The Contemporary Cello

The renowned Tatarstan State Symphony Orchestra shall feature in live performance once more in collaboration with Artistic Director and Chief Conductor Alexander Sladkovsky, awardee of the People's Artist of the Republic of Tatarstan and People's Artist of Russia titles, Winner of the III International Prokofiev Competition, and recipient of the Sergei Rachmaninov International Award ("Special Project in the Name of Sergei Rachmaninov"). In a concert organised by CMDI Group and SAMIT Event Group, with the support of the European Foundation for Support of Culture (EUFSC), the orchestra will team up with First Prize and Special Award winner at the first International Pablo Casals Competition held under the auspices of the Kronberg Academy, First Prize winner at the International Music Competition in Geneva, Professor at the Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler" Berlin, German cellist Claudio Bohorquez for a varied evening of Russian greats alongside contemporary compositions. The evening starts with Farid Yarullin’s Suite from the ballet Shurale — a work which immortalised the name of a brilliant young Tatar composer whose live was to be tragically cut short due to the Second World War, but whose legacy has continued to shine through thanks to the relatively small collection of works he left behind. Next there is contemporary composer Alexey Shor’s much-loved Cello Concerto in F major which saw its world premiere taking place in May 2021, and since then has quickly moved to become one of the composer’s most popular pieces for the instrument. Finally, Sladkovsky and the TSSO shall close the proceedings with one of the staple pieces of their repertoire — Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 2 — a critically-acclaimed joyful piece that won praise from audiences and critics alike since its very first performance in 1872, and has continued delighting audiences all around the world ever since.

Programme:

F. Yarullin

Suite from the ballet Shurale

A. Shor

Cello Concerto in F Major

--Intermission

P. Tchaikovsky

Symphony No. 2 in C minor, Op. 17

Alexander Sladkovsky

Alexander Sladkovsky is a Russian conductor, the People’s Artist of Russia, the People's Artist of the Republic of Tatarstan, who graduated from Moscow and Saint Petersburg conservatories. He is a winner of the III International Prokofiev Competition.

In 2001, he conducted in a concert at the Hermitage Theater in honor of the visit of Her Majesty Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands. He assisted Mariss Jansons and Mstislav Rostropovich and from 2006 to 2010 he was a conductor of the New Russia State Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Yuri Bashmet. Since 2010 Alexander Sladkovsky is an Artistic Director and a Chief Conductor of the Tatarstan National Symphony Orchestra in the city of Kazan (Tatarstan, Russia).

The TNSO under the direction of Alexander Sladkovsky is the first Russian regional orchestra recorded by Medici.tv and Mezzo channels. In 2014, the TNSO conducted by Alexander Sladkovsky performed at the La Folle Journée festival in Japan. In 2016, for the first time in the orchestra’s history, it gave concerts during a European tour in the Brucknerhaus (Linz) and in the Golden Hall of Musikverein (Vienna). In December 2018, the TNSO and Maestro Alexander Sladkovsky made the first tour in China, and in 2019, the TNSO conducted by Alexander Sladkovsky performed at the La Folle Journée festival in France.

In 2016 in cooperation with the Melodiya record label several global musical projects were realized: the recording of three symphonies of G. Mahler (Nos. 1, 5, 9) and all symphonies and concertos of D. Shostakovich. In May 2020, the digital release of the “Tchaikovsky-2020” box set took place — a recording of all symphonies and instrumental concerts by P. I. Tchaikovsky on the Sony Classical label. In August 2020, the TNSO under the direction of Alexander Sladkovsky recorded symphonic works by S. Rachmaninoff on the Sony Classical label. March 2021 concert-presentations of the box set «Sergey Rachmaninoff. Symphony Collection» were held in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Kazan. In July 2021, all of L. van Beethoven's symphonies and music of I. Stravinsky's ballets were recorded. The presentation concerts of the box set of I. Stravinsky's recordings will be held in April 2022 in Perm, Moscow, Kazan, St. Petersburg and Sochi.

