Nostalgia and tragedy Maria Milstein & Nathalia Milstein

The Milstein sisters are bursting with talent. In 2025, pianist Nathalia reached the final of the prestigious Koningin Elisabethwedstrijd and violinist Maria received the Nederlandse Muziekprijs back in 2018. They have performed together and separately at the Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ on several occasions. They demonstrate that they are attuned to each other down to the smallest detail in this idiosyncratic and personal programme, which features not only sonatas by Francis Poulenc and Sergei Prokofiev, but also unknown music by the French-Russian composer Valéry Arzoumanov, a friend of the Milstein family. A French-Russian programme by two exceptional sisters

Arzoumanov lives in Normandy, but was born in Siberia. His work is imbued with a longing for a time he never experienced. The Nostalgische walsen seem to stem directly from the St. Petersburg of before 1917. The young Lili Boulanger – little sister of the famous composer and music pedagogue Nadia – also has Russian traits, but French romanticism also resonates in her music. The sonatas by Francis Poulenc and Sergei Prokofiev have a darker character. Poulenc honoured the poet Frederico García Lorca, who was murdered in the Spanish Civil War. Prokofiev wrote his sombre yet vital sonata during the Second World War.