Chieti • Italy
Orchestra:
Kyiv Virtuosi Orchestra (Ukraine)
Conductor:
Chircop
(Malta)
Soloists:
© Pierre Lidar
Russo
clarinet (France)
Barseghyan
piano (Armenia )
Programme
Concerto for clarinet and orchestra
in A major, K. 622
Piano Concerto No.12
in A major, K. 414
Alan Chircop
Over the past twenty years, Maltese conductor Alan Chircop directed several international orchestras and appeared in various theatres, concert halls and festivals in many different countries.
Among others, he conducted the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall and Westminster Central Hall in London, the London Concert Orchestra, the Sofia Philharmonic – National Orchestra of Bulgaria, the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Macedonia, Armenian State Symphony Orchestra and the National Chamber Orchestra of Armenia, the State Orchestra ‘Academy of Soloists’ of Kazakhstan, L’Orchestra Citta’ di Ravenna and L’Orchestra Sinfonica Duchi d’Acquaviva(Italy), the Royal Oman Symphony Orchestra, the Leopoli State Symphony Orchestra (Ukraine), L'Orchestre Lyrique de Region Avignon-Provence (France), the Karlovy Vary Symphony Orchestra (Czech Republic), the Mihail Jora Philharmonic of Bacau (Romania), the Karelia State Philharmonic Orchestra, the Kislovodsk - Mineralnye Vody State Symphony Orchestra and the Sochi Symphony Orchestra (Russia), the Pleven Philharmonic Orchestra (Bulgaria); the Westsächsische Philharmonie and the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Symphony Orchestra Leipzig (Germany), the Camerata con Cor(d)e of Belgium and the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra.
Alan Chircop’s repertoire is very wide ranging and apart from an extensive symphonic and concerto repertoire, he has directed several opera productions, contemporary music premieres and also different genres arranged for symphonic orchestras.
In 1993 he obtained the Diplome de Fin d’Etudes in pianoforte with distinction at the Conservatoire Regional de Musique in Lyon (France). He pursued his studies at the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Music Academy in Leipzig (Germany) obtaining two Masters Degrees: in Pianoforte under the tutorship of Prof. Christoph Taubert (1994-2001) and Orchestral Direction with Prof. Gert Bahner (1997-2003). He also followed a one-year specialization course in Orchestral Direction with Prof. Uros Lajovic at the Hochschule für Musik in Vienna (Austria).
Alan Chircop was also the Founder and Principal of the Euro Academy of Music and Arts in Malta, Artistic Director of the Virtuoso Classics Concert Series, and Artistic Director of the Renaissance Cultural Foundation and Principal of the Visual & Performing Arts Schools in Malta.
Since 2014, he is the Artistic Director of the European Foundation for Support of Culture, organising many festivals, competitions and events around the world and often serves as jury member of international music competitions. He is also the artistic director of New Names Malta - National Music Competition.
Franck Russo
Clarinet
Born in 1986, Franck Russo is currently Principal Clarinet of the Orchester Symphonique de l'Opéra de Toulon Provence Méditerranée. It was at the CRR in Rueil-Malmaison that he began his professional studies with Florent Héau, winning a 1st prize, a prize of excellence and a 1st prize for chamber music in the class of Michel Moraguès in 2006. The same year , he was unanimously received at the CNSM in Paris, in the class of Michel Arrignon, a true Master of the French School. He obtained his prize there with Jérôme Julien-Laférière with honors.
Winner of the Banque Populaire and Meyer foundations as well as numerous international competitions (Printemps de Prague, Classic Winds in Hamburg and Tel Aviv, Debussy in Paris, Nielsen in Denmark, Lancelot in Rouen and Tokyo), Franck won 3rd prize, the prize for public and the "Young Talent of the Nocturnes de la Cathédrale de Rouen" prize at the 1st Jacques Lancelot International Competition as well as a special prize for the best interpretation of Claude Debussy's Rhapsody at the 2014 Tokyo Competition. Prague, just before joining the Orchestra, he won the 3rd prize in the prestigious competition. In March 2020, just before the pandemic, he won the 1st prize and special prize for the piece "Verdiana" by Alexey Shor at the "Classic Winds" competition in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Passionate about chamber music, he followed the lessons of Daria Hovora in sonata with the pianist Pierre-Yves Hodica. The duo then formed won the Grand Prix of the city of Le Havre at the Forum Musical de Normandie, and obtained a 1st prize at the CNSMDP. Among other numerous concerts and festivals, they also participated in the program “Plaisirs d'amour” hosted by Frédéric Lodéon on France Musique, or “énérations Jeunes Interprètes” by Gaëlle Legallic.
He recorded his first album “A la Nuit” / “In der Nacht” around Schumann and Schubert. For this project, he chose to surround himself with talented artists: Laurianne Corneille at the piano, a Schumanian recognized by critics, who released her first Schumann record on Klarthe Records "L'Hermaphrodite", and Lia Naviliat-Cuncic soprano an artist with multiple faces and facets, equally at ease in the baroque, sacred, contemporary, classical, German and French lied repertoire, and even folk! The disc will be released in Spring 2022!
