The inspiration for "The Year" was a long-awaited trip to Italy in 1839/1840, after which the author composed a set of 12 pieces dedicated to the individual months of the year. The elder sister of Felix Mendelssohn tried to combine art and literature: in the first edition, illustrations and poems were published together with the scores. To bring this to a contemporary audience, renowned South Tyrolean artist Christian Stl painted a picture for each month inspired by the music and poems, which will be displayed during Hanna Bachmann's performance. Her all-female programme will also feature works by English composer Ethel Smyth, Czech composer Vítězslava Kapralová and the latest composition for Hanna by Austrian composer Gerda Poppy. Hanna Bachmann, who has been described by the Berlin Philharmonic's chief conductor Kirill Petrenko as a "mature piano personality", has established herself as an internationally renowned pianist.
