Concerts at the Small Hall of Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory

In November 2009 the Small Hall of Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory hosted two unique concerts representing, in fact, truly international projects.

The Viennese Rarities

On November 2, 2009 the Viennese Rarities concert took place involving the Austrian baritone Wolfgang Holzmair and the famous Russian Rachmaninov Trio – Victor Yampolsky (piano), Mikhail Tsinman (violin) and Natalya Savinova (cello).

“The musicians from various countries appear on the Small Hall’s stage today making the audience aware that Russia is a rightful member of the global community,” pianist Victor Yampolsky expressed his opinion. “It is well known that our country has very high standards of music education but, unfortunately, our musicians have long been isolated from the rest of the world. Luckily, we have an opportunity now to cooperate with foreign performers within the same project and to demonstrate different musical traditions on the same stage”.

The concert involved the English Folk Songs for a Baritone, the Scottish Folk Songs with Variations for a Baritone by Joseph Haydn, as well as the Songs for a Baritone by Felix Mendelssohn. While singing requires special skills, there are few singers in the world who can cope with these compositions. The excellence of Wolfgang Holzmair was fully appreciated by the audience.

“Wolfgang Holzmair is one of the world’s best baritones skilled in the chamber music repertoire,” says Victor Yampolsky. “This is not his first visit in Moscow. Last year we performed jointly in the same Hall. He is a wonderful singer. This cooperation is also interesting and useful to us”.

The concert was held under the auspices of Gazprom and Austrian OMV.

The Three Days in Paris

On November 28, 2009 a joint performance by the Rachmaninov Trio and the French Debussy Quartet – Christophe Collette (first violin), Dorian Lamotte (second violin), Vincent Deprecq (viola), Alain Brunier (cello) – took place in the same Small Hall of the Conservatory.

In the beginning of the concert Dorian Lamotte addressed the audience, “It is a great pleasure for us to perform in Russia now and to play French music for you. We like these pieces of music and hope that they will appeal to you, as well”.

The Three Days in Paris concert included the music by Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel and Franck Cesar. In the conclusion the audience enjoyed the Quintet in F Minor by Franck Cesar.

“We are very pleased by these concerts. Firstly, we had an opportunity to play with wonderful partners owing to Gazprom’s support. Secondly, the Small Hall of the Conservatory is actually the best place in Moscow for performing chamber music. Thirdly, these concerts have demonstrated the audience’s great interest in such projects and we were lucky to receive a lot of favorable comments,” shared his impressions Victor Yampolsky.

Indeed, the audience took great interest in the concert: all the tickets for the Three Days in Paris were sold off over 2 months prior to the concert. The concert took place under the auspices of Gazprom and French GDF SUEZ.

The concert involving the Rachmaninov Trio and Jurgen Kussmaul

In 2010 Gazprom retained the tradition of supporting international music projects. On March 6 the Small Hall of the Conservatory hosted the classical music concert involving the Rachmaninov Trio and the German viola player Jurgen Kussmaul. The concert was supported by Gazprom and Wintershall Holding AG. The musicians played compositions by Felix Mendelssohn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.