Utah Symphony Present Evening of Russian Favorites

Utah Symphony Present

Evening of Russian Favorites

The Utah Symphony, guest conductor Gary Walker and piano virtuoso Denis Kozhukhin present "Evening of Russian Favorites"

Garry Walker may hail from Scotland, but later this month he will take Utah Symphony patrons to the musical landscapes of Russia in a concert featuring Russian native Denis Kozhukhin as soloist on Prokofiev’s Concerto No. 1 for Piano and Orchestra.

Along with Prokofiev’s concerto, for which the composer himself was the original soloist, concertgoers will hear symphonies by Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky, Friday, October 21 and Saturday, October 22 at 8 p.m. in the Abravanel Hall.

The concert will begin with Symphony No. 1 by the revolutionary Igor Stravinsky, named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century. Following this will be Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No.1, which will be beautifully realized by the young Kozhukhin, whose talent is garnering him comparisons to former great concert pianists. The Program will conclude with Tchaikovsky’s joyous Symphony No. 2 in C Minor, nicknamed the “Little Russian” because of its extensive use of folk songs from Ukraine, which at the time was frequently called “Little Russia.”

Maestro Walker and Toby Tolokan, Utah Symphony Vice President of Artistic Planning, will present a free pre-concert lecture each night, 45 minutes prior to the start of the performance in the First Tier Room of Abravanel Hall.

Abravanel Hall
123 West South Temple
Salt Lake City, Utah

Artist Bios:

Garry Walker, Conductor

Scottish born Garry Walker studied at the Royal Northern College of Music and in July 1999 won the Sixth Leeds Conductor's Competition. In October 1999 he replaced at very short notice an indisposed Daniele Gatti in the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra's opening concert of their Barbican season and thus began an on going relationship resulting in his appointment as Permanent Guest Conductor, a post he recently relinquished.

Garry Walker was Principal Conductor of Paragon Ensemble and now enjoys a close association with Red Note Ensemble Scotland's premiere contemporary music ensemble.

In the UK Garry Walker has worked with all the BBC orchestras, the Hallé, National Youth Orchestra of Scotland, English Northern Philharmonia, London Sinfonietta, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia, and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Chamber orchestras have included the Northern Sinfonia, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra and Academy of St Martin's in the Fields. With SCO he has appeared at the St. Magnus Festival, with the ECO in Lisbon and the City of London Festival and with ASMF at the Barbican's Mostly Mozart Festival. He regularly appears at the Edinburgh Festival and in 2004 conducted a notable performance of Mahler's Symphony No. 2 ‘Resurrection' with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.

Outside the UK he has most recently appeared with the Nieuw Ensemble. Garry Walker has also appeared with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Luxembourg and the Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin. In 2007 he made his debut with Collegium Musicum in Denmark and was invited to return in 2008 and 2009. In 2008 he made a very successful début with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra to which he will return in April 2011.

An experienced opera conductor, Garry Walker conducted Britten's Curlew River at the 2005 Edinburgh Festival and the following year the world premiere of Stuart Macrae's opera The Assasin Tree which he subsequently conducted at the Royal Opera House's Linbury Studio. In 2007 he made his debut with English National Opera in David McVicar's much acclaimed production of Benjamin Britten's The Turn of the Screw and in 2008 conducted Cimarosa's The Secret Marriage for Scottish Opera and Curlew River for Lyon Opera.

During the autumn of 2010 Garry Walker conducted Alexander Raskatov's A Dog's Heart for English National Opera, a co-production with De Nederlandse Opera.

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Denis Kozhukhin, Piano

Not only did Denis Kozhukhin win the most prestigious competition of the world with the 1st Prize of Queen Elisabeth Competition 2010, but he is also considered one of the most talented pianists of his generation, evoking memories of the great Russian musicians of the past such as Guilels, Richter, and Horowitz.

Born in 1986, Denis Kozhukhin was initiated to piano by his parents. He studied at Zhavoronok School, and then at Balakirev School with Natalia Fish receiving a diploma with honor when he was only 14. In 2000-2007 he studied in the Queen Sofia High Music School of Madrid with Dmitri Bashkirov and Claude Martinez-Menher. He had master classes with Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Zakhar Bron, Gerard Causse, Claude Franck, Ralf Gothoni, Christian Ivaldi, Zoltan Kocsis, Stephan Kovacevich, Vitali Margulis, Menahem Pressler, Fou Ts'ong, Rosalyn Tureck, Elisso Virsaladze, among others. During these years he recieved a diploma with honor by the Queen Sofia herself as the best student and twice as the best chamber music group with his Cervantes Trio. He has been under Dmitri Bashkirov's protection for many years, and has followed master classes at the International Academy Lake Como in Italy and classes with Kirill Gerstein in Stuttgart Musik Hochschule.

His prizes of International Piano Competitions already include: 1st Prize at Queen Elisabeth Competition 2010, 1st Prize at Vendome Prize 2009 in Lisbon, 3rd Prize at Leeds International Piano Competition 2006, 1st Prize at Morocco International Music Competition 2010, the Grand Prix at Alicia de Larrocha Competition (Andorra), Reuters Foundation Price (Verbier Festival & Academy), the Grand Prix at "In Svyatoslav Richter´s Memory" 1997, the Grand Prix at Tortona 1996.

His next engagements include concerts in the most prestigious halls and festivals of the world including Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall in New York, Walt Disney Hall in Los Angeles, Chopin Festival in Poland, Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival, Bouffes, Louvre, the Hamburger Symphoniker conducted by Jeffrey Tate (Brahms 1), the Hungarian National Philharmonic conducted by Zoltan Kocsis in Budapest & Szeged (Prokofiev 2).

Tickets can be purchased by calling (801)355-ARTS(2787), in person at the Abravanel Hall ticket office or by visiting http://www.usuo.org/.


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