Russian Romantics
- January 2, 2015
- Posted by: admin
- Category: Uncategorized
Nov 08, 2015 (Sun), 7:30pm
at Jockey Club Amphitheatre Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts
HKGNA Music Festival 2015 kicks off with Russian Romantics concert with Leeds International Piano Competition Gold Medalist, Ilya Itin, who has performed with many of the world’s great conductors, including Sir Simon Rattle, Christoph von Dohnanyi, and Mikhail Pletnev to name a few. It will be a night of glorious all Rachmaninoff program including Rachmaninoff Paganini Rhapsody We are excited to present Mr. Itin collaborating with Hong Kong’s finest young musicians from Diocesan Girls’ School Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Mr. Leung Kin Fung, Diocesan Girls’ School Performing Arts Director.
All Rachmaninoff Program
Morceaux de fantaisie, Op. 3, No. 1, Élégie & No. 5, Serenade
Morceaux de salon, Op. 10, No. 2, Valse, No. 3, Barcarolle & No. 5, Humoresque
Variations on a Theme of Corelli, Op. 42
Ilya Itin, Piano
Intermission
Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43
Ilya Itin, Piano
Leung Kin Fung, Conductor
With Diocesan Girls’ School Symphony Orchestra
Festival Artists
Audiences throughout the world revere Ilya Itin’s unique artistry. Ilya is known for his extraordinary range, power, quality of sound and command of the piano. Since capturing the Gold Medal, BBC Audience Award, and Contemporary Music Prize at the 1996 Leeds International Piano Competition, Ilya Itin has performed throughout the world bringing his powerful musical imagination and mastery to wide ranging repertoire.
Ilya Itin has performed with many of the world’s great conductors, including Sir Simon Rattle, Neemi Jarvi, Christoph von Dohnanyi, Yakov Kreizberg, Vassily Sinaisky, Valery Polyansky, and Mikhail Pletnev performing as soloist with orchestras, including the Cleveland Orchestra, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, the Tokyo Symphony, the National Symphony, the London Philharmonic, the China National Symphony, the Symphony Orchestra of India; the Mexico City Philharmonic; and the Rochester Philharmonic.
Born in Yekaterinburg, Russia, his piano studies began at the Sverdlovsk School for the Gifted with Natalia Litvinova. He went on to graduate from the Moscow Conservatory with the highest honors in 1990 working with legendary teacher Lev Naumov. Mr. Itin won his first major piano competition while at the Conservatory, taking second place in the 1990 Russian National Rachmaninov Competition. Soon after, he won top honors in the William Kapell Competition, followed by First Prize, and the Special Chopin Prize at the Casadesus Competition (Cleveland Competition), and the Best Performance of a Work of Mozart, Best Prokofiev Performance, and Third Prize at the Gina Bachauer Competition.
Leung Kin Fung was the awardee of the “Ten Outstanding Young Persons” in Hong Kong in 2002. Leung was the first Hong Kong musician to win the first prize at the “1992 Young Artist Competition” in New York while studying there on full scholarship at the Juilliard School as the winner of the “Irving Ruckens Award”. He also had previously won a significant award for his virtuosity on the viola, the second prize at “The 19th William Primrose International Viola Competition” in 1991.
Leung enjoys a world-class reputation, as demonstrated by his frequent worldwide performances, as well as regular concerto performances with orchestras. Leung has represented Hong Kong in many international music events. In 1999, he was selected by the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in the USA to present a recital at the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., as well as to perform the Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto there with the Sino-America Music Foundation Symphony Orchestra. Leung has been invited each year beginning with the 2000 season to represent Hong Kong in the Super World Orchestra held in Tokyo, which is comprised of concertmasters and principals from the world’s leading orchestras. Leung was invited as the guest concertmaster for the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra in Germany, and the Macau Symphony Orchestra in Macau, 2006.
In May 2005, Leung founded Hong Kong Pure Strings (HKPS), a string ensemble of top string musicians from all over the world where Leung served as the Artistic Director. In 2011, Leung serves as the Artistic Director of the Macao Virtuosi.