Russian Chamber Music: Poetry and PIano

RUSSIAN CHAMBER MUSIC: POETRY AND PIANO Monday 13 November 2017, 7.30pm Amaryllis Fleming Concert Hall

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RUSSIAN CHAMBER MUSIC: POETRY AND PIANO Monday 13 November 2017, 7.30pm Amaryllis Fleming Concert Hall Tonight’s concert is a collaboration between the Royal College of Music and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Students from the RCM keyboard faculty join forces with graduates from the RADA MA Theatre Lab course to present this unique programme of words and music from Imperial and Soviet Russia, in the centenary year of the Russian Revolution.

“In every fleeting vision I can see a thousand worlds, Within each one, an ever-changing rainbow to unfurl.”

The inspiration for tonight’s concert comes from these words, written by Symbolist writer Konstantin Balmont, and recited by the poet himself at a literary salon in Petrograd in 1916. In the audience at that cultural gathering was a composer called Sergei Prokofiev, who, if the legend is correct, was so inspired by Balmont’s sonnet, that he composed a piano piece entitled Mimolyotnosti – ‘Fleeting Visions’ – in their honour, and which is one of several piano works we will hear tonight.

With the Russian Revolution as the beating heart of the programme, we will explore the cultural context of that momentous event, as captured, and possibly foreshadowed, in the music and literature of the time. Common themes emerge across both art forms, with the hallucinogenic prose of Andrei Bely and the whimsical stanzas of Konstantin Balmont finding an echo in the piano works of Prokofiev and Medtner, and the unmistakable bite of satire – see Mayakovsky’s Bedbug – making its presence felt in the music of Shostakovich. We also touch upon the tragedy of Revolution and Civil War, through a glimpse of Isaac Babel’s semi-autobiographical memoirs, Red Cavalry. There are countless other writers, composers and vital voices we could have featured from these era – but in our defence, all our pianists and actors may provide us with tonight are ‘fleeting visions’ of a unique moment in history. © Sophie Rashbrook, writer and RCM Chamber Music Manager RADA and RCM are part of the Virtual Conservatoires network. This concert is being live-streamed worldwide on Youtube via rcm.ac.uk/live, and is part of the Philharmonia Orchestra's Voices of Revolution: Russia 1917 series

RADA Performers in order of appearance: Charles Sobry | Jo Moss | Tom Kelsey | Gunnar deYoung All Russian translations © Sophie Rashbrook Reading Andrei Bely (1880–1934) Konstantin Balmont (1867–1942)

Extract no 1 from Petersburg

Visions fugitives

Read by Tom Kelsey *** Prokofiev (1891–1953)

Visions fugitives i Lentamente ii Andante iii Allegretto iv Animato v Molto giocoso vi Con eleganza vii Pittoresco (Arpa) viii Commodo ix Allegro tranquillo x Ridicolosamente xi Con vivacità xii Assai moderato xiii Allegretto xiv Feroce xv Inquieto xvi Dolente xvii Poetico xviii Con una dolce lentezza xix Presto agitatissimo e molto accentuato xx Lento irrealmente

Rustam Khanmurzin piano *** Reading Andrei Bely (1880–1934)

Extract no 2 from Petersburg

25’

*** Prokofiev (1891–1953)

Sarcasms for piano

i ii iii iv v

11’

Tempestoso Allegro rubato Allegro precipitato Smanioso Precipitosissimo

Jun-Lin Wu piano INTERVAL OF 15 MINUTES Reading Isaac Babel (1894–1940)

Excerpt from short story ‘Gedali’ from Red Cavalry

Gunnar DeYoung Liutov, a young soviet soldier | Charles Sobry Gedali, an elderly Ukranian *** Medtner (1880–1951)

Piano Sonata no 9 in A minor op 30

15’

Matthew Chan piano *** A Vladimir Mayakovsky (1893–1930)

Abridged excerpt from The Bedbug, Scene 3

Jo Moss Prisypkin, the groom | Tom Kelsey Elzevir, the bride Gunnar deYoung Party Representative | Charles Sobry Oleg Bard, a pianist

*** Shostakovich (1906–1975) Aleksei Demchenko piano

Piano Sonata no 1 op 12

15’

