2002-09-03

One of the famous pianists and conductors - Vladimir Ashkenazy - recived scores from PWM.

On September 2nd a great tourneé of Vladimir Ashkenazy with The European Union Youth Orchestra came to its end. After one of the concerts V. Ashkenazy recived the scores of Wojciech Kilar (Piano Concerto and Exodus) and Grażyna Bacewicz (10 etiudes).

Vladimir Ashkenazy has often been quoted as saying that for him music is indivisible. This conviction is borne out by his passionate engagement with so many different aspects of music-making, whether as conductor, piano recitalist or chamber musician or as the architect of large-scale projects encompassing the full range of musical activities.
The first part of his long life as a musician was devoted to the piano. Building on the foundation of his studies at the Central School of Music and Moscow Conservatoire and his success in winning second prize at the Chopin Competition in Warsaw in 1955 and first prizes in the Queen Elizabeth Competition in Brussels in 1956 and the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1962, he spent three decades touring the great musical centres of the world, performing an ever-growing repertoire in recitals and concertos and appearing with chamber music partners such as Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, Lynn Harrell, Elisabeth Soederstroem, Barbara Bonney and Matthias Goerne. During this time, he built up one of the largest and most comprehensive recording catalogues of our day, encompassing almost all the major works of the piano repertoire.
From the 1970s onwards, he became increasingly active as a conductor and held positions over the years with the Philharmonia Orchestra (Principal Guest Conductor), Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (Music Director), Cleveland Orchestra (Principal Guest Conductor) and the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin (Chief Conductor and Music Director). In addition, he made guest appearances with some of the world's finest orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Philadelphia and Concertgebouw Orchestras. He continues to have a particularly close and rewarding relationship with the Philharmonia Orchestra whom he led in the immensely successful Rachmaninov Festival at the South Bank Centre in London in May 1999 and in a major tour of the Far East, Australia and Japan in January/February 2000. Projects planned for coming seasons include major series of works by Sibelius and Prokofiev.
In January 1998, Ashkenazy took up the position of Chief Conductor of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra and since then has devoted himself to a broad range of tours, recordings and special projects with the aim of focussing appropriate attention on this great orchestra with its very rich and individual musical tradition. During the 1999/2000 season which coincided with the 10th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution, they appeared together in Europe, Japan, the United States and South America, performing repertoire at the very heart of the orchestra's history and cultural identity - from Mozart and Mahler to Krasa, Janacek and Martinu. They continue their extensive touring programme in 2000/01 with appearances throughout Europe including the Barbican Centre and the Proms in London, Vienna, Luzern, Germany and Greece.
Alongside his work with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, he also now holds the positions of Music Director of the European Union Youth Orchestra and Conductor Laureate of the Philharmonia Orchestra.
Vladimir Ashkenazy also continues to perform in recital throughout Europe, the Far East and America and to add to his recording catalogue with major releases such as the recent critically-acclaimed complete Shostakovich Preludes & Fugues, winner of the 1999 Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (without orchestra).