Their participation in the Young Artist Platform in 2025 earned soprano Elisa Maayeshi and pianist Pieter Bogaert an invitation to perform at a future edition of the versatile Wonderfeel. Mark van de Weijer was in the audience and was impressed by this golden duo: ‘Never before have I heard and seen Schubert's “Der Zwerg” performed more eloquently than on 4 July.’
Elisa is a true performing artist who brings a lied to life with her entire being – voice, facial expressions and physicality. Every nuance in the text and every twist in the plot can be seen in her and heard in her voice. Pieter is a fantastic pianist who completes the story. Furthermore, it never feels staged or exaggerated and their performance remains captivating until the end.
The duo started with lied of Poulenc, Debussy and Fauré, an idiom that suits them both well and which they deliver with great conviction. Next up was the German repertoire. Besides The Dwarf They performed liederen by four female composers, including the Dutch composer Henriëtte Bosmans. The latter was a must-have on the programme for a festival with the theme ‘HOME’. They concluded with two liederen by Kurt Weill and an encore by Debussy.
For me, this performance was one of the absolute highlights of Saturday. On the Wonderfeel website, their gig was billed as ‘A little bit darker each time... Not for the faint-hearted!’, but for me it was a shining example of just how beautiful classical lied can be.
Mark van de Weijer