Franck has also invested himself under the teachings of David Walter and Henry Fourès in the clarinet quartet. He therefore arranges for this group various pieces by classical composers inspired by different folklore, notably from Eastern Europe, and wins the 1st prize at the 26th European Competition for Ensemble Music FNAPEC 2012 in Paris. The Quartet obtains its prize unanimously with the congratulations of the jury before winning a Master's degree. The ensemble will be releasing their 1st album very soon.
He collaborates with various professional orchestras, such as the Opéra de Marseille, Régional de Cannes, Sécession Orchestra, Symphonique de Bretagne, Pau Pays de Béarn, Picardie… directed by Alain Altinoglu, Dmitri Jurowski, Dennis Russell Davies, Jean-Claude Casadesus , Arie Van Beek, Rani Calderon, Valerio Galli, Gábor Takács-Nagy, Serge Baudo, Krystof Penderecki, Olari Elts, Emmanuel Krivine…
He is also involved in La Compagnie Traintamarre de 7h10 which brings together the performing arts, music, theatre, poetry and storytelling. After more than 90 performances of "Contes de l'Isba" a musical journey in Eastern Europe, the structure is now working on a new show, around the Quatuor pour la fin du temps by Olivier Messiaen.
Sona Barseghyan
Piano
Sona was born in 1989 in Yerevan, Armenia. She began playing the piano since the age of 7 in Tchaikovsky Music School in her home city. Following 10 years of music school, Sona continued her studies at Yerevan State Conservatory, in the class of Prof. Sergey Saradzhyan, where she received her B.A. and M.A. degrees with excellence (2006-2012). Afterwards, Sona had moved to Germany, Cologne, where she continued her education in Cologne Conservatory, in the class of Prof. Nina Tichman. In 2014 Sona received her 2nd M.A degree, and graduated from Cologne Conservatory in 2016 after receiving her P.H.D. Sona has greatly advanced her professional skills due to master classes delivered by famous musicians Norma Fisher, Vladimir Krainev, Phillippe Cassard, EvgenyKissin, TamasUngar, ArkadiyZenziper, Vadim Monastirskiy and Leonel Morales.
Sona has given her first solo recital when she was 8. The concert has been a great success, followed by a long sequence of other concerts which paved a way for her prosperous career later on.
Sona is prize-winner in a number of international competitions in Armenia, Georgia, Italy, France and Germany.
In 2007, when Sona was 16, she became the second prize winner of the 2nd International Aram Khachaturian competition. This achievement has reinforced the growing number of invitations to various concerts from Europe.
Two years later, in 2009, she was honored by the President of the Republic of Armenia with “Youth Prize for the achievements in performing classical music”. The medal was handed personally by the President.
Her fruitful career hasn’t lost its pace after moving to Germany. In 2013 Sona became the prize-winner of the International Karl Robert Kreiten competition in Cologne, and the International Amadeo Prix competition in Aachen.
Along with her activities as soloist, Sona also performs as experienced chamber musician. As such, she’s been a guest pianist the International Music Festival in Schlern since 2011. Here, as well as in other music festivals, she has cooperated with such famous musicians as AleksanderIvashkin, RossitzaGoza, JurateSvedaite, GesaLücker and Alexandre Brussilovsky. As A. Brussilovsky once noted, “Sona is a performer with impressive technique, wonderful sound, and deep and unique musical individuality”.
Throughout her career as a performer, she has been to concerts all around Europe, as well as in United Arab Emirates, Belarus, Georgia, Russia, Australia, USA, etc.
She performed in the concert halls of the Moscow Conservatory, at Carnegie Hall,Independence Theatre in Sydney, Mazzolleni Hall in Toronto.
Kyiv Virtuosi Orchestra
Ukraine
Grammy Nominated cellist/conductor Dmitry Yablonsky has been Chief Conductor of Kyiv Soloists for 3 years before deciding to organise a renovated orchestra, Kyiv Virtuosi.
All musicians were hand picked to join this exclusive ensemble and immediate success was obvious. All concerts in Kyiv are performed to a sold out audience. Musicians in Kyiv Virtuosi are the best chamber music players and professional soloists, who performed all over the world from Paris to Japan and from London to San Francisco, not to mention many countries in South America.
In addition to the intense activity as a chamber orchestra, Kyiv Virtuosi are also a symphony orchestra that is very demanded for special projects. In summer 2016, Kyiv Virtuosi chamber orchestra and Kyiv Virtuosi Symphony orchestra were both in residence of Gabala Music Festival in Azerbaijan, and have toured Italy, France, Spain and Switzerland. In February 2017 Dmitry Yablonsky become the initiator of the tour devoted to the 25th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between Ukraine and Izrael. There were 17 concerts in the different places such as: Herzliya, Rishon, Le Zion, Motzkin, Tel-Aviv, Rehovot, Beer-Sheva, Haifa, Hahariya, Ashkelon, Or Akiva, Petah Tikva, Modiꞌin.
A symphonic serie with important soloists have been organized at the Franco Theatre in Kyiv, with a great welcome by the audience and specialized critic.
Kyiv Virtuosi perform and tour around the world, and are starting a very vast and intense recording schedule for Naxos Records, with Chamber Symphonies by Shostakovich and Silvestrov among others.