October 01, 2020 /Thursday/
18.30 hours Hall “M-Ro G.Atanasov”
Conductor: Eric Lederhandler
Program:
S. Prokofiev – Symphony № 1 “Classical”, op.25
F.Mendelssohn – Symphony No. 4, “Italian”, ор.90
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Eric Lederhandler
First foreign conductor to get such a position in China, Eric Lederhandler was recently appointed as Music Director of the Jiangsu Performing Arts Group Symphony Orchestra (Nanjing). He was born in 1965 in Brussels (Belgium). He studied piano at the Brussels Music Academy. At the Brussels Royal Music Conservatory, he graduated and obtained several diplomas.
Eric Lederhandler was laureate of the ‘Wiener Meisterkurse für Dirigenten’ under the leadership of Salvador Mas Conde, conducting the final concert in the ‘Grosser Sendesaal’ of the Austrian Broadcasting Company in Vienna.
In 1992, Eric Lederhandler founded the orchestra Nuove Musiche, and as Music Director of this ensemble he conducts 40 concerts per season in Belgium and other European countries. In Belgium he is regularly engaged as assistant opera-conductor by the Opéra Royal de Wallonie, La Monnaie and the Flemish Opera, and also conducts Opera Mobile and Idée Fixe. He also conducts the Kazan Opera (Russia) and the Shanghai Opera (China)
Eric Lederhandler was principal guest conductor of the Vidin State Philharmonic Orchestra (Bulgaria). He has conducted the Symphonic Orchestra Adana (Turkey), the Noord Nederlands Orkest and the Limburgs Symphonie Orkest (Holland), the Sewanee Festival Orchestra and the Sewanee Symphony (U.S.A.), the Liepaja Symphony Orchestra (Latvia), the Czech Virtuosi (Czech Republic), the Deutsches Kammerorchester (Germany), the Orchestre Régional de L’Ile de France, the Orchestre Bell’Arte, the Orchestre National de Lorraine and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo (France). He is also invited in China to conduct the Central Philharmonic Beijing, the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, the Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra, the National China Symphony Orchestra, the Jiangsu Symphony Orchestra and the Zhejiang Symphony Orchestra, as well as the Symphonic Orchestras of the Sichuan, Xi’An and Beijing Central Music Conservatories, where he also gives master classes in orchestra conducting.
In Belgium he conducts the Ensemble Vocal of the Belgian Radio and Television Company, the Symphonic Orchestra of the Brussels Royal Music Conservatory, the Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie and the National Orchestra of Belgium.
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October 15, 2020 /Thursday/
18.30 hours Hall “M-Ro G.Atanasov
Conductor: GRIGOR PALIKAROV
Soloists:
Mauro Cecchin – piano/Italy/ Andrea Azzolini – piano/Italy/
Program:
L. van Beethoven – Coriolan Overture, ор 62
L. van Beethoven – Piano Concerto № 3, op.37
L. van Beethoven – Piano Concerto № 5, op. 73
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GRIGOR PALIKAROV
Grigor Palikarov (born in 1971 in Plovdiv) graduated the National School of Music and Dance Art “Dobrin Petkov” – Plovdiv with the specialty of piano with excellent grades and golden badge award in 1990 and then he graduated the Music Academy “Prof. Pancho Vladigerov” in Sofia with Master’s degrees in four majors: Opera and Symphony Conducting under Acad. V. Kazandzhiev and Prov. Iv. Vulpe; Composition under Prof. D. Tapkov, Piano – under Prof. Kr. Taskov and Choir Conducting under Prof. St. Kralev. He specialized in Composition within two summer courses in Austria with Prof. Erich Urbaner from Vienna University of Musical and Performing Arts.
His debut at the opera stage was when he was still a student (at the age of 22) and conducted Rigoletto in the opera theatres in Pleven and Stara Zagora.
His professional career as a conductor began in the Symphonic Orchestra of the Bulgarian Army Ensemble (1995 – 1997) and from 1997 to 1999 he was Chief Conductor of the Ensemble. In the meantime, he also took the position of conductor and chief artistic director of the renowned Youth Philharmonic “Pioneer” (1998 – 2003). His debut at the National Opera and Ballet Theatre – Sofia was in 1998 when he conducted a Gala Concerto of Gena Dimitrova by her personal request. Since 2001 he was appointed fulltime conductor of the opera and currently his repertoire includes more than 55 opera and ballet works. Since season 2005-2006 Grigor Palikarov is also the Chief Artistic Director and Conductor of the Symphonic-Opera Society at the National Music Academy “Prof. Pancho Vladigerov” – Sofia.
