Against the backdrop of some dramatic situations, which to a large extent are a reflection of the relationship between business and culture – we will get to them later – such actions appear almost surreal. Where does that fascination with classical music and young musicians come from? That was what we discussed early on Saturday, February 6 on Arbat, in Maly Levshinsky Pereulok, not far from Classica.FM studios, at the home of Oxford graduate and CEO of HSBC Russia Mr Stuart Lawson. Taking part in the meeting were also Evgeny Boyko, chief editor of Classica.FM, Mikhail Khokhlov, professor at the Gnessin School and conductor of the Gnessin Virtuosos orchestra, an interpreter, and obviously our host himself.

Let get one thing straight right from the start to avoid unnecessary speculation – this is no advertising spot. HSBC is not a sponsor of this event. It has never sponsored Classica.FM. Neither side has made any proposal to that effect or discussed any. The interview was initiated exclusively by Classica.FM. As the host, Stuart Lawson spoke first.

Stuart Lawson: Thank you for coming to my place on this Saturday morning. It makes life so much easier. Welcome. Mikhail and I have known each other for 14 years and over this time we have found various ways to cooperate. Maybe I should tell you how we met?

Evgeny Boyko: That would be most interesting.

Stuart Lawson: A long while ago I used to live in Romanov Pereulok, in Molotov’s flat. I had just arrived in Russia and was the head of Citibank. I knew nothing about Russian culture then. In fact, I didn’t know anything about Russia but knew that the Conservatory was somewhere around the corner. Once a week I went there, bought a ticket. Naturally, I didn’t know what was on as all the titles were in Russian. It did not matter as the tickets were not at all expensive and if something was not to my taste I could just leave after the break. But I liked the atmosphere. The children would always sit straight and listen very carefully. They concentrated on the music.

Once I was there with my wife and a friend from Italy. Just another night. A dozen children came onto the stage. They were so small they could hardly carry their instruments. The whole audience held its breath, the musicians raised their teeny violins. I think they played Flight of the Bumblebee…

Mikhail Khokhlov: It was a piece by Prokofiev.

Stuart Lawson: Fast and noisy… I sat and thought it was incredible. And I decided that I had to find their professor. That is how we met. Look how beautiful (points to people clearing snow from the roof of his house). We are talking and there is snow falling behind us. What would you like to talk about?

Evgeny Boyko: Let me now tell you how I got acquainted with your bank – indirectly. I live not far from here – on Arbat. Last summer walking home from the Conservatoire I noticed an open-air stage on Nikitsky Boulevard. As I am the head of a publication dealing with classical music I try to follow what is on. Some young academic musicians were performing. I got interested and asked the organizers what it was all about. It was the “By the Nikitsky Gates” festival – and quite well organized, by the way. There was a modern stage, professional lighting and sound. We wrote about the event as we did not see them so much as an advertising move for the bank but a sincere attempt to help young musicians.

I will explain why it is important. Relations between sponsors and culture are not always easy. Quite often they may be dramatic. I will give you two examples just from the last month. At the end of January took place the 6th Yuri Bashmet Viola Competition. At the press conference the maestro said that three out of four sponsors on the eve of this important international event had reneged on their financial obligations. The competition literally had to be saved and it was only thanks to Bashmet’s reputation that it was held at all. The KIN brandy distillery came to the rescue. At about the same time was scheduled the second Mozart Days in Moscow – a replica of Zalzburg’s Mozartwoche. The first one took place last year. This year’s festival was cancelled literally on the eve of the opening concert as one of the sponsors withdrew. And we are talking about a major international bank with, as it seemed, a reputation to care about. As the competition was held by young musicians who cannot boast Bashmet’s reputation nobody came to their rescue. We supported the festival as media sponsors and took it all to heart.

And on that backdrop we witnessed your flourishing relations with the Gnessin School and decided to solicit this interview. I want to stress that it is a precedent – it is the first interview in the history of our publication with a person not directly related to classical music, someone who is not a musician. And on behalf of my publication I would like to thank you for taking part in the cultural life of the Gnessin School. One does not often see such a sincere and interested attitude.

I want to ask you – why is it classical music and not something else? What is the reason – your personal taste? Or is it the result of some cunning advice you got from your PR-analysts? Or what? (common laughter in the room).

