2009–10 Concert Season

Nordic Shores: Four Generations of Danish Composers
2009 Nordic Music Festival
St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic
Anne Marie Granau, conductor
Ellen Sejersted Bødtker, harp
Friday, October 29, 2009, 7 pm
Glinka Hall, Philharmonic

Join the St. PCP as it celebrates Nordic music of the 20th century and present day with two anniversaries (Ruders is 60 years, Holmboe is 100 years in 2009) and two world premieres (Schmidt and Fundal). Four generations of important Nordic composers are represented, performed by the St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic and the distinguished female musicians Ellen Sejersted Bødtker, harp and Anne Marie Granau, conductor. The participants of the concerts are from Russia, Norway, Finland and Denmark. The concert reflects and unites the focuses of both the Nordic Music Festival (celebrating composer anniversaries and providing opportunities for young musicians from Scandinavia and Russia) and of the Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic's mission of cultural exchange and integration of music of our time into the standard repertoire of the concert hall.

PROGRAM
Nicklas Schmidt (1976-): Cubulus - for Chamber Orchestra
     commissioned by St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic (World premiere)
Karsten Fundal (1966-): Harp Concerto "The Shore" (World premiere)
Maja Ratkje: Moods IV (for solo harp) (World premiere)
     Ellen Sejersted Bødtker (Norway)
Vahn Holmboe (1909-1996): Sinfonia No. 2, op. 73
Poul Ruders (1949-): 4 Compositions (1980) (in honor of his 60th birthday)

Anne Marie Granau	Ellen Sejersted Bødtker

Nicklas Schmidt	Karsten Fundal	Poul Ruders	Vahn Holmboe

Golijov, one of the most successful and active composers working today, is rarely played in Russia and it is with great pride that the St. PCP will open this event with "Last Round", Golijov's tango-inspired work for strings. The St. PCP will then present Naomi Niskala, in her Russian debut, honoring Schnittke on the 75th Anniversary of his birth, and the 30th Anniversary of the Concerto for Piano & Strings. Niskala has performed internationally as soloist and chamber musician to great acclaim in series such as the San Francisco Symphony Chamber Series at Davies Symphony Hall and Spectrum Concerts Berlin at Philharmonie Hall. The concert will conclude with two masterworks for chamber orchestra by Wagner and Stravinsky.

PROGRAM
Golijov: Last Round (1996)
Schnittke: Concerto for Piano and Strings (1979)
     Naomi Niskala, piano
--
Wagner: Siegfried Idyll
Stravinsky: Dumbarton Oaks

Оркестровая классика и десять новых песен на русские, французские и английские стихи Пушкина, Лермонтова, Тютчева и Набокова

Classiques orchestrals et dix nouvelles mélodies sur des poèmes en russe, français, et anglais de Pouchkine, Lermontov, Tiouttchev et Nabokov

Orchestral classics and ten new songs set to Russian, French and English poems by Pushkin, Lermontov, Tyutchev, and Nabokov

This concert celebrates Russian poetry and is dedicated to the memory of Vladimir Nabokov, who was born 110 years ago less than a mile from Glinka Hall. The first half of the program will premiere a song cycle by the renowned French composer Isabelle Aboulker, based on poems written in French by the three greatest 19th century Russian poets (according to Nabokov himself): Pushkin, Lermontov, and Tyutchev. This song cycle will be complemented by Shostakovich's Chamber Symphony.

The second half of the program premieres an unprecedented song cycle in which six renowned composers, three Russians and three Americans, set to music three of Vladimir Nabokov's early Russian poems and his own translations of them into English. The composers are: Ljova Zhurbin, Michael Schelle, Andrei Rubtsov, Jay Greenberg, Ivan Barbotin, and James DeMars. The balance of the program will consist of Schnittke's fanciful Moz-Art a la Haydn.

