un portrait

Victor Aviat, an internationally renowned oboist, was principal oboe with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, the Orchestra Mozart under Claudio Abbado and the Budapest Festival Orchestra of Ivan Fischer for twenty years. He also studied piano, composition and conducting. His first composition was performed in 2019 by the Orchestre National de France under Emmanuel Krivine (his stepfather). Victor Aviat died on 1 May 2025 in Berlin following a sudden illness. This double album is a tribute to this versatile artist. Victor was also a painter and poet, whose poems he set to music and performed himself. This portrait presents a double programme with pieces for oboe and piano by Robert Schumann (recorded in 2024 with pianist Kim Barbier) and his 17 songs. The accompanying booklet contains an illustration with each song, some of his paintings and a text he wrote 'to young musicians'. Like his self-portrait, with his face half in darkness, Victor Aviat's songs offer us a glimpse into his inner life and feelings through allusions and hints. To keep the memory of Victor Aviat alive, both as an artist and as a human being.