Bénédicte Royer, viola, and Bettina Leitner, organ, venture into a program with rarely heard repertoire, introducing unforeseeable sound effects: With their present release, Royer and...

Bénédicte Royer, viola, and Bettina Leitner, organ, venture into a program with rarely heard repertoire, introducing unforeseeable sound effects: With their present release, Royer and Leitner present works for the seemingly exotic combination of viola and organ from the 20th and 21st century. Starting with the Fantasi (1919) by the Swedish composer Karl Yngve Sköld, there are two pieces by the British York Bowen, the Fantasia for viola and organ and Poem, Op. 27 for harp, solo viola and organ. The Sonata da chiesa for viola and organ (2015) by the Austrian composer and organ player Ernst Ludwig Leitner refers to the Sonata da chiesa for viola d’amore and organ (1938) of the Swiss composer Frank Martin, which is dominated by his own style of incorporating dodecaphonic writing into a tonal environment. Bénédicte Royer began studying viola at age 9. She studied at the Paris Conservatory and then in Oslo and at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg. She is a passionate chamber musician, playing on both modern and original instruments. Bettina Leitner studied at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg. She is highly in demand as a chamber musician, and on several occasions she has performed as a soloist at the world premieres of works by distinguished contemporary composers.