Russian pianist Dmitri Alexeev will perform with the ASO

The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra performs with internationally acclaimed pianist Dmitri Alexeev on Saturday, January 28 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, January 29 at 3 p.m. at the Robinson Center Music Hall. This concert is the fourth Stella Boyle Smith Masterworks Concert and is sponsored by Metal Recycling.

The Russian Legends concert features Music Director Philip Mann, Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 1 “Classical,” Shostakovich’s Concerto for Piano No. 2 and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 2 “Little Russian.” According to Daily Telegraph, Alexeev is one of “the most remarkable pianists of the day.”

Children kindergarten through 12th grade can attend our Sunday matinee performances for free (with the purchase of an adult ticket) using the Entergy Kids Ticket – available for download at www.ArkansasSymphony.org. Adult single tickets range from $14-$52 and can be purchased online at www.ArkansasSymphony.org or over the phone at (501) 666-1761. Student and military tickets are $10.

Program Details

RUSSIAN LEGENDS
Saturday, January 28 at 8 p.m.
Sunday, January 29 at 3 p.m.
Robinson Center Music Hall

Featuring
Dmitri Alexeev, piano
Philip Mann, conductor
Arkansas Symphony Orchestra

Program:
PROKOFIEV Classical Symphony, Op. 25 (Symphony No. 1)
SHOSTAKOVICH Concerto for Piano No. 2 in F Major, Op. 102
Dmitri Alexeev, piano
INTERMISSION
TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 2 in C minor, Op. 17, TH 25b (Little Russian; Ukranian)
Dmitri Alexeev, piano

Russian pianist Dmitri Alexeev is one of the world's most highly regarded artists. His critically praised recitals on the world's leading concert stages and his concert appearances with the most prestigious orchestras have secured his position as one of "the most remarkable pianists of the day" (Daily Telegraph).

He has performed with such orchestras as the Berlin Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw of Amsterdam, the five London orchestras, Orchestre de Paris, Israel Philharmonic and the Munich Bavarian Radio Orchestra. He has worked with conductors such as Ashkenazy, Boulez, Bychkov, Dorati, Gergiev, Giulini, Jansons, Muti, Pappano, Rozhdestvensky, Salonen, Temirkanov, Tilson Thomas and the late Klaus Tennstedt to name just a few.

Dmitri Alexeev was born in Moscow and began to play the piano at the age of five. One year later his talent took him to the Moscow Central Music School and then to the Moscow Conservatoire, where his professor was the eminent Soviet pianist Dmitri Bashkirov. Whilst pursuing graduate studies, he participated in several international competitions, capturing top honours at the 1969 Marguerite Long Competition in Paris, at the 1970 George Enescu Competition in Bucharest, and at the 1974 Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. In 1975 he was unanimously awarded first prize at the Leeds International Competition in England.

Since then Dmitri Alexeev has made concert tours throughout Europe, the United States, Scandinavia, Japan, Australia and Hong Kong, appearing at the most important musical centres of the world. He returns regularly to Russia and plays frequently with the St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra under Yuri Temirkanov both at home and on tour. He has performed, among others, at the Edinburgh, Aldeburgh, Prague Spring and Maggio Musicale (Florence) Festivals, and has collaborated on chamber music with artists such as Mstislav Rostropovich, Yuri Bashmet, Joshua Bell and Barbara Hendricks and he gave the world premiere of Penderecki's Piano Concerto at the Beijing Festival with the China Philharmonic Orchestra.

Highlights of recent seasons have included several performances at the Leeds International Recital Series, of which Alexeev was Artistic Director during 2009, a return to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Gatti, concerts with the Helsingborg Symphony, KBS (Korea) Symphony and St. Petersburg Philharmonic orchestras and a recital tour of Canada and North America.

Dmitri Alexeev has made many fine recordings for EMI, BMG, Virgin Classics, Hyperion and Russian labels. His discs include piano concertos by Schumann, Grieg, Rachmaninov, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Scriabin, Medtner and solo works by Brahms, Schumann, Chopin and Liszt. Following his Virgin Classics recording of the complete Rachmaninov Preludes, which won the Edison Award in the Netherlands, BBC Music Magazine said: "He is a pianist at once aristocratic, grand and confessionally poetic. This is an inspiring disc."

Philip Mann, Music Director

Hailed by the BBC as a "talent to watch out for, who conveys a mature command of his forces," American conductor Philip Mann is quickly gaining a reputation as an "expressively graceful yet passionate" artist on three continents. Newly appointed as music director of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, he also serves as the San Diego Symphony's Associate Conductor and formerly an American Conducting Fellow/assistant conductor, where he has conducted over 200 performances of Jacobs Subscription Masterworks, Symphony Exposed, family, young people's concerts, Kinder Konzert, pops, and other special programs.

His most recent subscription appearance was described by the San Diego Union Tribune, "Mann was masterful. a skilled musical architect, designing and executing a beautifully paced interpretation, which seemed to spring from somewhere deep within the music rather than superimposed upon it." The winner of the Vienna Philharmonic's Karajan Fellowship at the Salzburg Festival, he has served as cover conductor for the Cleveland Orchestra and as the Schmidt Conducting Fellow of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. Mann has worked with leading artists such as Joshua Bell, Sharon Isbin, Marvin Hamlisch and given world premiers of major composers including John Corigliano. He maintains a lively schedule as a guest conductor having conducted at New York's Avery Fischer Hall and London's Barbican Center. Active in symphonic, operatic, and new music repertories, he has served as music director of the Oxford City Opera and Oxford Pro Musica Chamber Orchestra.

Elected a Rhodes Scholar, Mann studied and taught at Oxford, and won the annual competition to become principal conductor of the Oxford University Philharmonia. Under his leadership, the Philharmonia's performances and tours received international press and acclaim. Mann studied with Alan Hazeldine of London's Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Colin Metters at the Royal Academy of Music, and Marios Papadopolous of the Oxford Philomusica. He worked with Leonard Slatkin and the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center.s National Conducting Institute and Michael Tilson Thomas at the New World Symphony. Mentorship with Esa-Pekka Salonen and Jorma Panula followed at the Los Angeles Philharmonic's Conducting Masterclasses. He has also worked under Imre Pallo, David Effron, John Poole, and Thomas Baldner at Indiana University where he was appointed visiting lecturer in orchestral conducting, and worked as assistant conductor at the IU Opera Theater. Additional studies came under the Bolshoi Theater's music director, Alexander Vedernikov at the Moscow State Conservatory, Gustav Meir, Kenneth Keisler, and with Pulitzer Prize winning composer Robert Ward.

Trained as a violinist, Mann has appeared as a soloist, concertmaster, and chamber player in the USA and abroad. He is the recipient of numerous awards including commendations from several cities, and the state of California.

Arkansas Symphony Orchestra

The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra celebrates its 46th season in 2011-2012 under the leadership of Music Director Philip Mann. ASO is the resident orchestra of Robinson Center Music Hall, and performs more than thirty concerts each year through its Stella Boyle Smith Masterworks Series, ACXIOM Pops LIVE! Series and River Rhapsodies Chamber Series, in addition to serving central Arkansas through numerous community outreach programs and bringing live symphonic music education to over 20,000 school children and over 200 schools.