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Young Russian Pianist Makes SCO Debut In All-Romantic Programme |
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Young Russian pianist Polina Leschenko makes her debut with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra performing Chopin's Piano Concerto No 1 in an all-romantic programme under SCO Conductor Emeritus Joseph Swensen in November.
The concerts, which take place in Edinburgh's Queen's Hall (Thursday 8 November), Glasgow's City Halls (Friday 9 November) and Aberdeen Music Hall (Saturday 10 November) are Swensen's first with the Orchestra this Season. The programme of romantic classics also includes Puccini's I Crisantemi and Schumann's Symphony No 1 'Spring'.
Born in 1981 in St Petersburg, Polina Leschenko made her solo debut at the age of eight with the Leningrad Symphony Orchestra. A protégé of legendary pianist Martha Argerich, Polina has since performed with many prestigious orchestras throughout the world, including the Hallé, the Australian Chamber Orchestra, and the Russian National Orchestra. Her new Liszt Recital CD was recently awarded the Choc du Monde de la Musique. In these concerts with the SCO, she performs Chopin's Piano Concerto No 1 in E minor - written to show off the composer's own musicianship to greatest advantage.
The outline of Schumann's 'Spring' Symphony was written in just four days in January 1841, and completed not long after. Schumann wanted the orchestra to play with all the freshness and yearning of new growth; he wished to capture the excitement and relief at the end of winter. The movements originally had poetic titles, although Schumann withdrew them later on the basis that the symphony should be able to communicate its ideas without subtitles.
The concerts are the first of the Season for the Orchestra's Conductor Emeritus, Joseph Swensen. He returns in April to conduct violinist Henning Kraggerud in Brahms' Violin Concerto.
Venues
EDINBURGH Queen's Hall
Thursday 8 November, 7.30pm
GLASGOW City Hall
Friday 9 November, 7.30pm
ABERDEEN Music Hall
Saturday 10 November, 7.30pm
ROMANTIC CLASSICS
puccini I Crisantemi
CHOPIN Piano Concerto No 1
SCHUMANN Symphony No 1 'Spring'
Joseph Swensen, conductor
Polina Leschenko, piano
Tickets
Edinburgh (£8-£25, concessions available)
Queen's Hall Box Office 0131 668 2019
Glasgow (£10-£23, concessions available)
GRCH Box Office 0141 353 8000
City Halls Box Office in person only
Aberdeen (£8.50-£19, concessions available)
Aberdeen Box Office 01224 641122
JOSEPH SWENSEN, conductor
Joseph Swensen is currently Principal Conductor of Malmö Opera och Musiktheater and Conductor Emeritus of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. His present and future engagements at Malmö Opera include productions of La Bohčme, Macbeth, La Fanciulla del West and Salomé.
Swensen's many guest conducting engagements include the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, BBC Symphony Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Hallé Orchestra, Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, London Mozart Players, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre National de Montpellier, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Netherlands Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta de la Ciudad de Granada and Orquestra Nacional do Porto.
Joseph Swensen was Principal Conductor of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra from 1996-2005. When he relinquished this post in September 2005, he was invited to become the orchestra's Conductor Emeritus. Swensen and the SCO have toured extensively in the US, Far East, Spain, Portugal. They have performed at the Mostly Mozart Festival in New York, Tanglewood and Ravinia Festivals, the BBC Proms, the Barbican and the Concertgebouw. Swensen and the Orchestra have made a series of recordings for Linn records, including music by Mendelssohn, Sibelius, Brahms, Prokofiev and Dvořák. The Prokofiev recording features Swensen's own orchestration of the composer's Cinq Melodies. His enthusiasm for new music has resulted in many major works written for both him and the SCO by such composers as James MacMillan, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Sally Beamish, Karin Rehnqvist and Eleanor Alberga.
Before deciding to dedicate himself solely to his conducting career, Swensen enjoyed a highly successful career as a violin soloist and was an exclusive recording artist with BMG. Nowadays his occasional appearances as soloist are a natural extension of his work as a conductor, playing and directing concerti with the SCO and other orchestras with whom he enjoys a particularly close relationship. His love of chamber music results in occasional performances in that genre as well; for example in October 2007 he performs at the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society in New York. Swensen is also active as a composer. His major recent works include Mantram (1998) for string orchestra, Latif (1999) for solo cello with chamber ensemble, and Shizue (2001) for solo shakuhachi and orchestra. Swensen's orchestration of the rarely performed 1854 version of Brahms' Trio Op. 8, a work he has entitled Sinfonia in B, will be performed by orchestras in Europe and the US during the 2007/08 season, following its UK premiere by the SCO in 2006. He is currently completing a work for solo horn and orchestra (written for Radovan Vlatkovic) entitled The Fire and the Rose, which is inspired by T.S. Elliot's Four Quartets.
Joseph Swensen was born in 1960 in New York (an American, of Norwegian-Japanese descent). He lives with his family in Copenhagen, Denmark.
POLINA LESCHENKO, piano
Polina Leschenko was born in 1981 in St Petersburg into a family of musicians and began playing the piano under her father's guidance at the age of six. She made her solo début at the age of eight with the Leningrad Symphony Orchestra in St Petersburg. She studied with Sergei Leschenko, Vitali Margulis, Pavel Gililov, Alexandre Rabinovitch-Barakovsky and Christopher Elton. At the age of 16 she received her Higher Diploma with the greatest distinction from the Royal Conservatory in Brussels.