Stuart Lawson: I will tell you straight – not the least! I say it loud and clear – nothing of that kind! (meaning not advice from PR-consultants).

Mikhail Khokhlov: I can prove that.

Stuart Lawson: Let me start by saying that Mikhail is my friend. There was a time when I knew nothing about classical music even though I like it very much. Let me put it this way – for me music played by young children is a window on the Russian soul. I consider myself to be lucky to have the opportunity to be part of it.

Immersing myself, listening to classical music in Russia for me is an opportunity to be part of long-standing traditions. For me as a foreigner, as an outsider it is an opportunity to participate in what is an integral part of Russia’s history and culture, its people. For me it is also a privilege. It takes just one visit to the Bolshoi Theatre, to the Large, Small or Rakhmaninov’s Hall at the Conservatory or the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall to see the people who participate in and promote this historic tradition.

HSBC bank is 145 years old, it is present in 86 countries. But here, in Russia, as a retail bank serving private customers our history dates back only six months. Our bank is a bearer and representative of certain values. For a third year running the HSBC brand was named the most valuable global brand. I think we have achieved that success not just because we operate well as a bank but also because our bank displays such qualities as integrity, commitment to our clients, consistency. All these qualities are present in an orchestra.

That is why what started with our support for the Gnessin School, Mikhail and his team was not accidental. We could have met accidentally but our support was not accidental at all. If you take a closer look at the school, at the children, at Mikhail’s orchestra you will see that their values are the same as our bank’s values. It is a time-proven pursuit of excellence. You obviously know that the Gnessin School is more than 100 years old too. The school, just as Mikhail’s orchestra, strives for constant improvement. If we put it in banker’s language – they try to improve the product they produce. On the other hand they offer something that goes beyond the “value product”. I mean the great Russian musical tradition. When I was thinking who to start a partnership with, to develop them and grow with them, I could not find a better partner than the Gnessin School.

It is also very convenient. When some top managers come over from London and I try to help them understand Russia we just go to a concert. They see these 10-year-olds whose souls fly as they perform. They listen for about 45 minutes and I don’t need to explain anything.

Evgeny Boyko: Does that also imply a special vision of the future?

Stuart Lawson: Children are our future. If we ignore them today there will be no future.

Evgeny Boyko: When I came in I heard Bach’s partitas for solo violin – it is the kind of music that even musically educated people do not listen to that often. There is an instrument in the flat despite you not being a musician. What does classical music mean for you as a European?

Stuart Lawson: First, you have to be careful about me. Over the last 35 years I have lived in 11 different countries. I worked for Citibank for 25 years and every two years I moved to another country. Each time I had to select things that were important and valuable to me. You have to react quickly because if you take too long to sort it out and make up your mind it will be already time to move on.

As I have already said, music – at least as I see it – is a window. Not the only one but one of the windows on the Russian soul. You may not know that I am also a great fan of tango. Because it is also a window onto a certain culture. And when you ask me what classical music means for a European… You are directing your question at a man who spends a lot of time on the move.

For me it is an opportunity to get involved with what is essential for a country, go one step deeper than those who are not interested in it. You just have to go to one of those marvelous concerts at the Conservatory, take your mind off the musicians and look at the audience. You will see it in their eyes. You will see how they absorb music.

Evgeny Boyko: In Russia the responsibility of business to culture is low – it is either PR or a social burden – but not something that is a must. Culture and business – how do you view the relationship between them? How are you building it?

Stuart Lawson: For us it is sponsorship of a musical collective, an annual event to which we invite all our clients. They do not always come because they like classical music and understand the values of what the bank offers but a majority of our clients are true lovers and connoisseurs of art. At the same time we are not a charitable foundation, we are a business. But one of our objectives is in our slogan – The World’s Local Bank. We strive to make our presence in a country comfortable for us and our clients. We must live in the society, in the country where we do business. In that sense the partnership with the Gnessin School promotes awareness of our brand and is to a certain extent our distinctive feature. Music represents what we would like to achieve in our business.

Evgeny Boyko: It is a very nice thing to hear. And quite surprising. We are very glad that we have such a responsible bank, which is not indifferent to classical music and keen to work with children.

