Dubai, UAE
The night that Sergei Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 1 was played for the first time at the Paris Opera in 1923, it made less of an impact that one familiar with the work would expect; Igor Stravinsky’s Octet, given under the baton of the composer himself (making his debut as a conductor on the occasion) premièred the same evening, and was seemingly more in keeping with the tastes of a Parisian audience hungry for radical and shocking music following the première of ‘Le Sacre du Printemps’ (“The Rite of Spring”) ten years earlier. However, with its ethereal textures and lyrical passages, as well as a strong commitment to beauty of tone, Prokofiev’s violin concerto has, thankfully, been reassessed by audiences since that time. Roman Simović, an internationally renowned violinist, is the soloist for this performance of Prokofiev’s work, and the perfect person to successfully and profoundly reveal the depth and beauty in Prokofiev’s work.
To close the first half of the evening’s performance, the Kaliningrad Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Mikhail Kirchhoff, will present Alexander Borodin’s Symphony No. 2 in B Minor, a diverse and highly original work that reflects the composer’s eclectic musical engagements at the time of writing, as well as his divided life that saw him practising chemistry professionally. While working on his second symphony, Borodin was also deeply involved in composing two works for theatre while simultaneously spending long hours in his laboratory preoccupied with practical experiments. Colleagues of the distinguished composer – one of Russia’s ‘Mighty Handful’ or, ‘The Five’ – spoke of the frequent splitting of his time between both disciplines, something which thankfully did not stand in the way of his compositional activities. While the two theatre works – ‘Prince Igor’ and ‘Mlada’ – interrupted the composer’s work on his second symphony, the musical elements that subsequently transferred across to the piece, both from a conceptual and thematic perspective, perhaps are partly responsible for its energy and originality.
Following the interval, the concert returns to the works of Prokofiev, with virtuosic South Korean pianist, Yekwon Sunwoo, performing the composer’s hugely popular yet extraordinarily technically demanding Piano Concerto No. 2 in G Minor. First premièred in 1912, the work is of such virtuosity and difficulty that many pianists refuse to play it in live concerts. Indeed, the enormous technical bravura required for the interpretation of this magnus opus is even visible: during the first movement Prokofiev uses three staves (instead of two) in order to support the enormous number of notes the soloist has to play. The concerto was dedicated to the memory of Maximilian Schmidthof, the composer’s friend who took his own life shortly before the piece’s debut. The history of the piano concerto, acknowledged as one of the most important concertos of the 20th century, is complicated. After the original score had been lost in a fire following the events of the Russian Revolution, Prokofiev subsequently wrote new orchestration, the resurrected piece receiving its première in Paris in 1924.
ROMAN SIMOVIC
YEKWON SUNWOO
Mikhail Kirchhoff is the principal conductor of Moscow Youth Symphony Orchestra, the principal conductor of the Kaliningrad Music Theatre, the Artistic director and the principal conductor of the festival “Eurasian stars”, the principal conductor of the festival “Ak Ertis”.
Teacher at the State Musical Pedagogical Institute named M.M. Ippolitova-Ivanov (Moscow).
Mikhail Kirchhoff was born in 1982 in Moscow. He began his education in the Victor Popov Academy of Choral Art. In 2009 he graduated with honors from the Moscow State P.İ. Tchaikovsky Conservatory.
2010-2012 worked in Istanbul State Opera.
2012-2017 worked in Samsun State Opera.
2018-2020 is the main guest conductor of the State Symphony Orchestra “Academy of soloists” (Kazakhstan).
Performed with various orchestras in Germany, Italy, France, Austria, Latvia, Malta, Turkey, Russia, Kazakhstan and many others.
The new cd release for the LSO live label with the Paganini 24 caprices recording describe Simovic's playing as:
'For a recording that is as musically involving as it is technically dazzling, he has few rivals' The Strad
‘This is what it sounds like when a player moves beyond the technical demands of a work and becomes a vehicle for the essence of the music.’ Strings Magazine
‘[Simovic] shows the astonishing variety of these works... breathtakingly worthwhile.’ The Guardian
'The whole superb rendition can be listened to for pure pleasure.' The Times
Roman Simovic's brilliant virtuosity and seemingly-inborn musicality, fueled by a limitless imagination, has taken him throughout all continents performing on many of world's leading stages including the Bolshoi Hall of the Tchaikovsky conservatory, Mariinsky hall in St. Petersburg, Grand Opera House in Tel-Aviv, Victoria Hall in Geneva, Rudolfinum Hall in Prague, Barbican Hall in London, Art Centre in Seoul, Grieg Hall in Bergen, Rachmaninov Hall in Moscow...