At present, Grigor Palikarov is a frequent visiting conductor of a number of orchestras and opera theatres among which are: Symphonic Orchestra of the Bulgarian National Radio, Classic FM Orchestra – Sofia, of which he is also a permanent conductor since season 2008-2009, Sofia Philharmonic, Festival Orchestra – Sofia, the national Operas in Plovdiv, Burgas, Varna, Ruse and Stara Zagora, the Pleven Philharmonic, etc. A special place among his multiple conducting performances is occupied by the numerous studio records of various works with the Symphonic Orchestra of the Bulgarian National Radio, along with his participations in prestigious national and international music festivals such as Sofia Music Weeks, March Music Days, Laureate Days “Katya Popova” – Pleven, Austrian Music Weeks, New Bulgarian Music, Winter Music Evenings – Pazardzhik, Opera and Ballet Festival – Varna, Contemporary Music Festival – Pula, Croatia, May Opera Nights – Skopje, Macedonia, Dyuni Festival – Matera, Italy, etc. In October 2014, Grigor Palikarov had two concertos with the orchestra of Classic FM Radio at the prestigious Alte Oper (Frankfurt am Mein) from the programme of the festival of European Culture Days organized by the European Central Bank.
Grigor Palikarov regularly performs abroad in countries like Germany, Austria, Belgium, France, Italy, Luxemburg, Russia, the USA, Slovenia, Greece, Poland, the Ukraine, Taiwan, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Portugal, Mexico, Korea, Japan, Uruguay, etc. He has conducted the Royal Belgian Philharmonic – Brussels, the national Opera and Ballet – Ljubljana, Vienna Chamber Ensemble “New Tone”, Century Symphonic Orchestra – Taipei, Cleveland Opera – the USA where his debut was marked as one of the most important music events for 2009 in the state of Ohio, the Krasnoyarsk Opera and Ballet – Russia, Yanacek Philharmonic – Czech Republic, Czestohowa Philharmonic and Varmino-Masuric Philharmonic – Poland, Symphonic Orchestra – Bari, national Orchestra (SODRE) and the National Choir of Uruguay, Magna Grecia Orchestra – Italy, Dnepropetrovsk Philharmonic, Yucatan Symphonic Orchestra and Monterey Symphonic Orchestra – Mexico, Thessaloniki Symphonic Orchestra, and many others.
Along with his activity as a conductor, Grigor Palikarov composes, performs in concerto playing the piano and teaches at the National Music Academy “Prof. Pancho Vladigerov” where he successfully pursued his Ph.D. degree in Music Studies and Music Art in 2017. Some of his works are being performed at a number of festivals and have been recorded many times. He has won many national and international awards for his successful performance as a composer and pianist at the competitions “Svetosalv Obretenov”, “Albert Roussel”, The Music of the Earth, etc. Three-time laureate of the prestigious award Crystal Lyre of the Union of Bulgarian Musicians and Dancers – 2002, 2012, and 2017, as well as of the ward the Golden Feather.
Within two mandates, Grigor Palikarov has been the Chair of Mensa-Bulgaria – the branch of the worldwide organization of people with high IQ.
Mauro Cecchin
Mauro Cecchin is an Italian pianist born in 1989. He started his studies with Enrico Anselmi and graduated with honors in 2008 at the Vicenza Conservatory of Music, where he also studied composition for five years. In the same year he completed his studies in humanities and was admitted to the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory where he studied for six years. He graduated in 2014 with the top marks and honors under the guidance of Prof. Ruvim Ostrovsky. He participated in many improvisation courses with Christiane Montandon (Dalcroze method) and piano masterclasses with B.Canino, P.Spagnolo, I.Plotnikova.
Since the earliest years of study he performed in the reviews of the young soloists of Vicenza Conservatory and was included in some TV shows (TVA Vicenza, year 1999). He held his first solo concert at the age of 13. During his studies and concert activity he won several national and international competitions.
In 2008 Mauro was selected as the best student of Vicenza Conservatory, winning a scholarship for a specialization course in Florida. In 2010, 2011 and 2014 he was included in the concert reviews of the best students of the Moscow Conservatory. In 2017 he collaborated as an artistic director to the realization of the festival “Una stagione in crescendo” in Vicenza. He obtained several reports in the Italian press, on television and on radio (Greek State Radio 2014, Australian State Radio / SBS TV – interview in 2015, TVA Vicenza, Giornale di Vicenza, il Gazzettino, La Fiamma, il Vicenza).
