Soloists:
Pletnev
piano
(Switzerland)
Bouchkov
violin
(Belgium)
Programme
Franz Schubert
Sonata in D Major for Violin and Piano, Op. 137/1, D 384
Edvard Grieg
Sonata in C Minor for Violin and Piano, No. 3, Op. 45
— Intermission —
Alexey Shor – Mikhail Pletnev
Sonata for Violin and Piano
César Franck
Sonata in A Major for Violin and Piano
Marc Bouchkov
Violin
Belgian violinist of Russian-Ukrainian heritage, Mr. Bouchkov is a sophisticated musician of impeccable aplomb and has carved an international career performing with leading orchestras and conductors across Europe. He is one of the most multifaceted and unique artists of the new generation. His orchestral appearances included performances with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Mariss Jansons, the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra and Philippe Jordan, HR Sinfonieorchester and Christoph Eschenbach, the Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala and Lorenzo Viotti, and the Mariinsky Theater Symphony Orchestra and Valery Gergiev. He has also appeared with the NDR-Sinfonieorchester Hamburg, Hessische Rundfunk Orchestra, Tonhalle Orchester Zürich, the Orchestre National de Belgique, the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale RAI in Turin, the Mariinsky Theater Symphony Orchestra, the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Liège, the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestra di Milano Giuseppe Verdi, and the Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra among others, collaborating with conductors such as nominated Christoph Eschenbach, Valery Gergiev, Philippe Jordan, Lorenzo Viotti, and Gábor Takács-Nagy, Stanislav Kochanovsky, Michael Sanderling, Andrey Boreyko, Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider, Dmitry Liss, Christian Arming, Lionel Bringuier, Maxim Vengerov, James Judd, to name but a few.
Mr. Bouchkov has performed in many of the world’s most prestigious concert halls such as Wigmore Hall, Carnegie Hall, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Teatro alla Scala, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Dresden Frauenkirche, Concert Hall of St. Petersburg, Tonhalle Zürich, Munich’s Prinzregententheater, Paris’ Theatre de la Ville, Maison de Radio France, and the Konzerthaus in Berlin among several other venues. A fine chamber musician, he is a regular guest of the Verbier Festival in Switzerland.
Highlights of Mr. Bouchkov’s last seasons included appearances with Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider and the Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra, Stanislav Kochanovsky and the Hessische Rundfunk Orchestra, Gábor Takács-Nagy and the Verbier Festival Orchestra, Philippe Jordan and the Munich Philharmonic, as well as recitals and concerts at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Konzerthaus in Berlin, and the Schubertiade in Hohenems. After a bunch of very successful concerts at the Verbier Festival in Switzerland, and in Montenegro and Greece, Mr. Bouchkov performed with pianist Mao Fujita in Latvia, at the Riga Jurmala Music Festival, and in Georgia at the Tsinandali Festival, where he played five different programs including performances with the pianist and conductor Lahav Shani and Brahms’ Double Concerto with cellist Mischa Maisky under the baton of Christoph Eschenbach. In 2021 he was invited to perform at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam with the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Ludovic Morlot, followed immediately after by an invitation to be artist-in-residence of the orchestra in 2022/2023. During the season he appeared with the orchestra at the Concertgebouw performing Korngold, Stravinsky, and Brahms’ violin concertos under the baton of Lorenzo Viotti, Ryan Bancroft, and Hannu Lintu. In March 2023 he made his debut at La Scala in Milan, performing Korngold’s violin concerto under Lorenzo Viotti. During the Verbier Festival in July 2023, he will perform the entire cycle of Beethoven’s sonatas for violin and piano with pianist Mao Fujita.
Marc Bouchkov’s first recording by Harmonia Mundi is of special significance since it includes two world première pieces by Eugéne Ysaÿe, and two works composed by himself. The album was awarded a Diapason d’Or and a Diapason Découverte as well as nominated for the ICMA 2018 and received tremendous acclaim on Gramophone reviews. The English magazine featured him as “One to Watch “.
Marc Bouchkov’s artistic development has been marked by a string of international awards. He won the first prize at the Montreal International Violin Competition and he is a silver medallist of the Tchaikovsky International Violin Competition. He received the London Music Masters Award and has been honored with the music prize of the Kulturstiftung Dortmund.
Marc Bouchkov was born into a family of violinists. He received his first lessons at the age of five from his grandfather. Studies with Claire Bernard and Boris Garlitsky followed. With Mihaela Martin, Marc developed as a Young Soloist in a postgraduate course at the Kronberg Academy. Since October 2018 he is under the musical tutorship of Eduard Wulfson.
Mr. Bouchkov currently serves as professor on the faculty of the Conservatoire Royale de Liège (BE) and the International Music Academy in Liechtenstein. From 2017 to 2019 he taught at the Kronberg Academy (DE) as Artistic Assistant.
Marc Bouchkov plays a Carlo and Michelangelo Bergonzi violin from 1742-44 as a private loan on behalf of Edwulstrad RMIC Ltd.
Mikhail Pletnev
Piano
Pianist, conductor, and composer, Mikhail Pletnev is one of the most respected and influential artists of the era. His prodigious talent as a pianist has earned widespread acclaim ever since the 1978 Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition, where he won First Prize at the age of 21. An invitation to perform at a 1988 diplomatic summit in Washington led to Pletnev’s friendship with Mikhail Gorbachev and a lifelong commitment to dismantling barriers through the universal language of music.
In 1990, Pletnev formed the Russian National Orchestra – the first independent orchestra in Russia’s history. Under his leadership, the RNO achieved recognition as one of the world’s great orchestras.
Over thirty years later, Pletnev has renewed his commitment to artistic freedom with his founding of the Rachmaninoff International Orchestra, named after the celebrated pianist, conductor, and composer whose own career inspired audiences from all corners of the globe.
Pletnev’s performances and recordings have shown him to be an outstanding interpreter of an extensive repertoire, both as a pianist and conductor. His recordings have earned numerous prizes, including a 2005 Grammy Award for his own arrangement of Prokofiev’s Cinderella. He received Grammy nominations for Schumann’s Symphonic Etudes (2004) and the Rachmaninoff and Prokofiev Piano Concertos No. 3 (2003). His critically acclaimed album of Scarlatti’s Sonatas (Virgin/ EMI) received a 1996 Gramophone Award, and his recording of the complete Beethoven symphonies and piano concertos (Deutsche Grammophon) was named “Best of 2007” by the NewYorker.
Pianist, conductor, composer, and cultural leader – all are significant facets of Mikhail Pletnev’s remarkable life. Yet with his characteristic humility, he insists that he is, simply, a musician.