Polina Leschenko's recent engagements have included recitals in Berlin, Luxembourg, Tokyo and Milan as well as appearances at the Festivals of Risor, Osnabrück and Sintra and at the Festival 'Progetto Martha Argerich' in Lugano. She has also worked with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and Orquesta de Euskadi. Following her début with the Hallé Orchestra in the 2005/06 season, she has been reinvited to work with the orchestra on numerous occasions, under Mark Elder, Cristian Mandeal and Joseph Swensen. In November 2006, Polina Leschenko took part in a major tour with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, playing Mendelssohn's double concerto with Richard Tognetti. The tour was hugely successful and resulted in an immediate reinvitation.
Engagements with orchestras this season include appearances with the Hallé Orchestra, Russian National Orchestra, and the London Mozart Players. She will give major recitals in Vienna, Minnesota, Atlanta and New York.
Last season Polina Leschenko was the Palais des Beaux Arts' candidate for the ECHO Rising Stars series. Together with the cellist Christian Poltéra, she appeared throughout Europe, including Vienna, Salzburg, London, Amsterdam, Paris, Brussels as well as at the Carnegie Hall, New York. An accomplished and admired chamber musician, Polina Leschenko has performed in many festivals this summer, including Risor, West Cork, Moritzburg, and Musiktage Mondsee. She performs regularly with artists including Heinrich Schiff, Ivry Gitlis, Christian Poltéra, David Cohen, the Capuçon brothers, Alexander Sitkovetsky, Natalie Clein and Priya Mitchell.
Polina Leschenko has recorded a début CD for EMI in the series 'Martha Argerich presents …' with works by Liszt, Chopin, Kreisler/Rachmaninov, Brahms and Bach/Feinberg. Gramophone described her as having 'technical dexterity in abundance, and signs of a major artist in the making'. She has recorded a well-received disc of Prokofiev chamber music with Martha Argerich, Christian Poltéra and Roby Lakatos, for Avanticlassic. Her latest disc - a Liszt recital, including the B minor Sonata - has just been released by Avanticlassic. The disc has already won three awards: a Choc du Monde de la Musique, Pizzicato magazine's Supersonic award and a Joker from Belgian magazine Crescendo.
Scottish Chamber Orchestra
The Scottish Chamber Orchestra is internationally recognised for its innovative approach to music-making and programme planning. Formed in 1974 with a commitment to serve the Scottish community, it is also one of Scotland's foremost cultural ambassadors. The Orchestra performs throughout Scotland, including annual tours of the Scottish Highlands and Islands and South of Scotland, and appears regularly at the Edinburgh, St Magnus and Aldeburgh Festivals and the BBC Proms. Its busy international touring schedule has recently included Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Sweden and the USA.
Following several successful concerts with the Orchestra over recent years, Estonian conductor Olari Elts took up the position of Principal Guest Conductor this Season. He conducts four concert weeks in the 07/08 Season including the premiere of Mark-Anthony Turnage's A Prayer out of Stillness; a musical portrait of Schubert and the season finale - Nelson and Napoleon.
The SCO's long-standing relationship with Conductor Laureate Sir Charles Mackerras has resulted in many exceptional performances and recordings over the years, particularly at the Edinburgh International Festival where they have established an enviable reputation for concert performances of opera. Their recordings together include seven Mozart operas, a Grammy-nominated set of Brahms' Symphonies, the full cycle of Beethoven Symphonies (with the Philharmonia Orchestra), four CDs of Mozart Piano Concertos with Alfred Brendel, Mozart's Requiem and a disc of Kodály and Bartók for Linn Records.
Following nine successful years as Principal Conductor, Joseph Swensen became the Orchestra's Conductor Emeritus in 2005. Swensen has developed a unique relationship with the SCO as soloist as well as conductor and he and the SCO have released five CDs together through the Orchestra's partnership with Linn Records.
Other conductors who appear regularly with the SCO include Nicholas McGegan, Andrew Litton, Frans Brüggen, John Storgrds and Thierry Fischer.
The Orchestra enjoys close relationships with many leading composers and has commissioned more than a hundred new works, including pieces by Composer Laureate Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Mark-Anthony Turnage, Edward Harper, James MacMillan, Haflidi Hallgrímsson, Einojuhani Rautavaara and Stuart MacRae.
The Orchestra plays a prominent role in the Edinburgh Festival. In 2005, it was awarded a Bank of Scotland Archangel by The Herald in recognition of its sustained quality contribution to the Festival.
The SCO has led the way in music education with a unique programme of projects. SCO Education provides workshops for children and adults across Scotland and has attracted interest and invitations from overseas.
The Orchestra broadcasts regularly and has a discography now exceeding 140 recordings available by calling 0845 270 1812 or online at theshop.sco.org.uk.
The Scottish Chamber Orchestra receives funding from the Scottish Government.
Scottish Chamber Orchestra, 4 Royal Terrace, Edinburgh EH7 5AB
Tel 0131 557 6800, Fax 0131 557 6933, email info@sco.org.uk web www.sco.org.uk |
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