Anssi Karttunen, cello & Nicolas Hodges, piano

ASHKAN BEHZADI Foldings (US Premiere) BEETHOVEN Cello Sonata No. 5 in D Major, Op. 102, No. 2 PASCAL DUSAPIN Slackline (US Premiere, Cal Performances co-commission SEAN SHEPHERD Aquaria (World Premiere, Cal Performances co-commission) BRAHMS Cello Sonata No. 2 in F Major, Op. 99 Two heroes of new music—Finnish cellist Anssi Karttunen, who has performed more than 160 world premieres, and British pianist Nicolas Hodges, long associated with the works of Elliott Carter, Thomas Adès, and Harrison Birtwistle—make their Cal Performances debut as a duo. Brahms' grand Sonata in F Major and Beethoven's visionary D-Major Cello Sonata are paired with new works by two pace-setting young composers: American Sean Shepherd and Iranian-born Ashkan Behzadi; plus the US premiere of Pascal Dusapin's Slackline. Karttunen observes, "[With Slackline]...the cello-piano repertoire now has a new masterpiece, almost Mahlerian in its scale."