PROGRAM
Puccini: Cristantemi
Aboulker: Caprice Etrange (World Premiere): a cycle of four songs based on French poems by 19th century Russian poets
     1. "Mon portrait" (A. Pushkin)
     2. "Quand je te vois sourire" (M. Lermontov)
     3. "Hélas, ce qui n'est plus a-t-il jamais été?" (F. Tioutchev)
     4." Jusqu'au plaisir de nous revoir" (A. Pushkin)
Shostakovich: Chamber Symphony in C minor, Op. 110a
--
Schnittke: Moz-Art a la Haydn
"Sing, Poetry" (World Premiere): a cycle of six songs based on the poems of Nabokov set by three Russian and three American composers
     1. "Dozhd' Proletel" by Lev Zhurbin (Russian)
     2. "The Rain Has Flown" by Michael Schelle (American)
     3. "Eshe bezmolvstvuju" by Andrey Rubtsov (Russian)
     4. "I Still Keep Mute" by Jay Greenberg (American)
     5. "Provence" by Ivan Barbotin (Russian)
     6. "Provence" by James DeMars (American)

The St. PCP has the honor of presenting the Icicle Creek Piano Trio, an up-and-coming group from the United States made up of an international cast: violinist Jennifer Caine (USA), pianist Oksana Ezhokina (RUS), and cellist Sally Singer (UK). The trio is in Residence at the Icicle Creek Music Center, Leavenworth, WA, USA, and has received rave reviews for their debut recording of Schubert and Ravel trios in the American Record Guide, The Strad, Gramophone, Fanfare, and others.

The second half of the concert will begin with American Pulitzer Prize winning composer Steven Stucky's Colburn Variations. The concert will end with Prokofiev's playful homage to the classic era, the "Classical" Symphony.

PROGRAM
Beethoven: Egmont Overture
Beethoven: Triple Concerto for Violin, Cello, and Piano, Op. 54
     Icicle Creek Piano Trio
     Jennifer Caine, violin
     Sally Singer, cello
     Oksana Ezhokina, piano
--
Steven Stucky: Colburn Variations
Prokofiev: Symphony No. 1 "Classical"

Jorma Panula	Alexander Polishchuk

This international workshop for talented young conductors will take place from April 27 through May 2, 2010. Several of the most talented participants in the St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic's Conductor's Masterclass will be chosen to conduct on the final concert of the six-day intensive program.

PROGRAM
Stravinsky: Dumbarton Oaks
Shostakovich: Chamber Symphony, Op. 110a
--
Haydn: Symphony No. 99

The St. PCP makes its United States debut at the Wall to Wall: Behind the Wall festival

Wall to Wall: Behind the Wall explores the wealth of great music emanating from Eastern Europe from the end of World War I through the Cold War to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. During this complicated time, music commissioned by the state for propaganda was counterbalanced by music of protest, some of which was subtly subversive, some more overt in its socio-political commentary, as well as by more personal music of the spirit. Connections to the musical avant garde and affinities with the West also played a role, although much of this music was underground during the height of the Cold War.

Wall to Wall: Behind the Wall explores music from the former republics of the USSR and other Eastern European countries including Hungary, Romania, Poland, and the Czech Republic, all important centers for musical expression. Works by composers as diverse as Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Khatchaturian, Lutoslawski, Schnittke, Ligeti, Penderecki, Mansurian, Shafaryan, Bardanashvili, Gorecki, Kancheli, Panufnik, Gubaidulina, Part, Usltvolskaya, Kurtag and others will be heard, as well as music by younger composers who came of age during the Soviet regime and are now creating music in a changed world.

Participating artists include some of New York's finest musicians as well as visiting ensembles from Eastern Europe. Check the website as artists are confirmed. Wall to Wall Behind the Wall will be preceded by a week of events produced in conjunction with several Eastern European consulates and cultural organizations.

Anna Ignatowicz-Glinska: Passacaglia

Nebojsa Jovan Zivkovic: Ultimatum II

Slovenian Percussion Duo:
Simon Klavzar, Joze Bogolin (Slovenia)
Second Prize and Audience Prize in the 2009 International Percussion Duo Competition in Luxembourg, 2009

Schumann: Cello concerto
(transcribed for double bass by Thierry Rogen)

Thierry Rogen, double bass (Switzerland)
Second prize, The International Johann Matthias Speger Double Bass Competition, 2008

Mascagni: “Ed anche Beppe amo” from 'L'amico Fritz'
Puccini: “Che gelida manina” from “La Boheme”
Lehar: "Dein ist mein ganzes Herz" from "Das Land des Lachlns"
Puccini: “Nessun dorma” from “Turandot” (encore)

Jaesig Lee (South Korea), tenor
Grand Prix, The Maria Callas Grand Prix, Athens (Greece), 2009

World premiere performance of Sergei Slonimsky's King Lear

Although Slonimsky's opera based on Shakespears' masterpiece King Lear was written over a decade ago, it has never been performed before. This world premiere performance will take place within the intimate walls of the beautiful Hermitage Theatre and will certainly be a highlight of the summer season in St. Petersburg.