Rustam Khanmurzin Rustam graduated from the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory where he studied with Alexander Mndoyants. He is a laureate of a number of piano competitions worldwide: in Russia, France, Italy, China, South Korea and Greece. He made his concerto debut with the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra at the Moscow Soloists Festival where he was awarded a title of Laureate for an outstanding performance of Chopin’s Second Piano Concerto. The First Lady of Poland presented Rustam with the Silver medal of the second Asia-Pacific Chopin Piano Competition. In 2013, the Melodiya Lable launched an Anthology of Piano Music by Russian and Soviet Composers CD with Rustam's recordings of pieces

by Tchaikovsky. Rustam was entrusted by PETROF Pianos to introduce a new Ant. PETROF 275 grand piano on the Russian music stage. Rustam has twice won the Presidential Award for Talented Youth; in 2015 he was awarded with the PianoForum Magazine Award and Russian Music Union Prize for a successful performance at the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory. Rustam is currently studying with Ian Jones at the Royal College of Music as a Future of Russia Scholar.

Jun-Lin Wu Jun-Lin is currently in his third year of undergraduate studies on a full scholarship at the Royal College of Music, studying with Dmitri Alexeev. During his time here, he was selected to perform for China’s First Lady Ms Liyuan Peng on her visit to London. Jun-Lin has been a prize winner at numerous competitions, including the Chinese Golden Bell piano competition, Langlang Shenzhen Futian international piano competition, and in the Beethoven Sonata piano competition at the RCM. Invited to attend concerts in Hamburg, Germany, and the Steinway China 10th Anniversary Gala concert in Beijing, Jun-Lin has also been selected to take part in the Canadian Calgary Morningside Music Bridge programme as a full scholarship student four times.

Matthew Chan Born and raised in Hong Kong, Matthew started learning piano at the age of four. Matthew gained his Masters in Piano Performance at the Royal College of Music, and currently, he is working towards his Artist Diploma in Piano Performance at the RCM, studying with Dina Parakhina. Matthew has won numerous prizes in international competitions, including the Steinway & Sons International Youth Piano Competition, Kyungsung International Piano Competition and at Chappell Medal Piano Competition. Performing in countries including Russia, France, the UK, South Korea, China and Thailand, Matthew was chosen to perform at the concert in memory of HRH Princess Galyani Vadhana. He was selected to participate in the Kyungsung International Piano Academy Festival, and invited to participate in the Medtner Marathon Concert at the RCM and in Rachmaninoff Hall at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory.

Aleksei Demchenko Aleksei is currently a student at the RCM, under the tutelage of Dmitri Alexeev. He is an RCM Award Holder, a scholar of LSR Group Company, and is supported by a Lady Ruth Fermoy Award, a William Mealings Award and Talent Unlimited.

Born in Alma-Ata, Kazakhstan, Aleksei started playing piano at the age of six. In 1998 he moved to Kaliningrad, where he studied at the Shostakovich Music School under Sadovskaya Olga, later studying at Kaliningrad Regional Musical College of Rachmaninov, under Vladimir Slobodyan. In 2007, he made his concert debut with Kaliningrad Symphonic Orchestra. Aleksei continued his studies at Moscow State Conservatory with Irina Osipova where he was selected to play in masterclasses with Anne Oland, Boris Bloch, Dina Yoffe, Dmitri Bashkirov, and worked with soloists of the Bolshoi Theatre: Alina Yarovaya and Svetlana Kasyan. Aleksei began studying at the RCM in 2015. Since then, he has played concerts all over the UK and participated in festivals such as First Medtner’s Festival, Stravinsky’s Festival in London and Harrogate International Festival. He has been a prize-winner at competitions including Bluthner Piano Competition, International Piano Competition ‘Gardus ad Parnassum’, International Competition for Singers and Accompanists in Kazan, ‘Piano Voce’ Competition, International Piano Competition ‘Citta di Moncalieri’, and Kiev International Piano Competition.

Charles Sobry Charles is a young visual artist and actor who trained at the Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp, Belgium, where he also cultivated his love for (classical) music. After his studies in Antwerp, he found himself in need of expanding his experience on theatre and came to London to train at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, finishing his studies in September this year. As the founding member of two Belgium companies, Het Bataljong and Dichtatuur, and with experience on Belgian stages, such as deSingel Internationale Kunstcampus Antwerpen, Stadsschouwburg Antwerpen, deTijd, vzw Rataplan and Buda Kortrijk, Charles aspires to establish collaborations between the London immersive theatre scene and the ensemble-based theatre scene in Flanders, Belgium.