He has performed in Italy, Russia, France, Greece, Australia, Montenegro, Turkey, mainly as soloist, but also in chamber ensembles and as a soloist with orchestra. As a concert artist he dedicates himself exclusively to classical music: his repertoire, which ranges from the Baroque to the 1900s, is in continuous evolution and his activity is aimed at the diffusion of music through the performance of new programs, which also include some lesser-known works. At the present time he is actively engaged in the study of new repertoires, in concert activity and in the didactic activity with the pre-professional courses in two schools affiliated with the conservatory A. Pedrollo of Vicenza (Accademia Musicale of Schio, Progetto Musica of Valdagno).
Andrea Azzolini
The Italian pianist is recognized by the music world as a distinctive and exuberant young talent. His performances have been described as “far from being academic and dry; rather, he is brimming with youthful vitality, warmth and temperament”.
In the 2014/2015 season, he was awarded the Premier Prix and Outstanding Artistic Performance prize at the 10th International Piano Competition “Albert Roussel” and the Grand Prix at the “Music and Earth” international competition in Sofia. These awards in July 2015 led to the release of a CD containing music by Beethoven and Liszt.
He has performed in major Italian cities and abroad, in Austria, Switzerland, Russia, Bulgaria, England and Holland. He has performed in the Wiener Saal in Salzburg, in the Rachmaninov Hall, Moscow, with the Kammerorchester (ZKO) in Zurich and in Sofia with the “National Academy Symphony Orchestra”.
He has won the first prize in the “A.Salieri”, “Premio Arte e Musica”, “Val Tidone” and “Città di Firenze” international piano competitions.
Andrea Azzolini began studying piano at the age of seven. He graduated from the “F. E.dall’ Abaco” Conservatory in Verona, having studied under Laura Palmieri, a pupil of Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli.
At thirteen he debuted with the Conservatory of Padua Youth Orchestra with Haydn’s Concerto in D major. He continued his studies at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow, under the tutelage of Natalia Trull. During these years he came into contact with important personalities of the music world, including Dmitry Bashkirov, Gary Graffman, Pavel Gililov, Leonid Margarius, Vanessa Latarche. Their praise of his talent was unanimous.
Next season he will give recitals in Paris, Brussels, Sofia and Munich and will perform with orchestras in concertos by Beethoven, Poulenc, Schumann and Chopin.
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October 29, 2020 /Thursday/
18.30 hours Hall “M-Ro G.Atanasov
Conductor: Lodi Luka /Italy/
Soloists:
Giuseppe Lo Preiato – oboe/Italy/ Raffaele Bertolini – clarinet/Italy/
Program:
Lodi Luka – Concerto for oboe, clarinet and strokе
L. van Beethoven – Symphony No. 5, ор.67
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Lodi Luka
Composer, pianist and conductor, Lodi Luka was born in Shkoder (Albania) in 1980 in a musicians family. He started studying the piano at the music school in his hometown when he was six, and received his Diploma in 1998 from the College of Music “Prenke Jakove” in Shkoder. Since then he has been living in Italy, receiving a Piano Diploma from the Milan Conservatory, a Diploma in Composition, a master degree in Music Education and a master degree in Piano Teaching from the Conservatory in Cosenza. Among the many teachers who have guided his musical studies: the pianist Aldo Ciccolini, composers Vincenzo Palermo, Elisabetta Brusa and Luis Bakalov and conductors Pietro Mianiti e Ovidiu BalanHe performed for various institutions, associations and concert seasons in the most important Italian cities (Milan, Rome, Parma, Turin, Naples, Bari, Messina, Cosenza, Reggio Calabria etc.) and in Spain, Albania, Austria, Greece.
He collaborated as conductor with the orchestras; “I musici di Parma”, Milano Music Simphony Orchestra, Philarmonic Ochestra “Mihail Jora” Bacau, Pazardzhik Symphony Orchestra (Bulgaria), Italian Harps Orchestra and the contemporary music ensemble “L’Altro Ensemble” founded by himself. In 2014 he conducted the opera “L’Elisir d’amore” by Gaetano Donizetti in the splendid eighteenth-century “Villa Clerici” in Milan. His compositions has been performed in Spain, Austria, USA, France, Albania, Mexico, Poland, Croatia, Kosovo, Canada, Uruguay, Thailand.
His musical language often combines elements of Albanian folk music with different influences of today’s music, especially postmodern. His catalog includes music for orchestra, soloists and orchestra, chamber and piano music. He is the author of two chamber operas: “Io e l’altro” (Me and the other, 2008) and “Il Sogno” (The Dream, 2009) represented at the Theatre Tieri and the Conservatory of Cosenza and later replicated in different theaters and concert seasons.
