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| | Arts Calendar / May 21 / Concerts |
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Andras Schiff is world-renowned and critically acclaimed as a pianist, conductor, pedagogue and lecturer. Born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1953 Mr. Schiff started piano lessons at age five with Elisabeth Vadasz. He continued his musical studies at the Ferenc Liszt Academy with Professor Pál Kadosa, Gyorgy Kurtag and Ferenc Rados, and in London with George Malcolm. Indisputably one of the most prominent proponents of the keyboard works of J.S. Bach, Mr. Schiff has long proclaimed that Bach stands at the core of his music making. Mr. Schiff has established a prolific discography, and since 1997 has been an exclusive artist for ECM New Series and its producer, Manfred Eicher. Recordings for ECM include the complete solo piano music of Beethoven and Janacek, two solo albums of Schumann piano pieces, his second recordings of the Bach Partitas and Goldberg Variations, The Well Tempered Clavier, Books I and II and now Beethoven's Diabelli Variations recorded on two instruments: The Bechstein from 1921 and an original fortepiano from Vienna 1820 - the place and time of the composition. Andras Schiff has worked with most of the major international orchestras and conductors, but now he performs mainly as conductor and soloist. In 1999 he created his own chamber orchestra, the Cappella Andrea Barca, which consists of international soloists, chamber musicians and friends. He also works every year with the Philharmonia Orchestra and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. Since childhood he has enjoyed playing chamber music and from 1989 until 1998 was Artistic Director of the internationally praised "Musiktage Mondsee" chamber music festival near Salzburg. In 1995, together with Heinz Holliger, he founded the "Ittinger Pfingstkonzerte" in Kartause Ittingen, Switzerland. In 1998 Mr. Schiff started a similar series, entitled "Homage to Palladio" at the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza. From 2004 to 2007 he was Artist in Residence of the Kunstfest Weimar. In the 2007/08 season he was Pianist in Residence of the Berlin Philharmonic. Andras Schiff has been awarded numerous international prizes. In the spring of 2011 Mr. Schiff attracted attention because of his opposition to the latest Hungarian media law, and in view of the ensuing attacks on him from some Hungarian nationalists, has made the decision not to perform or return to his home country. Andras Schiff has been made an Honorary Professor by the Music Schools in Budapest, Detmold and Munich, and a Special Supernumerary Fellow of Balliol College (Oxford, UK). In program: J.S. Bach, Beethoven.
Tchaikovsky Concert Hall  |
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19:00 | Vivaldi Chamber Orchestra |
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A well-known Russian group under violinist Svetlana Bezrodnaya "Vivaldi Orchestra" presents a program "Three Stories of Love and Loneliness in Music and Word's Reflection. The Third Story: Faust" including music from the opera "Faust" by Gounod, excerpts from the dramatic oratorio "La Damnation de Faust" by Berlioz, overture "Faust" for so-called drama by J.W. von Goethe by Wagner, excerpts from "The Tragical History of the life and death of Doctor Faustus" by Marlowe, "Fausts Leben" by Mueller and "Faust" by von Goethe. Conductor and soloist - Svetlana Bezrodnaya (violin). The concert will be dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the orchestra. The prototype for "Vivaldi Orchestra" was the orchestra of the women's conservatoire in San-Pieta, Venezia, under the great Italian maestro Antonio Vivaldi. "Antonio Vivaldi was not an ordinary man. He was not only a priest but a man of progressive views. He was a padre and a professor of music. Unfortunately, compositions that he wrote for young women playing in his orchestra were never performed on any stage. I wanted to create a women's orchestra and materialize the design of the great maestro," - says Svetlana Bezrodnaya. "Vivaldi Orchestra" comprises 18 charming women who play violin, viola, cello and even double bass. On the stage they wear fancy dresses which remind audiences of the time of Vivaldi. Annually the orchestra gives over 100 concerts; musicians made many recordings and prepared several compact discs. "Our repertoire is broad: we play music of various styles and epoches. The selection of compositions is not casual. Tango is a unique stratum in musical culture. My attitude to tango is special. Tango reminds me of my parent's life. I devoted to them and all of their generation one of the album's discs. We have recorded wonderful music of Alexander Vertinsky, Oskar Strok, Leonid Utesov and other popular authors of the mid-20th century. In their music there is everything - a whirl of passions, love and tenderness," - she adds.
Moscow Conservatory Great Hall |
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