Мikhail Khokhlov: I want to say that the bank’s commitment to our students is very highly appreciated at our school. What has been made already is an important contribution. Nevertheless, judging from the answers that we heard today it is not a PR stunt but a move to naturally enter the process of civilized interaction between culture and a financial institution, which wants to feel here at home.

One would be hard pressed to trust a bank, which feels at home somewhere but does not care about problems in that home. In that sense what HSBC is doing is not only what the bank wants to be but what it is becoming.

Evgeny Boyko: I would like to thank you all for taking part in the interview. On behalf of our readers I would like to thank Mr Stuart Lawson and Mikhail Khokhlov for what they are doing to promote the performance of classical music in Russia.

Moscow, February 6, 2010.

This new piece, called «Post-scriptum» by its composer, Victor Kissine, will receive its world premiere with the San Francisco Symphony, conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas, in concerts scheduled for 8 p.m. March 4, 5, and 6 and 2 p.m. March 7 at Davies Symphony Hall, 201 Van Ness Ave., San Francisco.

Kissine — who makes his home in Belgium, where he is a professor of music at two important conservatories — writes that he was a student at the Leningrad Conservatory when he first discovered Ives’ piece. Considering it a «revelation», he assiduously studied the details of its score, noting that Ives used a trumpet to repeatedly intone his so-called «Perennial Question of Existence». The piece continues, as a series of other instruments offer comments on his question but cannot «answer» it. In his «Post-Scriptum», Kissine engages a series of five sounds, each of which evolves into either a major or minor pitch interval of a third to deal with «the question». During our recent e-mail exchange, I asked Kissine if, in his judgment, an average listener would consider his music in general, and «Post-Scriptum» in particular, to be «beautiful», «pleasing», «interesting» or «shocking» following a first hearing.

He replied, «If the listener finds my music ‘beautiful,’ I’d be overjoyed. I have nothing against ‘pleasing’ or ‘interesting,’ but if he is ‘shocked,’ I’d be disappointed, because this wasn’t my intention at all». Kissine has written a great deal of film music, as well as chamber and orchestral music. However, his approach to composition departs significantly from the assertive, agitated, often ear-grating styles issuing from the fin de siecle era at the beginning of the 20th century.

He explains that his musical language expands to include elements of classical Western-style tonality, 20th-century atonality, minimalism, aleatory sounds and 12-tone techniques, adding that he also uses micro-intervals (notes that fall «between the cracks» of notes on the piano). Further elaborating on his style, he wrote that beyond the four basic parameters of music — duration, pitch level, intensity and timbre — there is yet another: Silence, which he uses to great effect in his compositions.

«Silence», he says, «does not stop the music. It’s part of the music. It’s the flip side of music. Sound without silence wouldn’t exist». In his e-mail, Kissine asserted that he can’t imagine being anything other than a musician and composer. “I started music when I was 5,” he wrote. “So, it was the first language I learned to read. And, the first score I sight-read by myself was ‘Sonata quasi una Fantasia,’ Op. 27, No. 2 by Beethoven (the famous “Moonlight Sonata”). I remember having had enormous problems with the left-hand octaves».

Because his family lived near the Philharmonic Hall in Leningrad, he was taken to musical performances from a very early age. «I especially remember a recital by Sviatoslav Richter which made a great impression me», he wrote. «He was playing ‘my’ Beethoven sonata»! Kissine, father of two and grandfather to a 4-year-old, is a citizen of Belgium, living with his wife in Court-Saint-Etienne, a suburb of Brussels.

Other works scheduled for the S.F. Symphony’s March 4-7 program will be Ravel’s «Valses nobles et sentimentales», Liszt’s «Tasso: Lament and Triumph» and the unabashedly exultant Violin Concerto by another great Russian composer, Peter Tchaikovsky. Its soloist will be Christian Tetzlaff, prizewinning German violinist, who also performs the work with the symphony during its mid-March national tour.

Martha Argerich, headstrong, charismatic and technically brilliant pianist, is this year’s soloist at the Nobel Prize Concert. Yuri Temirkanov, Music Director and Principal Conductor for the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic will be leading the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. The programme comprises Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major and Prokoviev’s Suite from Romeo and Juliet.