Jo Moss Jo recently graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art with an MA in Acting and Theatre creation. Prior to this, he has spent the last ten years performing as a circus artist in productions all over the world. Having trained in France and then in Brussels at the renowned Ecole Superiour des Arts de Cirque, he carved out a career in contemporary circus, mixing his passion for acting with acrobatics and circus disciplines. Jo is now co-director and actor in the theatre company New Public and teaches international workshops as well as regularly on the BA at The National Centre for Circus Arts in London.

Tom Kelsey Tom trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art on their MA Theatre Lab programme. Prior to this he trained with National Youth Theatre and at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He has lived and worked as an actor in New York, Massachusetts and London. He is a founding member of the theatre company New Public, formed by RADA graduates, where he creates physical, devised, ensemble theatre.

Gunnar deYoung Born and raised a Dutchman, Gunnar graduated from the MA Theatre Lab programme at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and the Stella Adler Studio of Acting in NYC. His career spans work in television, film and theatre in the United States, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Favourite theatre credits include playing Beethoven in Dog Sees God, Clive and Gerry in Cloud 9, Dr Jung in Strange Divide and Prometheus in a production of Prometheus Bound in an ancient theatre in Greece. Most recently he was seen as the lead in a stage adaptation of On Having No Head at the Bloomsbury festival.

Translator and Dramaturg Sophie Rashbrook Sophie holds an MPhil and first-class BA (Hons) in French and Russian from Clare College, Cambridge. As part of her language studies, she spent a year studying cello at the St Petersburg Conservatoire, and subsequently worked as an Assistant Director and Interpreter on opera productions at the Royal Opera House, London Coliseum, Opéra Comique, and Théâtre du Capitole. As an opera director, she has staged productions in Cambridge (Orpheus and Eurydice, Clare College Chapel; The Fairy Queen Re-Imagined, West Road Concert Hall) and London (The Sandman by Laura Bowler at the Tête-a-Tête Opera festival). From 2013–16 she was Dramaturg at Welsh National Opera, reporting to David Pountney, and is currently developing a play with director Polly Graham about legendary Set Designer Ralph Koltai, in addition to writing articles for a forthcoming Dorling Kindersley classical music guide.

MORE MUSIC INVESTING IN THE FUTURE OF MUSIC Our More Music development is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform our campus.

New state-of-the-art facilities at the heart of our building will complement our existing spaces and heritage.

Our plans include: • • • • •

two new performance spaces additional practice rooms for students a new Royal College of Music Museum a new café/ restaurant and courtyard area with improved access a new organ

Over the next few months, some boxes and equipment may be visible on the Amaryllis Fleming Concert Hall stage while a new organ is assembled and voiced by Flentrop Orgelbouw. Our new organ will provide a wonderful new facility for music at the RCM, and its inaugural concert will take place on February 25 next year.

Access routes around the College may vary throughout the project and wayfaring signage will be regularly updated to reflect changes.

We ask for your patience and understanding as we transform our campus.

The video playing in the Inner Hall and BaRCM visualises the ways in which the development will enhance our campus facilities and you can find more information on the More Music Campaign at www.rcm.ac.uk/moremusic If you have any questions please contact moremusic@rcm.ac.uk

RUSSIAN CHAMBER MUSIC: NEWS AND SUSPENSE 7.30pm | 13 March 2018 | Britten Theatre Mosolov Four newspaper announcements Algirdas Kraunaitis Prayers (world premiere) Prokofiev Flute Sonata op 94 Glière 8 Pieces op 39 Shostakovich String Quartet no 4 in D major op 83 Discover the revolutionary soundworld of Alexander Mosolov with one of his provocative miniatures for voice inspired by newspaper announcements.

Alongside, duets by the Russian impressionist Glière are paired with Shostakovich’s fourth string quartet, notable for its suspenseful final movement.

This concert is part of the Philharmonia Orchestra’s Voices of Revolution: Russia 1917 series.

RCM Box Office: Tel +44(0)20 7591 4314 or visit www.rcm.ac.uk/events for more information.

Tickets: £8