch (1687–1761)

Sonata in E minor

Johann Ernst Galliard (1687–1749)

Sonata in A minor

Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf (1739–1799)

Double Bass Concerto No. 2 in D major
Sinfonia Concerto for Viola, Double Bass and Orchestra in E-flat major

Jan Křtitel Vaňhal (1739–1813)

Double Bass Concerto in D major

Václav Pichl (1741–1805)

Double Bass Concerto No. 1 in D major

Johann Matthias Sperger (1750–1812)

Double Bass Concerto No. 2 in D major
Double Bass Concerto No. 11 in A major
Double Bass Concerto No. 15 in D major
Sonata in D major (T. 38)
Sonata in D major (T. 39)
Sonata in D major (T. 37)
Sonata in B minor (T. 36)
Romanze
“Selene, del tuo fuoco non mi parlar” for Bass, Double Bass and Orchestra (Piano)

Antonio Capuzzi (1755–1818)

Double Bass Concerto in G major

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)

Per questa bella mano for Bass, Double Bass and Orchestra (Piano) KV 612

Domenico Carlo Maria Dragonetti (1763–1846)

Double Bass Concerto No. 1 in A major
Double Bass Concerto No. 3 in A major
Double Bass Concerto No. 5 in A major

František Gregora (1819–1887)

Scherzo

Giovanni Bottesini (1821–1889)

Double Bass Concerto No. 1 in F-sharp minor
Grand Duo Concertante for Double Bass, Violin and Orchestra (Piano)
Fantasia on “La sonnambula”
Grande Allegro alla concerto di Mendellsohn
Mellodia in Re

Franz Simandl (1840–1912)

Double Bass Concerto in G major
Fantasia on Czech national songs
Nocturno
Divertissement

Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904)

Cello Concerto in B minor, op. 104 – version for Double Bass and Piano
Sonatina in G major for Violin and Piano, op. 100 – version for Double Bass and Piano
Songs My Mother Taught Me op. 55 No. 4 – version for Double Bass and Piano

Josef Emanuel Storch (1841–1877)

Concert Piece in A major

Gustav Láska (1847–1928)

Double Bass Concerto in D major

Johann Geissel (1859–1919)

Double Bass Concerto in A major
Concert Piece

Vojta Kuchynka (1871–1942)

Concert waltz for Double Bass and Piano
Desire and Daydreaming for Double Bass and Piano
Fantasia on “The Bartered Bride”
Duo for Violin, Double Bass and Piano

Alexander Skrjabin (1871–1915)

Six pieces

Sergej Rachmaninov (1873–1943)

Vocalise
Two songs

Sergej Kusevickij (1874–1951)

Double Bass Concerto in F-sharp minor
Andante cantabile op. 1/1
Valse miniature op. 1/2
Chanson Triste op. 2
Humoresque op. 4

Reinhold Glier (1875–1956)

Intermezzo op. 9/1
Tarantella op. 9/2
Prélude op. 32/1
Scherzo op. 32/2

Adolf Míšek (1875–1955)

Sonata No. 1 in A major
Sonata No. 2 in E minor
Sonata No. 3 in F major
Fantasia on Smetana operas
Legend
Concert Polonaise

Ľudovít Rajter (1906–2000)

Sonata for Double Bass and Piano
Sonatina for Double Bass and Piano

Eugen Suchoň (1908–1993)

Nocturno in B minor

Tibor Frešo (1918–1987)

Small Fantasia

Ladislav Kupkovič (1936–2016)

Sonata funebre for Double Bass and Piano
Sonatina in A major for Double Bass and Piano
Theme and five variations for Double Bass and Piano

Xénia Jarová

was born in Prešov in a family with a musical interpretation and pedagogical tradition. At the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava, she studied piano under Ida Černecká and Magdalena Bajuszová.

She completed her doctoral studies at the Department of Keyboard Instruments of the Academy of Performing Arts with a doctoral thesis devoted to Robert Schumann under the guidance of Maria Heinzová. As a reflection of doctoral research, she conducted a series of chamber music concerts during her studies called Chamber Schumann. As part of this cycle, she also presented the absolute Slovak premiere of Schumann's first chamber work — the early Piano Quartet in C minor (1828—29).

She is a member of musical society Albrechtina, which aims to discover and perform unknown Slovak and world music. With solo and chamber repertoire, she performed at concerts in Slovakia, Great Britain, Czech Republic, Poland, Ukraine and at festivals Humenné Music Spring, Academic concerts in Prešov, Young composers tour, New Slovak music, Paths to music in retrospect. She regularly collaborates and performs with many Slovak performers. She cooperated with baritone Peter Mazalán in terms of content and performed on intermediate concert projects — Translucent Sound, Kenotaf, The Survivor and others. They also participated in the Wigmore Hall Song Competition in London.

In 2018, Xénia Jarová created the CD recording in cooperation with the prominent double bassist Miloslav Gajdoš.

Xénia Jarová is particularly interested in music research, she has also participated in several projects of the Department of Keyboard Instruments of the Academy of Performing Arts and she has participated in language and professional cooperation in the preparation of the book T. A. Matthay — Act of Touch in Translation by prof. M. Starosta, which was published in March 2020. She regularly writes about music and music history.

Filip Jaro

is a double bassist and a member of the Slovak Philharmonic. He was born in Bratislava and grew up in a musical family. He was inspired to play double bass by his father and his brother, who are also double bass players. He studied at the State Conservatory in Bratislava and at the Academy of Arts in Banská Bystrica. He graduated from the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava with a PhD with the thesis Concertant work of J. M. Sperger. He has participated in several international double bass competitions, where he placed at the top level. In 2007, he was awarded 1st place and the Audience Award at the International Double Bass Competition in Brno by the world's leading double bass player Catalin Rotaru.

He took master classes with prof. Thomas Lom in Stuttgart in 2003. He participated in the fifth, sixth and seventh International Meeting of Bassists in Brno, where he worked under the leadership of such personalities as M. Gajdoš, M. Jelínek, J. Hudec, J. Valenta, W. Guttler and C. Rotaru. He worked with J. Niederhammer on master classes in Vienna.

As a soloist, he has performed with the Symphony Orchestra of the Conservatory at the Slovak Philharmonic in Bratislava, with the State Philharmonic Košice, the Collegium Baroque orchestra, at the Divergence festival, Music for Trnava and others festivals. He has joined several international orchestras, where he performed as the first double bass player under the baton of leading conductors: Stefan Lano, Xavier Ricour, Aleš Podařil, Michael Millard, Nicolaus Harnoncourt, Ondrej Lenárd (Brno, Budapest, Bremen, Paris, Prague, Vienna, Salzburg, Frankfurt, Martinique and others). In 2007—2018, he was a member of the Slovak National Theatre Orchestra, where he held the position of deputy head and, in 2018, the position of head player of the double bass group.

As a chamber player, Filip Jaro regularly cooperates with the Moyzes Quartet and the Mucha Quartet. In the summer of 2017, he performed in Bratislava as an chamber co-performer with Sarah Chang.

In December 2017, Filip Jaro's CD with the Mucha Quartet with works by J. L. Bella and A. Dvořák was released. Filip Jaro's 2019 profile solo CD “Virtuoso Double Bass Concertos” presents a probe into the classicistic double bass virtuosity in the concerts of Sperger, Dragonetti and Vanhal.