Roman Simovic has been awarded prizes at numerous international competitions among which are: 'Premio Rodolfo Lipizer' (Italy), Sion-Valais (Switzerland), Yampolsky Violin Competition (Russia) and the Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition (Poland), placing him among the foremost violinists of his generation.
As soloist, Simovic has appeared with the world leading orchestras: London Symphony orchestra, Mariinsky theatre symphony orchestra, Teatro Regio Torino, Symphony Nova Scotia (Canada), Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra (Hungary), Camerata Bern (Switzerland), Camerata Salzburg (Austria), CRR Chamber Orchestra (Turkey), Poznan Philharmonia, Prague Philharmonia, North Brabant (Holland), City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, BBC Schottish Orchestra, Orchestra Reggio della Toscana... And with such a conductors like: Valery Gergiev, Antonio Pappano, Daniel Harding, Gianandrea Noseda, Kristian Jarvi, Jiri Belohlavek, Pablo Heras Casado, Nikolai Znaider, Mark Elder, John Wilson...
A sought-after artist, Roman Simovic has been invited and continues to perform at various distinguished festivals such as the “Verbier Festival”, 'White Nights' Festival St. Petersburg, Easter Festival Valery Gergiev Moscow, Dubrovnik Summer Festival in Croatia, 'KotorArt' Montenegro, the BEMUS and NOMUS Festivals in Serbia, 'Sion Valais' Switzerland, Norway's Bergen Festival, 'Moscow Winter' Festival in Russia, Portogruaro Festival in Italy, 'Granada music festival' in Spain, collaborating with such renowned artists as Leonidas Kavakos, Evgeny Kissin,Yuja Wang, Gautie Capuson, Antoine Tamestit, Misha Maisky, Schlomo Mintz, Francois Leleux, Itamar Golan, Simon Trpceski, Janine Jansen, Julian Rachlin...
As an educator, he has presented master-classes in the US, UK, South Korea, Serbia, Montenegro, Israel, Italy. Roman Simovic plays a 1709 Antonio Stradivari violin which was generously given to him on loan from Jonathan Moulds, Bank of America's president. In the 2018 season Roman Simovis released Paganini 24 Caprices for the LSO live label and is planning to release a CD with Tchaikovsky and Glazunov concertos with Gergiev and Mariinsky orchestra for the Mariinsky label.
Mr Simovic is serving as a leader of the great London Symphony Orchestra.
Gold medallist of the Fifteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, Yekwon Sunwoo has been hailed for his “unfailingly consistent excellence” (International Piano) and celebrated as “a pianist who commands a comprehensive technical arsenal that allows him to thunder without breaking a sweat” (Chicago Tribune). A powerful and virtuosic performer, he also, in his own words, “strives to reach for the truth and pure beauty in music”.
The first Korean to win Cliburn Gold, Yekwon’s 19/20 season includes appearances with Fort Worth and Tuscon Symphonies and the Bucheon Philharmonic and debuts with Washington Chamber Orchestra, Royal Danish Orchestra and Danish Radio Orchestra amongst others as well as a debut appearance at the Vail Festival with Dallas Symphony. Recital highlights include Four Season Arts, San Antonio Arts and the Stadttheater Aschaffenburg. 20/21 will see Yekwon make his debut with Orchestra Chambre de Paris and Tugan Sokhiev and return to KBS Symphony with Jaap Van Zweeden.
In previous seasons, he has performed as soloist with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra under Marin Alsop, Houston Symphony, National Orchestra of Belgium, Sendai Philharmonic and Royal Scottish National Orchestra amongst others. Recital appearances include Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, Elbphilharmonie, Salle Cortot and Kumho Art Hall.
An avid chamber musician, Yekwon’s collaborators include Benjamin Beilman, Linus Roth, Andrei Ioniță, Sebastian Bohren, Isang Enders, Tobias Feldmann, Gary Hoffman, Anne-Marie McDermott and the Jerusalem and Brentano Quartets. He has also toured Costa Rica, Guatemala and Panama with the Kumho Asiana Cultural Foundation, performed at Chamber Music of Lincoln Center’s Inside Chamber Music Lectures and been invited to the Summit Music, Bowdoin International and Toronto Summer Music Festivals.
