RIYADH — German Ambassador Jörg Ranau hosted a concert of the Debussy Trio from Munster at his residence recently. The three musicians, Ulrich Beetz (violin), Birgit Erichson (violoncello), and Vasil Laghidze (piano) delighted an audience of Saudi and international music enthusiasts with piano trios by Joseph Haydn, Franz Schubert and Antonin Dvorak.

In another concert at the Goethe Institut here, on the following day, Erichson (violoncello), and Laghidze (piano) performed the Song Cycle Winterreise (Winter Journey) by Franz Schubert (1798-1828), a deeply moving piece from the repertoire of romantic music.

The performance in Riyadh came with a twist. Instead of a performance with a vocalist — as usual — the cello took the role of the singer, accompanied by the piano, and the poems by Wilhelm Müller (1794-1827) were recited in German by Hanna Riehle and in Arabic by Salman Al-Shathri.

The concerts in Riyadh mark the final leg of a concert tour in Saudi Arabia.

All in all the trio played concerts over a period of ten days at the German diplomatic missions in Riyadh and Jeddah, the French Consulate General in Jeddah, the Goethe Institute in Riyadh and KAUST in Thuwal. — SG