Duo Kastelewicz Hartl

Violin, Bandoneon, Celtic Harp, Vocals


© A.Kleuker / B.Hartl

With the instruments violin, bandoneon, Celtic harp and with vocals, the duo performs a diverse mixture of “light-sounding” virtuoso trio sonatas and ciacconas of the Baroque period in combination with Tango Argentino and French film music. At will, it also combines its Baroque music with the lively and colourful music of Irish and Celtic folklore.

In the interplay of these select genres, the musicians create a synthesis of tangible sensuality and ethereal transcendence. The combination of these three instruments enables an undreamt-of variety of sounds. With devotion, lightness and charm, powerfully luminous trio sonatas by Bach, sensually unleashed sound cascades by Astor Piazzolla, magically enchanting French film music and stirring Irish folklore are heard.

Instruments: Violin, Bandoneon, Celtic Harp, Vocals

Musicians: Anna Barbara Kastelewicz, Bettina Hartl

Bettina Hartl
Vocals, bandoneon, Celtic harp, piano

Born 1977 in Munich, Bettina Hartl studied piano and sound engineering at theBerlin University of the Arts. Parallel to her studies, she began lessons on the bandoneon with Klaus Gutjahr, who in 2003 invited her to accompany him on a concert tour of Argentina.

In 2005 Hartl founded the tango quintet Amortal, which specializes in the music of Astor Piazzolla, with tours to Japan and several CD productions at the Bavarian Broadcasting Corporation. At the same time, the Duo Amortal developed together with the violinist Dariusz Błaszkiewicz..

Hartl has soloed with various, leading European orchestras such as Helsingbørgs Symfoniorkester, the Baden-Württemberg State Orchestra, the Braunschweig State Orchestra and the Magdeburg Philharmonic. In addition, she has played the bandoneon part in Piazzolla‘s Tango Opera Maria de Buenos Aires.in both the Berlin and Magdeburg productions.
artl is in demand internationally for her fine, sensitive skill on the bandoneon and she receives invitations from all over the world to perform. She has performed in numerous tango shows hosted by theHerbst Theatre in San Francisco and on the occasion of the ‘Latin American Cultural Week’ in New York.

In 2010, Hartl started to compose as a second profession. Her first piece for full orchestra made its debut at the Minoriten Church in Vienna in 2010 and was performed by the First Women’s Chamber Orchestra.

Since 2012 she has been experimenting with her own pieces, improvisations and ‘renewed’ old music in free choice of cast within the framework of the ensemble Les Seraphines.

In 2012 she also initiated the visionary forum Kaliphonium with the aim of promoting interdisciplinary events in order to refresh Berlin’s society and art scene. In 2013 she started a record label and publishing house under the same name.

Anna Barbara Kastelewicz

The violinist Anna Barbara Kastelewicz is working as a soloist, chamber musician and concertmaster. With performances and concert tours around Europe and Asia she is present nationally as much as internationally.
She is playing and recording for broadcast, TV and various media-recordings. Anna Barbara Kastelewicz plays baroque violin and modern violin. Her repertoire ranges from Renaissance to Contemporary and includes musicals and jazz. In her projects she connects different arts and moderates her concerts. She intensively devotes herself to musicology by interpreting contemporary composers.
Anna Barbara Kastelewicz founded two orchester projects – “neue barockorchester berlin” and “neue konzertorchester berlin“, which she guides as a concertmaster herself. From 2007 to 2013 she was an artistic director of „Musikfestivals Lüneburger Heide“, in 2016 she founded a cultural festival “„Kulturschlaglicht / Kulturfestspiele in Schlössern und Gärten“, a festival that combines musical performances with light and sound design, lectures and guided tours through the historical places with their special flair.
Anna Barbara Kastelewicz works as a lecturer at colleges of music. Born in Berlin, she lives as a freelance artist in the city.

Spirit of Baroque

In their programme Spirit of Baroque Duo Kastelewicz Hartl combines current and timeless arrangements of old masters from the 16th to the 18th century with refreshing baroque compositions by Bettina Hartl. Solemn ciacconas, virtuoso passacaglias and graceful love songs from the time of Claudio Monteverdi are combined with excerpts from Bach’s microcosm. To this they combine their own compositions inspired by these epochs. In the synthesis of ‘old and new’, they illustrate the topicality of this music and, as it were, establish a detemporalised connection to the present.


Between Occident and Orient

Their programme ‘Between The Occident and the Orient‘ combines the epoch of the early Baroque with Persian and Indian Sufi music. In the fusion of Western and Eastern musical influences, the musicians of the Duo Kastelewicz Hartl explore their different modes of action. The freedom that can be heard at the transition from the 16th to the 17th century in both Western European and Persian-North Indian music is taken up again by Duo Kastelewicz Hartl and is inspired by the invigorating virtuosity and improvisational potential of both currents.


Celtic Baroque

In their programme Celtic Baroque, Duo Kastelewicz Hartl combines Celtic-Irish music with elements of the colourful and multifaceted world of the early Baroque. The two musicians combine works and songs of baroque and Celtic masters from Claudio Monteverdi to Turlough O’ Carolan. With Celtic harp, violin, bandoneon and vocals, they perform graceful baroque ciacconas, soulful Irish ballads, Celtic songs about past times and countries, and timelessly beautiful arias from the early Baroque era.


French flair and rousing Tango Argentino

With the instruments violin, bandoneon and vocals, the two Berlin-based artists of the Duo Kastelewicz Hartl juxtapose French musettes with Tango Argentino. In the interaction of these selected genres, the two musicians create a synthesis of tangible sensuality and ethereal transcendence.

Duo Kastelewicz Hartl performs a diverse mixture of fiery tango music by Astor Piazzolla, tangos and waltzes of the 1930s, French musettes and mystically enchanting film music. At will, it combines with this the lively and colourful music of Neapolitan and South American folklore as well as baroque music with a folkloristic touch.


Bach meets Piazzolla

Masterly Baroque and fiery Tango Nuevo.

J.S. Bach (1685 -1750)
Triosonaten

Astor Piazzolla (1921 – 1992)
Jeanne y Paul
Escualo
Chiquilin de Bachin
Libertango


Celtic Baroque

Easy sounding early Baroque Passacaglias and colorful Irish and Celtic music.

Andrea Falconieri (1585 – 1656)

Passacaglia

Nicola Matteis (1670 – 1713)
Diverse Bizzarie sopra La Vecchia

Giovanni Legrenzi (1626 – 1690)
‘La Cornara’
‘La Raspona’

Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber (1644 – 1704)
Rosenkranzsonaten Partia

Turlough O’ Carolan (1670 – 1738)
Eleanor
Plunkett
Planxty Irwin


Bright Spots

Luminous Baroque Chaconnes, sensual Argentine tangos and enchanting French film music.

Maurizio Cazzati (1616 – 1678)
Ciaccona a tre con il suo Balletto

Antonio Bertali (1605 -1669)
Ciaccona

Francesca Caccini (1587 – 1640)
Chiacona

Tarquinio Merula (1595 – 1665)
Chiaconna

Vivaldi (1678 – 1741)
Triosonaten

Carlos Gardel (1887 – 1935)
Mi Buenoas Aires Querido
Volver

Yann Tiersen (*1970)
Sur les Fil Vals d’Amelie

Charles Aznavour (*1924)
La Boheme