Martha Argerich was born in Buenos Aires in 1941, and had her performing debut at the tender age of eight. Her breakthrough came in 1965, when she won the prestigious Chopin Competition in Warsaw. She has worked with most of the world’s leading conductors, and her repertoire includes Bach, Schumann, Liszt, Debussy, Ravel, Bartók and Prokoviev.

Ms Argerich is passionate about supporting young talent. The year 1999 saw the first International Martha Argerich Piano Contest in Buenos Aires, a competition that she founded and of which she is now the chief judge. She has also instituted the Martha Argerich Music Festival in Japan, with concerts and masterclasses.
The Nobel Prize Concert is held to honour the year’s Nobel Laureates, who attend with their respective parties. Also present are members of the Swedish Royal Family and guests of the Nobel Foundation.

The TV broadcast of the Nobel Prize Concert will be produced by EuroArts and distributed internationally. In Sweden the concert will be broadcast by SVT. The Nobel Prize Concert is sponsored by DnB NOR and Statkraft.

For further information contact:
Camilla Hyltén-Cavallius, CEO Nobel Media +46 (0)8-663 14 83 or +46 (0)70-524 57 70
Stefan Forsberg, CEO Stockholm Concert Hall +46 (0)8-786 02 20 or +46 (0)70-786 02 50

Eager to become a cultural centre of China, and perhaps Asia, Xiamen and its philharmonic displayed musically refinement in its performance of these two classical masterpieces. Conducted by Zhu Hui, the Xiamen Philharmonic performed at the new concert Hall on Hubingdong road on Friday night (27th/Nov/09). Maestro Zhu – short in height but tall in vigour – lead the orchestra powerfully, drawing from the music both the rich emotional landscape and colourful melodic currents. Joining him for the Tchaikovsky piano concerto, which is considered one of the most popular, was the gifted soloist Wang Jia who wrestled happily with the octave heavy score.

The Philharmonics new music hall outdoes itself. Seating is both comfortable and private while the thoughtfully placed lightning helps create a sophisticated atmosphere. The curved angles of the architecture complete a setting perfect for classical musical. The evening started when Wang Jia, blonde streaks eluding to his showmanship, entered to a round of applause followed closely by the statesman like Zhu Hui.

The opening of Tchaikovsky’s piano concerto paints life in late 19th century Russia as a optimistic and free spirited place. The sharpness of the string sections early staccato runs, which also show off the acoustic success of the new music hall, took the Xiamenese Audience on a cheerful tour of orchestral sound and timbre. Joining the action with a flurry of “end to end” piano passages, Wang Jia’s captured the attention with Tchaikovsky’s famous opening melody.

Born in Shenyang, Wang Jia learned his musicianship in both Shanghai and Germany before going on to win a cabinet full of national piano competitions. Intriguing like so many young successful Chinese, Wang has a understated, physically compact playing style expressing itself most evidently through his distinctive, tai-chi like, hand movements.

The third movement, who’s virtuoso piano writing could electrify the entire Siming district, brought to life a sense of daring and eagerness in the listener. As with a lot of classical music, orchestral players often favour one movement over others and the energised playing of the last movement eluded to this favouritism. The piano and orchestra where in sync thought-out the movement, weaving the music together and reminding us of the attraction of concerto’s. The final notes, with orchestra and piano at full velocity, collided with the audiences applause before the last note was sounded.

Shostakovich’s 11st symphony opens with the soft trembling of the string section. The trembling notes hold steady and slowly envelope the hall with a feeling of sombreness. A feeling which the composer would have experienced throughout his life in Russia. Rising from this atmosphere a lonely trumpet adds depth to the mood, reminding us of Shostakovich’s brass heavy orchestration style.

For this second piece, the philharmonic is full with 67 players (as per scoring – minus one harp) including a large brass and extensive percussion sections – all of which are richly exposed over the four movements. If Russian was a lonely, defeating place in Shostakovich’s time then the first movement captures this mood overwhelmingly. The combination of focused concentration and the oriental inclination to expressionlessness, gave the orchestral players the appropriately forlorn ‘expressions’. Maestro Zhu, unembellished for much of the first movement, urged the youthful orchestra through the dramatic scoring carefully.