Recordings of the concerts of the orchestra conducted by Alexander Sladkovsky are regularly broadcasted on radio Orpheus, BBC Radio 3, Kultura TV.

In 2019, Alexander Sladkovsky was awarded the Sergei Rachmaninoff International Award in the nomination “Special Project in the Name of Sergei Rachmaninoff” for special attention to his legacy and organizing the Sergei Rachmaninoff International Festival “White Lilac” in Kazan.

On September 1, 2021, by order of the rector of the N. Zhiganov Kazan State Conservatory artistic director and chief conductor of the TNSO Alexander Sladkovsky was appointed professor of the Department of Opera and Symphony Conducting at the N. Zhiganov Kazan State Conservatory.

The Tatarstan National Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Alexander Sladkovsky is currently the first and only regional orchestra that has been honored to have its own annual subscription in the Moscow State Philharmonic Society.

Claudio Bohórquez

Cello

The German-born cellist of Peruvian-Uruguayan descent is one of the most sought-after musicians in his field. As a student of Boris Pergamenschikow, Claudio Bohórquez achieved success at an early age at international competitions such as the Tschaikowsky Youth Competition in Moscow and the Rostropovich Cello Competition in Paris.

This culminated in 2000 with three awards at the first International Pablo Casals Competition held under the auspices of the Kronberg Academy: Marta Casals Istomin presented Claudio Bohórquez with first prize, a special award for the best chamber music, and also the use of Casals’ Gofriller cello for a period of two years. He also won first prize at the International Music Competition in Geneva, an achievement that marked the start of his career as a soloist. Meanwhile he has become a teacher himself: from 2011 to 2016 he was professor at the Musikhochschule Stuttgart, in September 2016 he was appointed to the Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler" Berlin, where he has been a guest professor since 2003.

Among others, Claudio Bohórquez has performed with almost all German radio orchestras, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Wiener Symphoniker, the Collegium Musicum Basel, the Orchestre de Paris, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. In Japan, he performs with the NHK Symphony Orchestra and the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra. In the US, Claudio Bohórquez recently gave concerts with the Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Detroit Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, National Symphony and the Philadelphia Orchestra.

Renowned conductors Claudio Bohórquez has worked with include Daniel Barenboim, Christoph Eschenbach, Manfred Honeck, Sir Neville Marriner, Eiji Oue, Krzysztof Penderecki, Leonard Slatkin, Tugan Sokhiev, Lothar Zagrosek and David Zinman.

Claudio Bohórquez is a guest at numerous festivals. Among them are the Casals Festival in Puerto Rico, the City of London Festival, the Penderecki Festival in Warsaw and the Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival. Appearances in the United States have included performances at the Tanglewood, Ravinia and Aspen Festival as well as the Hollywood Bowl. He participated in the chamber music festival Lockenhaus in Austria and at Gidon Kremer's festival "Les Musiques" in Basel. As a passionate chamber musician, he has performed together with Jörg Widmann in Bilbao/Madrid, and with Viviane Hagner and Jonathan Gilad at the Beethoven Marathon at Konzerthaus Berlin.

The past seasons have led the artist to many festivals, including: a. to the Rheingau Music Festival with the Columbian Youth Philharmonic under Andrés Orozco-Estrada, to the Dresden Music Festival with a Chamber Music Project together with the violinist Philippe Quint and the pianist Boris Giltburg, to the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival and the Rheingau Music Festival. The upcoming season includes, among others, the Elbphilharmonie debut on November 8, 2018 and an Elgar cello concert with the Staatsphilharmonie Nürnberg on February 15, 2019.

In addition to numerous CD recordings, radio recordings and television appearances Claudio Bohórquez worked as an interpreter for the soundtrack of Paul English by to the film "Ten Minutes Older - The Cello", which was shown in theaters worldwide. Together with the painter Klaus-Peter Kirchner, Claudio Bohórquez developed the installation project "Raum für Pablo Casals" in homage to this great cellist. He was part of the ECHO-winning album "Four Seasons" (2017) of Daniel Hope, released by Deutsche Grammophon. In July 2018 Berlin Classics will release a new CD with the sonatas of Johannes Brahms and some bonus tracks together with Claudio Bohórquez's duo partner Péter Nagy.

