As the year approaches its conclusion, in the intimate atmosphere of the Chamber Hall, we will enjoy the music of German and Austrian Romanticism, which will reconcile the harshness of the winter and embody the promise of Advent. These will be dreams guiding us into lands of fantasy, half-spoken words of love barely discernible, the sweetest treat of tenderness, and the purest nectar of beauty.

For this concert program, talented Latvian violinist Daniil Bulayev and his colleagues, Hungarian cellist Dóra Kokas and Estonian pianist Irina Zahharenkova, have chosen four composers who share artistic ideals, three of them also tied by love and friendship.
Franz Schubert was born in the late eighteenth century and is thus a little older than the others. In the penultimate year of his 31-year life, he composed two monumental piano trios that reach into other realms with their depth of thought and indescribable beauty.
Robert Schumann drew inspiration for his Fantasiestücke in E.T.A. Hoffmann’s moody character, composer Kreisler, and the supernatural dreamy drawings of seventeenth-century engraver Jacques Callot. Having married the dazzling pianist Clara Wieck, nine years his junior, Schumann was incredibly progressive for his era in encouraging his wife to compose – as much as it was possible for the mother of a large family and an internationally renowned star performer.
Clara Schumann’s poignant Three Romances were among her last opuses, written in the year when the couple’s marriage came to a dramatic finale due to Schumann’s incurable mental illness.
The concert program also includes a piano trio composed by Johannes Brahms at the age of 21. He was a close friend of the Schumanns and seems to have loved Clara Schumann quietly and passionately until her death.

Daniil Bulayev is one of the most prominent Latvian violinists of his generation. He has been performing as a soloist with orchestras in Latvia and abroad since early childhood, participating in international festivals with awards in numerous competitions. Since 2026, he has been the first violin of the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra.
Daniil has won many prizes, first places and grands prix at prestigious international competitions around the globe.
In 2022, Daniil established his chamber orchestra Davinspiro Camerata and became its artistic director.
Daniil Bulayev received the 2024 Grand Music Award for Performance of the Year, the concert performance of Astor Piazzolla’s María de Buenos Aires at the Cēsis Concert Hall, while his debut album Daniil Bulayev: Enescu, Bloch, Ysaÿe was nominated for the annual Kilogram of Culture award. This year, Daniil is also a resident artist at Latvian Radio 3 Klasika and will perform at the Vienna Musikverein Brahms Hall with his orchestra in the fall.
Daniil currently performs on a fine Florian Leonhard Fine Violins instrument.

Dóra Kokas is one of the brightest and most versatile cellists of her generation. Born in a family of musicians and raised in a musical environment, she participated in her first cello competition at the age of seven. In 2016, Dóra graduated from the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, where her mentor was the legendary cellist Miklós Perényi.
In 2018, Dora won third place at the Harbin Schoenfeld International String Competition; in September 2016 – second place at the 23rd International Johannes Brahms Competition in Austria, and in September 2014, two special prizes at the Pablo Casals International Cello Competition in Budapest.
Dóra Kokas is an experienced chamber musician. She started her string quartet career at the age of seventeen as a cellist in the Kelemen Quartet. She is performing on a Domenico Montagnana cello from 1730, kindly lent to her by the Hungarian state collection.

Irina Zahharenkova is one of the most outstanding pianists of her generation in Estonia. She began her piano studies at the age of four, later studied at the Estonian Academy of Music and the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, as well as with world-famous masters András Schiff and Angela Hewitt.
Irina Zahharenkova is a laureate of many prestigious international competitions in three categories of keyboard instruments: piano, harpsichord, and fortepiano. She has won first place in such international competitions as the 2006 Bachfest Leipzig, the 2006 Alessandro Casagrande International Piano Competition, and the 2005 George Enescu Competition in Romania.
Irina is actively performing both solo and with chamber ensembles and orchestras across Europe and Asia.

Artists:
Daniil BULAYEV – violin
Dóra KOKAS – cello
Irina ZAHHARENKOVA – piano

Program:
PART I
Franz SCHUBERT Piano Trio No. 1
PART II
Clara SCHUMANN Three Romances for Violin and Piano
Robert SCHUMANN Fantasiestücke for Cello and Piano
Johannes BRAHMS Piano Trio No. 1

As with all concerts of the series Personally, the audience will be able to meet the musicians after the concert to enjoy informal conversations about their creative paths, sources of inspiration, and challenges, in the 2nd floor gallery.