The drama came to life in the second movement. It was Shostakovich’s intent to express the tragedy of Bloody Sunday in this movement. The solo’s by both the oboe and bassoons were particularly outstanding and it was real pleasure to hear the full power of the Xiamen philharmonic crescendo into the climaxes of the movement – the kind of loud orchestral playing that send tingles down the spine.

The final two movements are bound together by percussion driven marches. Both movements are a chilling tribute to the impact violence played in Russia history. Screaming brass melodies reminded us of the ultimateness of death. Visually, the trusting action of the violins bows, up and down, up and down, conjure images of falling swords. And the onslaught is complete with the unfaltering beat of the drums – mercilessly driving the violence forward.

Intertwining revolutionary theme songs learned during his socialist upbringing, Shostakovich maintains the seriousness of the symphony while giving the music “a film score without the film” taste. Listening to the symphony, there can be no doubt that Russia was a dramatic place in Shostakovich’s lifetime. Some say that the Eleventh is a requiem for his generation – what I can say for certain is the passion of this music was brought vividly to life by the philharmonic – a sign of good things to come for Xiamen.

Whats on Xiamen

The death is accidental, pending further investigation, said Sgt. Fabian Pacheco, a Tucson police spokesman. Wanamaker’s great-great-grandfather was Sergei Rachmaninoff, and according to a 2007 Star news article, the young man was studying business at the University of Arizona and intended to control the legacy and intellectual properties Rachmaninoff.

Wanamaker said at the time that he hoped to set up a publishing venture that will regain control of the Rachmaninoff scores and manuscripts now published and managed by six different interests in the United States and abroad.
Wanamaker was a classically trained pianist and guitarist who chose basketball over Beethoven, came to appreciate his great-great-grandfather’s legacy when he attended the Ravinia Festival — a summer series of classical concerts — in his adopted hometown of Chicago. He was 13 and found himself surrounded by fans of his great-great-grandfather’s music after a festival performance. ”I thought to myself, we could really do something here. … I’ve always been proud of my heritage and I like the music, very much so,” he recalled during the 2007 interview with the Star.

Wanamaker performed recitals during the 11 years he studied music — from age 4 to 15 — but was more interested in playing basketball. He even toyed around with the idea of a college run at the sport but decided instead to focus on business studies. In 2008, Wanamaker made local news when friends reported him missing. He was was found two days later camping in Catalina State Park. He told searchers he had never been lost.

Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff was born in 1873, in Semyonovo, Russia. Rachmaninoff fled Russia at the start of the Russian Revolution in 1917 and sought exile in America. He died in Beverly Hills, Calif. in 1943, where he had spent the last 25 years of his life.

Arizona Star

Journaling, a concert series devoted to violin music of the 21st century, is Mr. Dufallo’s way of bringing all this music into the spotlight. As the title suggests, the programs are, in effect, a journal of Mr. Dufallo’s travels in the new-music world rather than a scholarly overview. In the first installment, on Sunday evening at the Stone in the East Village, Mr. Dufallo played works by six composers (including himself), mostly for electric violin and electronic sound.

Electronic sound was broadly defined. Sometimes it involved live electronic processing: the heavy reverb in Anna Clyne’s «blue hour» or the sampling and looping in Corey Dargel’s «Every Day Is the Same Day». But mostly it was a matter of computer sound, including recorded violins, with the composers on hand to operate their laptops.

The sole unplugged exception was Huang Ruo’s set of ruminative pieces for unamplified violin, «Four Fragments». Mr. Huang writes that the “fragments,” which are played almost continuously (with only one break), are reminiscences of his travels, but he leaves the specifics to listeners’ imaginations. As in many of his scores, Chinese articulation styles — sliding notes and gracefully bending tones — mingle freely with Western moves and diatonic harmonies.

In Mr. Huang’s piece, Mr. Dufallo demonstrated the rich sound he produces on an unmodified fiddle. But his playing is no less alluring on the electric violin, and in his performances of Annie Gosfield’s «Lost Signals and Drifting Satellites», Alexandra Gardner’s «electric blue pantsuit» and two virtuosic movements from his own Suite for Electric Violin, he showed how much amplification can expand the instrument’s palette. Far from robbing the violin of its beauty, electronics add textural elements and gradations of timbre that the acoustic instrument cannot approximate. (Guitarists have understood this for decades.)