In 2017 he won the first prize at the International Composition Competition in Jewish tradition with the composition “Shirah” for viola and strings that was also broadcast on the Raidue TV channel and Rai Radio Tre. His compositions are published by Forton Music (England), Preludio Music (Milan) and Da Vinci Pubblishing (Osaka – Japan).
Giuseppe Lo Preiato
He graduated, under the guidance of Maestro Antonio Sirignano, at the “Francesco Cilea” Conservatory of Vibo Valentia with full marks and honors. At the Conservatory of Music “G. Verdi ”University of Milan, he obtained the II Level Academic Diploma. He studied under the guidance of M ° Carlo Romano, first oboe soloist of the Rai National Orchestra. He attended the Master-class of M ° Thiss, Primo oboe of the National Orchestra of Paris and studied with M ° Alberto Negroni, former Primo oboe of the Teatro alla Scala in Milan. He is a winner of numerous national and international chamber music competitions. He is the winner of the national competition for professorship for qualifications and exams for teaching oboe in the Conservatories of Music. He has played as a soloist in various orchestras: the Roma Sinfonietta Orchestra, the Strelher Orchestra of Milan, the Irpinia Orchestra, the Hipponian Orchestra of Vibo Valentia, the Mozart Orchestra of Milan, the Lyric-Symphonic Orchestra of Milan. He was directed by illustrious conductors such as Ennio Morricone, with whom he made recordings and tours; Anton Guadagno, Stefano Pellegrino, De Mori, Alcott, Veronesi, Renato Palumbo, Gianpaolo Bisanti, Monsignor Giorgio Costantino.
He takes numerous solo and chamber ensembles conserts in Italy and abroad: Belgium, Holland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, France. He has recorded for Deda Musical Editions, for Curci Musical Editions, for Azzurra Edizioni Musicali. He is a teacher of oboe at the “Luca Marenzio” Conservatory of Music in Darfo Boario Terme, a branch of Brescia. He holds the position of Director of the Civic School of Music in Rozzano.
Raffaele Bertolini
Raffaele Bertolini attained his degree in Clarinet at the “D. Cimarosa” Conservatory in Avellino under the guidance of C. Ciociano. He later attended perfecting courses held by V. Mariozzi, M. Ferrando, A. Pay and, as far as the chamber music repertoire is concerned, B. Canino. In 2008 Raffaele achieved the highest Italian academic qualification in instrumental studies by getting the II Level Degree (in Clarinet) at the Milan “G. Verdi” Conservatory. Intense is his schedule as a chamber music player, which led him to play in prestigious venues in Italy, Switzerland, France, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Germany, Belgium, ex-Jugoslavia, Romania, Turkey, Russia, Japan, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, etc. Besides, increasingly remarkable appears Raffaele’s soloist career in collaboration with noteworthy orchestral formations such as “Teatro San Carlo’s Professors” (Naples), Mozarteum Salzburg Symphony Orchestra, Mexican National Symphony Orchestra, Kosice Symphony Orchestra (Slovakia), “G. Strehler” Chamber Orchestra (Milan), “Antal Dorati” Symphony Orchestra (Hungary), Jeunesse Musicale Orchestra (Moscow), Tirana Opera Theatre Orchestra, Moldavian State Symphony Orchestra, Lecco Symphony Orchestra, etc. Worth mentioning is also his activity as orchestral professor within formations of the rank of the UECO Orchestra (Milan), OPECAM Orchestra (Milan), “Pomeriggi Musicali Orchestra” (Milan), Lodi Symphony Orchestra, “E. Lunghi” Orchestra (Pavia), Cantelli Symphony Orchestra (Milano), and the “G. Verdi” Symphony Orchestra (Salerno) conducted by Daniel Oren. Raffaele’s recording catalogue includes interpretations broadcast by Radio Cultura and Rede Globo (Brazil), Vatican Radio, and RAI Radio3 (Italy). For the Linae Occultae label he recently recorded the clarinet-cello-piano trios by Beethoven, and, on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s birth, the Clarinet Quintet K581 and the Clarinet Concerto K622 (for a Coleccion Discografica); besides, for the MacHarmony Editions (Bergamo) he recorded a CD featuring contemporary solo works for clarinet by composers of the SIMC (Italian branch of the International Society of Contemporary Music), and a further achievement of his in this field is the recording of a CD comprising a collection of Piazzolla’s tangos for clarinet and piano. A dedicated teacher, Raffaele taught at the Bari Conservatory and at present is holder of the chair of Clarinet at the “Tenca” liceo music school, while regularly gives master classes in Brazil, Turkey, Kazakistan and Mexico.