CONCERT 1 – Vladimir Ovchinnikov
Saturday, November 1, 2008 8 PM, at Magee Theatre
Vladimir Ovchinnikov, the only pianist ever to win the top prizes at both the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow (1982) and the Leeds International Piano Competition (1987).
The Independent described him as “an immaculate performer with impeccable taste and a sense of deep repose, even when confronted by the most extravagant technical demands. He seems totally without vanity. He took all Liszt’s bravura in his stride, and exposed La campanella so scrupulously, it prompted a spontaneous burst of applause, which he acknowledged gracefully before continuing.”
Vladimir Ovchinnikov has collaborated with many renowned conductors, among them Vladimir Ashkenazy, , Matthias Barnert, James Conlon, Alexander Dmitriev, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Valery Gergiev, Mariss Jansons, Neeme Järvi, Yakov Kreizberg, Libor Pesek, Valery Poliansky, Gennadi Rozhdestvensky, Thomas Sanderling, Maxim Shostakovich, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski and Sir Georg Solti.
Among Mr. Ovchinnikov’s recordings are compilations of Liszt, Prokofiev and Rachmaninov for EMI Classics; Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition and the Shostakovich First Piano Concerto (with Maxim Shostakovich) for Collins Classics; and Rachmaninov’s Etudes-Tableaux Op. 33 and 39 for Olympia.
Programme
Beethoven – 15 Variations and Fugue in E-flat, Op. 35
Liszt – 3 concert studies Polonaise No. 2 in E major
Intermission
Chopin – Polonaise in C-sharp minor, Op. 26, No. 1
Two Nocturnes Op. 27
Variations on “La Ci darem la mano” from Mozart’s Don Giovanni