These expanded textures and colors are necessary if, like Ms. Gosfield, you are casting the violin as a lonely voice adrift in a sea of radio noise. In Ms. Gardner’s piece the violin darts through bursts of light percussive noises, some created by a recorded violin. Ms. Clyne wrote for two live players (Mr. Dufallo and Amy Kauffman) and 17 recorded violin lines, all drenched in densely atmospheric echo that made her passing references to Bach and other composers seem almost dreamlike.

Mr. Dufallo closed his concert with Mr. Dargel’s work, a group of three quirky songs for violin and voice, sung plaintively by the composer.

Allan Kozinn, TY Times

Ashkenazy and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra (SSO) were in Kuala Lumpur recently for two nights of stellar performances at the Petronas Philharmonic Hall (DFP). Ashkenazy’s musical career screams ‘extraordinary’ in every way. Having played the piano at the age of six, he was accepted at the Central Music School, Moscow at age eight after demonstrating prodigious talent. The 72-year old pianist’s career has spawned numerous chamber music recording that garnered him critical praise and accolades including several Grammy awards. He later branched into conducting and was the principal conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and was the Chief Conductor of the Czech Philharmonic, and Music director of the NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo.

With 20 years of conducting experience under his belt, he began early this year his four-year tenure as principal conductor and artistic advisor of the world-class Sydney Symphony Orchestra (SSO). Met during a luncheon with Penny Williams, the Australian High Commissioner to Malaysia, Ashkenazy having played the piano masterfully at a young age advised youngsters to learn classical music with diligence. «If you want to be a serious classical musician, you must start early especially with instruments like the piano and violin. It will definitely be too late to have a real career in classical music if you learn to play an instrument when you’re older».

A graduate of the Moscow Conservatory, (one of the leading music universities in Russia) Ashkenazy is part of the fine list of its alumni which includes Natalya Ageyeva (pianist and Artistic Director Russian Chamber Music Foundation of Seattle) as well as violinist and musicologist Alexei Gorokhov. Conservatories are colleges or academies of music and university schools of music, which are tertiary level institutions, and can either be independent or part of a university.

Classical music is often the principal study in most of the world’s famous conservatories such as the Royal Academy of Music, London, The Paris Conservatoire and the Juilliard School of Music in New York. However, in non-European and non-American countries like China’s Shanghai Conservatory of Music, traditional instruments are prioritised. On the other hand, Malaysia has yet to have its own conservatory, a development that Ashkenazy noted as unfortunate.

«Malaysia should have a conservatory, because what’s happening now is that classical music students here have to go abroad to pursue their tertiary studies. Eventually they will stay in those countries instead of coming back to play with local orchestras. It’s a big loss for classical music progress in Malaysia».

Bernama.com

Mr Torchinsky was surrounded by music from a very early age as his father was the leader of the Philharmonic Orchestra and his mother was a flute teacher. He began playing the violin at the age of five under the guidance of the best teachers and curators of the Russian violin tradition. Before he was a teenager, he was already an established soloist and had performed with orchestras and on radio broadcasts. He moved to the UK in 1995 where he studied with respected musician Natalia Boyarsky at Purcell School and later at the Royal College of Music (RCM). Mr Torchinsky won the RCM Isolde Menges Prize before he finished his postgraduate studies at the Vienna University of Music and Drama where he studied under professor Dora Schwarzberg.

The violinist is a laureate of several international competitions, including the Uralsk International Violin Competition and the Rudolf Matz International String Competition. He has performed as a soloist with orchestras in the UK, Russia, Kazakhstan, Croatia, Austria and Qatar under batons of conductors like Alexander Lazarev, Darrell Davison, James Ross and Ewa Strusinska.

As a recitalist and chamber musician, Mr Torchinsky has played at Wales’ Criccieth Music Festival, Germany’s Goslar Festival, the UK’s Southwark Festival, Rhode Island’s Newport Music Festival alongside artists like Hamish Milne, John Lenehan and others. He has worked with orchestras worldwide, including BBC Symphony, Radio Symphony Vienna and others.
Ms Park is an essentially self-taught pianist, but toured with the Korean National Men’s Choir in her early years. In 1999 she continued her studies at the University of Music and Drama in Vienna as a concert pianist with Prof Alexander Jenner.

