The enchanting bandoneon will be heard by Vitebsk audiences for the first time at the Sollertinsky International Music Festival
The Philharmonic Director, Elena Podolyak, expressed confidence that the concerts of the 31st festival will be held with full houses, as in previous years. Over three decades, a circle of spectators has formed who look forward to December encounters with elite art. And this time, the festival program will delight them.
The forum of music will open, as always, on December 3, the birthday of our compatriot, a renowned critic whose authority was indisputable in the artistic community in the 1920s-1940s. To this day, his name commands respect among musicians who find time in their busy schedules to perform in Sollertinsky's homeland.
Traditionally, the program includes a daytime concert by teachers and students of the I. Sollertinsky Vitebsk State Music College, which will take place within the walls of this educational institution. By the way, the college has a museum room dedicated to Ivan Ivanovich, which is visited by festival participants. And the first guest of Vitebsk will be the string quartet "Academy of Chamber Music." The Russian ensemble will perform on the stage of the regional philharmonic on the evening of December 3.
The head of the quartet is cellist Igor Bobovich, who is originally from Belarus. He is a laureate of many international awards, has performed as a soloist with ensembles from various countries, and was the principal cellist in the orchestras of Evgeny Svetlanov and Teodor Currentzis. By the way, the other musicians still play in Music Aeterna under the direction of Currentzis, who is called a genius conductor of our time.
The next concert, intriguingly titled "Missa de Buenos Aires," will take place on December 10. The State Chamber Orchestra of the Republic of Belarus, conducted by Evgeny Bushkov, will perform works by the Argentine composer Martín Palmeri. Incidentally, the "Missa..." was performed at a concert in honor of Pope Francis in Rome. The composer himself played the piano, and he will also perform on the Vitebsk stage. The program also includes another piece featuring the bandoneon. This rare instrument, made famous by the Argentine father of tango, Astor Piazzolla, will be heard by the Vitebsk audience for the first time. Interestingly, the bandoneon will be played by Andrey Sivakov, a student of the Vitebsk Music College and a soloist of the Belarusian State Philharmonic.
An invariable participant of musical evenings in Vitebsk, who stood at the origins of the festival, the ensemble of soloists "Classic-Avant-garde" under the direction of Vladimir Baidov, will present its new program "Giya Kancheli. Portrait with Friends." It includes works by the Georgian composer, as well as musicians close to him in spirit: Alfred Schnittke, Arvo Pärt, Valentin Silvestrov.
The festival will be closed by the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of the Republic of Belarus. Artistic Director and Conductor Alexander Anisimov has chosen Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto and Shostakovich's last (No. 15) Symphony for the final concert. The piano solo will be performed by Andrey Ponochevny, the only representative of the Belarusian piano school to be awarded the title of laureate of the International Tchaikovsky Competition.
– The festival's goal is to showcase the best examples of academic music that develop listeners and give them the opportunity to feel like residents of a cultural capital, – emphasized Vladimir Boboriko, artistic director of the regional philharmonic society.
As part of the festival, an exhibition of posters by students of the Department of Design and Fashion of VSTU, titled "Playing with Classics. Gravity," will open. Young artists and designers strive to convey music through color.