In addition to the Cliburn Gold Medal, Yekwon won first prizes at the 2015 International German Piano Award, the 2014 Vendome Prize held at the Verbier Festival, the 2013 Sendai International Music Competition and the 2012 William Kapell International Piano Competiton.
Born in Anyang, South Korea, Yekwon began learning the piano at the age of 8 and made his recital and orchestral debuts in Seoul at 15. His teachers include Seymour Lipkin, Robert McDonald, Richard Goode and Bernd Goetzke.
In 2017, Decca Gold released Cliburn Gold 2017 two weeks after Yekwon was awarded the Gold Medal and includes his award-winning performances of Ravel’s La Valse and Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Sonata.
A self-proclaimed foodie, Yekwon enjoys finding Pho in each city he vists and takes pride in his own homemade Korean soups.
The first concert of the Kaliningrad Symphony Orchestra was performed on March the 14th in 1988. The program of the first concert included Symphony № 40 by W.A. Mozart, “The Unfinished Symphony” by F. Schubert, “Waltz-fantasy” by M. Glinka and the Overture to the opera “The Barber of Seville” by G. Rossini. The Founder of the Orchestra is the composer and conductor Arkadiy Feldman, who is an artistic leader and the main conductor. He was rewarded the honorary title “The honoured Art worker” for his achievements in the creative activities and propaganda of the musical art.
During all the time orchestra prepared a range of programs, which showed a wide possibility of the musicians, devotion to the artistic ideals. The systematic performances in front of audience, participation of the well-known musicians in some programs, special programes for children and young people determined the wide repertoire aspirations, it’s level of performance. Among the bright interpretations the most famous are Symphony № 6 and Fantasy “ Francesca da Rimini” by P. Tchaykovski, “Scheherazada” and “Spanish Capriccio” by N. Rimsky-Korsakov, Symphony № 5 by L. V. Beethoven. Symphonies by J. Brahms, A. Dvorak, S. Frank. The orchestra performed all the symphony plays of M. Glinka and A. Lyadov, it often performs some symphony fragments from Wagner’s operas.
Performances of symphonies № 5, 6, and 7 by D. Shostakovich, symphony “Iyeremia” were a considerable step forward in the creative biography of the orchestra. The collective originally read the scores of symphony plays of the Kaliningrad composers T. Terehova, E. Storodgeva, A. Feldman and also the German composer Z. Mattus, who was born in the East Prussia.
A creative friendship connects the orchestra and it’s conductor with the Saratov composer A. Brening: his symphony poems were played in the programs, he created symphony № 9 “From the History of the Cathedral” specially for the Kaliningrad Orchestra.
Remarkable soloists played with the Kaliningrad Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Feldman. They are Antony Hewitt (the piano) – laureate of the international competitions in London, Washington, Munich, Claudio Bohorquez (violoncello) – laureate of the international competitions in Germany, Prague, the P. I. Tchaikovski’s competition in Moscow, Paris and Holland, Eric Shuman (the violin) – laureate of the international competitions in Novosibirsk and Poland, Irina Osipova (the piano) – laureate of the S. V. Rachmaninov’s international competitions in Moscow, the Long-Thiboud Compettitions in Paris, Honoured Artist of Russia J. Skvortsov (bassoon), laureates of the international Tchaikovsky competition Hayk Kazazyan, Boris Andrianov, Alexander Ramm, laureate of the World Piano Competition in Cincinnati, USA Ekaterina Mechetina and other solosts.
The Kaliningrad symphony orchestra always takes part in international festivals in Kaliningrad and abroad, various charity actions, performances in the Kaliningrad Drama Theatre, concerts i ballets in Yantar-Hall in Svetlogorsk.
The Kaliningrad Symphony Orchestra often goes on tour to the countries of Europe: Germany, Poland, Italy and Spain. Together with the chorus from Germany, chorus from America, Amy Wagar (soprano) – soloist from Metropolitan-Opera, Elizabeth Ann Sadilek (flute) – professor of the Iowa State (the USA) cantata “Veni Creator Spiritus” by the American composer Jeffrey Prater was played in the cultural program of the international exhibition “EXPO – 2000” in Hannover, the orchestra took part in the premiere of the oratorio "Night" by the American composer Leib Glantz, based on the book of the Nobel Prize laureate in literature Elie Wiesel, held in 2019 in Kaliningrad and in 2020 at the Kuppel Hall in Hanover.