In the following few years she received many awards and scholarships including the Karajan Foundation’s Gonda Weiner award for young talents in addition to several others. In 2000, Ms Park was honoured by Vienna University as one of the greatest talents.

She has won prizes at international piano and chamber music competitions such as Austria’s Brahms International competition and Karajan Society Scholarship competition, Italy’s Premio Rodolf Caporalli and Premio Vittorio Gui. Ms Park has attended master classes with renowned musicians as Boris Bloch, Dmitri Bashkirov, Klaus Hellwig and Andrzej Jasinski.

She regularly performs as soloist and chamber musician at the Austrian Radio ORF, Hungarian Radio, RAI UNO, Slovak Radio, NHK Television in countries such as Italy, Bulgaria, Greece, Tunisia, Slovakia, Hungary, France, England, Japan, Germany and Turkey.

The pianist has also performed with orchestras such as the North Hungarian Symphony Orchestra, RSO Bratislava and National Chamber Orchestra Zilina and has taken the stage at Tokyo’s Suntory Hall, London’s Wigmore Hall, and Italy’s Teatro del Maggio.

Gulf Daily News

Wolfgang Rihm currently bears the flag for German modernism and post-modernism. Memoria marked his Dallas Symphony debut – an American premiere and indeed only the third performance of the work anywhere. Like Stravinsky’s late Requiem Canticles, it offers shards of a formal lamentation – in this case for chorus, two soloists and an odd assortment of orchestral personnel. The chorus sometimes hummed and shouted. Offstage batteries of percussion made a furious clamor. I loved the work’s quirky solemnity, and the audience gave it a surprisingly enthusiastic welcome.

One of the orchestra’s own stars, Christopher Adkins, then got his moment in the sun with Haydn’s Cello Concerto in C Major. Lost until 1961, the piece is one of the few Haydn concertos that suggest his preeminence as a composer. Thank goodness van Zweden is making up for all the years the Dallas Symphony neglected his genius.

The sweet richness of Adkins’ tone, closely matched by the orchestral strings, evoked vocabulary you’d associate with tasting dessert wines: I detected overtones of honey, vanilla and tobacco. The cellist’s extended family has been active on the local early music scene, so I was surprised by the frankly romantic, though not self-indulgent, approach here.

The great filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein was fulfilling a commission to prepare the Soviet public for the approaching World War II in Alexander Nevsky. Prokofiev’s soundtrack is inseparable from the images of medieval knights – good Russians, bad Germans – who battle onscreen. The cantata the composer arranged from the score made a great pairing with Rihm’s memorial to the dead of that same war.

Van Zweden seemed to be hurling gobs of paint onto a mighty canvas as he led the piece. The winds produced pungent, saturated colors, underpinned by tubas and contrabassoon, while the pitched percussion overlaid the picture with enamel splashes. Violins shaped delicate transitions between the climaxes piled on climaxes.

The huge Dallas Symphony Chorus blazed brightly when individual sections could revel in exposed lines. All together, the sound could be muddy. Prepared by interim director Terry Price, the chorus managed a convincing attempt at the language, even if the basses lacked that sepulchral low end of their Russian counterparts. Mezzo Gigi Velasco-Mitchell proved a wonderful alternative to the beefy Slavic contraltos we usually hear in the solo. Her singing was as elegant as it was earthy, confirming the excellent impression she (and treble Bryan Leines) had made in the Rihm.

Dallas News

Janusz Przybylski from Poland is the conductor, whereas Macedonian culture ambassador to Austria, pianist Elena Misirkova-Loza will perform as soloist. The program includes Concerto for Piano and Orchestra by Vlastimir Nikolovski and Symphony No.5 by P.I. Tchaikovsky.

The Macedonian Philharmonic was established only days after the liberation of Skopje on November 24th, 1944 and after more than six decades remains the only symphonic orchestra in the country.

First conductors of the orchestra were Macedonian composers Todor Skalovski and Trajko Prokopiev, who were succeeded by a number of established Macedonian and foreign conductors.

Besides regular performances in the country, the Macedonian Philharmonic has toured in Central and South America, Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, France, Poland, former USSR, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro.

Culture Republic of Macedonia