Recap: the 2026 European Tour
Four cities in ten days, from the Louis Spohr Hall in Braunschweig to a villa above Bern: a late-summer tour of Germany and Switzerland built on solo Bach, the music of the Americas, and Beethoven.
The tour opened on August 29 in the Louis Spohr Hall, presented by the Staatstheater Braunschweig on a program that brought musicians of the Staatstheater together with guests from America. Rabia opened as soloist with the Adagio from Bach’s Sonata No. 1 in G minor, Milstein’s Paganiniana, and Lera Auerbach’s T’filah, then joined Dobromiła Hańćka, violin, Arnold Stieve, viola, and Guchao Zhao, cello, for Dvořák’s “American” Quartet. The ensemble grew for Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir de Florence, with Desirée Ruhstrat, Santiago Osorio, and Christian Bußmann.
For Rabia, the evening was a first. “Performing in Braunschweig was an incredible experience. It was my first time playing with members of the Staatstheater’s opera orchestra, and performing the Dvořák ‘American’ with such seasoned colleagues, I could hear so many voices around me in a chamber setting,” she says. “The artists were sensitive to my musical ideas. It was a fabulous collaboration.”
From there the tour continued as a duo with internationally renowned pianist Claire Huangci. At the residence of the U.S. Consul General in Frankfurt on September 2, they framed Beethoven’s Sonata No. 7 in C minor, Op. 30 No. 2, with music of the Americas: Amy Beach’s Romance, Jennifer Higdon’s Smoky Mountain Air, and William Kroll’s Banjo and Fiddle.
On September 6, the tour moved to Switzerland for a morning concert at Bern’s Villa Morillon. Rabia returned to Bach with the complete Sonata No. 1 in G minor and to Lera Auerbach’s T’filah, and joined Claire Huangci for Jennifer Higdon’s Smoky Mountain Air. Benjamin Schmid, Mathis Rochat, and Andreas Fleck completed the program.
The tour closed on September 7 at the Orangerie in Darmstadt, presented by the Chopin-Gesellschaft in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland as part of its 55th-anniversary season. Rabia opened with Bach’s Sonata No. 1 in G minor, then joined Huangci for Amy Beach’s Romance and closed her set with Beethoven’s Sonata No. 7, a work of storm and lyricism that stands among the composer’s most dramatic contributions to the form. Huangci followed with solo Chopin. After the interval, horn player Felix Klieser took the stage for Dukas’s Villanelle and joined Ruhstrat and Huangci for Brahms’s Horn Trio in E-flat major, Op. 40, closing the evening in warm, autumnal color.
Beethoven was the thread through Rabia’s work with Huangci, and it grew over the tour. “It allowed me to play as a more muscular performer, because the approach Claire conveyed and delivered demanded it,” she says. Huangci’s Chopin left its own mark: “Her dazzling interpretations of Chopin made me want to go back to the keyboard myself."
“It was a wonderful concert that we all enjoyed very much. With her temperament, her joy in playing, and her technique, Claire always touches the hearts of the audience. The rapport among the ‘Friends’ was convincing, and on top of that came the fascination of Felix Klieser’s performance.”
Hartmut Stolzmann, Vice President, Chopin-Gesellschaft in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Translated from the German.
“Claire was absolutely dazzling to work with. Her undeniable, convincing artistry lifted me up and supported me throughout the entire tour.”
— Rabia Brooke
“It’s been such a pleasure making music with Rabia. There’s something intimate and honest about playing duo repertoire together, and I’ve loved how curious and open she is to exploring ideas and finding our own way into the music. She has a wonderful intuition and such a wealth of musical knowledge, which makes working together feel like a constant, lively conversation. I always feel that we’re discovering something together, and that’s what makes making music with her so special.”
— Claire Huangci, Pianist
Warm thanks to the Staatstheater Braunschweig, the residence of the U.S. Consul General in Frankfurt, the Villa Morillon in Bern, and the Chopin-Gesellschaft in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland at the Orangerie in Darmstadt for their welcome, and to Claire Huangci, Desirée Ruhstrat, Benjamin Schmid, Felix Klieser, Mathis Rochat, Andreas Fleck, Dobromiła Hańćka, Santiago Osorio, Arnold Stieve, Christian Bußmann, and Guchao Zhao for their music-making. Tours like this one are built by many hands, and by audiences who turn out on a summer evening to hear something new beside something familiar.