Since the season 2017/18 Claudio Bohórquez is Artistic Director of the Festival Winnenden.

Tatarstan National Symphony Orchestra

The Tatarstan National Symphony Orchestra has achieved worldwide acclaim for its sophisticated performances and dynamic programs. The orchestra was the inspiration of Nazib Zhiganov, former Chairman of the Composers Union of Tatarstan and Dean of the Kazan Conservatory. On the initiative of Zhiganov and Tabeev, the first secretary of the Tatar regional committee of the CPSU, conductor Natan Rakhlin was invited to Kazan. After his death in 1979, Renat Salavatov, Sergey Kalagin, Ravil Martynov, Imant Kotsinsh have worked with the orchestra. In 1985 Fuat Mansurov, the People’s Artist of Russia and the Kazakh SSR, was offered to be an artistic director and chief conductor; he has worked with the TNSO for 25 years. In 2010, after the death of Fuat Mansurov, the Honored artist of Russia (People’s Artist of Russia since 2016, People’s Artist of Republic of Tatarstan since 2020) Alexander Sladkovsky, with whom the Tatarstan National Symphony Orchestra opened the 45th concert season, was appointed the new Artistic Director and Chief Conductor.

The orchestra has entered a new phase since Maestro Sladkovsky came. Organized by the TNSO and Alexander Sladkovsky international music festivals such as Rakhlin Seasons, Miras, White Lilac, Kazan Autumn, Concordia, Denis Matsuev Meets Friends, International Organ festival and Creative Discovery are considered ones of the most prominent events in cultural life of Tatarstan and Russia. The orchestra runs the project “Property of the Republic” for talented pupils from music schools and conservatory students; the educational project for Kazan school pupils “Music lessons with an orchestra” and the project “Healing through music” for seriously ill children.

Among the creative partners of the TNSO are such famous performers and cultural figures as Ildar Abdrazakov, Boris Andrianov, Boris Berezovsky, Igor Butman, Aida Garifullina, Khibla Gerzmava, Veronika Dzhioeva, Placido Domingo, Barry Douglas, Simone Kermes, Sergey Krylov, Vasily Ladyuk Nikolay Lugansky, Mischa Maisky, Denis Matsuev, Mikhail Pletnev, Edward Radzinsky, Vadim Repin, Sergey Roldugin, Maxim Rysanov, Chulpan Khamatova, Dmitry Hvorostovsky, Nikolaj Znaider, Sumi Cho, Albina Shagimuratova and others.

Over the years, the orchestra has also collaborated with a number of conductors, including Yuri Bashmet, Vladimir Altshuler, Michael Güttler, Ken-David Mazur, Christopher Moulds, Andres Mustonen, Krzysztof Penderecki, Marc Piollet, Vladimir Spivakov, Ernst Theis, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Dmitry Jurowski, Kristjan Jarvi, Freddy Cadena and many others.

The TNSO under the direction of Alexander Sladkovsky is the first Russian regional orchestra recorded by Medici.tv and Mezzo channels. In 2014, the TNSO conducted by Alexander Sladkovsky performed at the La Folle Journée festival in Japan. In 2016, for the first time in the orchestra’s history, it gave concerts during a European tour in the Brucknerhaus (Linz) and in the Golden Hall of Musikverein (Vienna). In December 2018, the TNSO and Maestro Alexander Sladkovsky made the first tour in China. In 2019, the TNSO conducted by Alexander Sladkovsky performed at the La Folle Journée festival in France.

Recordings of the concerts of the orchestra conducted by Alexander Sladkovsky are regularly broadcasted on radio Orpheus, BBC Radio 3, Kultura TV.