Alexander Slobodyanik to perform with Pittsburgh Symphony

PITTSBURGH - Alexander Slobodyanik will appear with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in the American premiere of Alexander Tchaikovsky's Concerto for Two Pianos, with Mariss Jansons conducting and pianist Yefim Bronfman. The weekend concerts, titled "Triple Tchaikovsky," will take place at Heinz Hall for the Performing Arts on Friday, February 21, and Saturday, February 22, at 8 p.m.

The concerto by the contemporary composer was written and dedicated to Mr. Slobodyanik and premiered in St. Petersburg in April 2001, with the composer at the second piano. At the "Triple Tchaikovsky" concerts, Mr. Bronfman will join Mr. Slobodyanik at the second piano.

Mr. Tchaikovsky, who resides in St. Petersburg and is head of the Composers' Union, will attend the concerts. One of Mr. Tchaikovsky's symphonies was recently performed in Lviv at the initiative of his colleague, Ukrainian composer Myroslav Skoryk.

The all-Tchaikovsky program, by three unrelated Tchaikovskys, will include Boris Chiakovsky's "Eight Variations on a Theme" and Peter Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1.

To order tickets by phone call (412) 392-4900; to order on line, go to www.pittsburghsymphony.org. The Heinz Hall Box Office, 600 Penn Ave., is open seven days a week, 8 a.m.-8 p.m.

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Mr. Slobodyanik, known to audiences around the world as one of the great pianists from the former Soviet Union, has enjoyed a prodigious international career spanning over three decades in solo recitals and performances with leading orchestras and in the great concert halls of Europe, North America, the Far East and Australia.

His acclaimed debut at Carnegie Hall in 1968, as part of his first concert tour of the United States, gained him praise and recognition as a leader of his generation. Mr. Slobodyanik returned regularly for concert tours of North America until 1979. After a nine-year hiatus, due to the breakdown of U.S.-Soviet cultural agreements, he returned to the American concert stage in 1988.

Born in Kyiv, Mr. Slobodyanik began music studies at the Special Music School in Lviv with Lidia Golembo. At age 15 he moved to Moscow to study with the legendary Heinrich Neuhaus at the Moscow Central Special Music School and subsequently at the Moscow Conservatory, where he completed his doctorate with Vera Gornostayeva. Mr. Slobodyanik is a laureate of the International Chopin Competition in Warsaw and the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow.

Since emigrating to the United States, Mr. Slobodyanik has performed with the world's great orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, National Symphony and Montreal Symphony in North America, and abroad with the London Symphony, the Royal Philharmonic, the Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Kirov Orchestra and others.

He has collaborated with renowned conductors, including Leonard Bernstein, Sir John Barbirolli, Yuri Bashmet, Christoph von Dohnanyi, Valery Gergiev, Maestro Jansons, Neeme Jarvi, Dmitri Vitaenko, Kiril Kondrashin, Kurt Masur, Mstislav Rostropovich, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Thomas Sanderling, Maxim Shostakovich and Yuri Temirkanov.

Mr. Slobodyanik continues to concertize, mostly in Europe, and is visiting professor of the St. Petersburg Conservatory in Russia. In addition to giving concerts and master classes in New Jersey, New York and Los Angeles, every summer he is a guest teacher at Piano Summer at the State University of New York at New Paltz.

Just this week, Mr. Slobodyanik's student Danylo Shleyenkov, 18, originally from Minsk, who has been studying with the Ukrainian pianist for three years, won the Young Artists' Competition, qualifying him to play with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra.

In addition to solo engagements, Mr. Slobodyanik frequently performs chamber music and two piano programs and concertos with distinguished colleagues.

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Recognized as among the most talented pianists performing today, Mr. Bronfman has won critical acclaim for his solo recitals, orchestral engagements and recordings.

Born in Tashkent, capital of Uzbekistan, in 1958, he immigrated to Israel with his family in 1973. He made his international debut in 1975 with Zubin Mehta and the Montreal Symphony. In 1978 he appeared with the New York Philharmonic and had his Washington recital debut at the Kennedy Center in 1981 and his New York recital debut in 1982 at the 92nd Street Y.

In Israel he studied with pianist Arie Vardi at Tel Aviv University. In the United States he studied at the Juilliard School, Marlboro and the Curtis Institute, and with Rudolf Firkusny, Leon Fleisher and Rudolf Serkin.

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The music director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra since 1997, Maestro Jansons is recognized as one of the most distinguished musicians of his generation. He was music director of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra (1979-2000); associate principal conductor of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra and principal guest conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

Maestro Jansons was recently named music director of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and principal conductor of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam (beginning in 2004).

Maestro Jansons, son of the renowned conductor Arvid Jansons, was born in Riga, Latvia, in 1943. He studied at the Leningrad Conservatory, and continued his training in Vienna with Hans Swarowsky and in Salzburg with Herbert von Karajan. In 1971 he won the International Herbert von Karajan Foundation Competition in Berlin.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, February 16, 2003, No. 7, Vol. LXXI

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