Press Release – Symphonic Fantasy – 1.22.22
Thursday, December 23, 2021
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: CALEB BAILEY, 860-443-2876, [email protected]
Click here for downloadable .pdf version
Check out our full 75th Anniversary Season Brochure
Symphonic Fantasy
Saturday, January 22, 2022, 7:30pm
Garde Arts Center, 325 State St., New London, CT 06320
The orchestra’s first concert of 2022 begins with the U.S. premiere of Imitation of Life by award-winning composer Ekaterina Buzovkina, a recent graduate of the State Musical Institute in Moscow. Carrying on the Russian theme is the evening’s soloist: Igor Pikayzen, grandson of legendary violinist Viktor Pikayzen. The Moscow-born graduate of the Juilliard School and the Yale School of Music joins the orchestra to play Dmitri Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No. 1, a work that calls for incredible technical facility. Following intermission, Music Director & Conductor Toshiyuki Shimada will lead the orchestra in a performance of Finnish composer Jean Sibelius’s Symphony No. 7, completed in 1924, one of the most beautiful and evocative of 20th-century symphonies, despite or because of its unusual single-movement structure.
About Igor Pikayzen, violin soloist:
Award-winning Russian-American violinist Igor Pikayzen is confidently establishing himself as one of the most prodigious and in-demand soloists of his generation. Praised on four continents by critics and audiences alike for his “astounding technical ability” and a “majestically lush tone”, Igor Pikayzen “surely is at the forefront of a major musical career” (Moscow Times).
Since his concerto debut at the age of 8, with Mozart’s Violin Concerto #2 and the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, Pikayzen has appeared as a soloist with major orchestras spanning Europe, Asia, North and South America. Highlights of the 2021-22 season include solo appearances with Filarmonica de Boca del Rio, Sinfonia Toronto, Orquesta Sinfonica del Estado de Mexico, Orquesta Sinfonica de Xalapa, Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony of Georgia, debut recitals at the Dame Myra Hess series in Chicago, the Gina Bachauer series in Salt Lake City, recitals in Denver and Washington D.C. as well as a return to New York’s prestigious Bargemusic series. 2022 also sees the release of two new albums; a recording of fantasies for violin & piano with Tatyana Pikayzen and the Glazunov
Violin Concerto on Sony Classical.
Previous solo appearances include the Russian State Symphony Orchestra, Moscow Radio Symphony, Bucharest Philharmonic, Sinfonietta Veracruzana, Sinfonica Nacional de Chile, Filharmonica di Bacau, Bialystok Philharmonic, Istanbul State Symphony, Stamford Symphony, Czestochowa Philharmonic, Izmir Symphony, Ridgefield Symphony, Tbilisi Opera Orchestra, Yokohama Sinfonietta, Kielce Philharmonic and countless others under the batons of Lior Shambadal, Łukasz Borowicz, Brett Mitchell, Gürer Aykal, Toshi Shimada, Jorge Mester, Daniel Huppert, Hobart Earle, Jerzy Salwarovski, Roman Revueltas, Enrique Batiz, Thomas Rösner,
Vakhtang Matchavariani, Christopher Lyndon-Gee, Alexander Platt and Emil Tabakov. In the last three seasons alone, he has given debuts and returned to Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall in New York City, Tchaikovsky Hall and Minor Hall in Moscow, Teatro Llago in Frutillar, Congreso Nacional in Santiago, Eslite Performance Hall in Taipei, President Hall in Ankara, Flagey and Le Bozar in Brussels, Gates Performing Arts Center in Denver, L’Auditori in Barcelona, Le Bourget in Montreal, Centro Nacional de las Artes in Mexico City and Cadogan Hall in London, to name just a few.
Grandson of the legendary Soviet violinist Viktor Pikayzen, Igor was born in Moscow, Russia. After receiving his Bachelor’s Degree from Juilliard, as well as a Master’s Degree and Artist Diploma from the Yale School of Music, he was the recipient of the coveted Enhanced Chancellor Fellowship while working on his DMA at the CUNY Graduate Center where he was also on the faculty of Brooklyn Conservatory. Pikayzen is the 1st prize winner of the 2015 Edition of the International Violin Competition Luis Sigall in Viña del Mar, Chile as well as the
Wronski International Violin Competition in Warsaw, in addition to being a silver medalist at the Szeryng and Kloster-Schöntal international violin competitions. A native of Moscow, Mr. Pikayzen shares his time between New York, Denver and Westport, CT, where he launched an annual summer music festival, Edelio. In 2019 he was announced as the new Professor of Violin at the Lamont School of Music at the University of Denver.
About Ekaterina Buzovkina, composer:
Ekaterina Buzovkina was born in 1994 in Moscow. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Music Theory and a Master’s degree in Composition from the Ippolitov-Ivanov State Musical Pedagogical Institute. Her works include compositions for piano, chamber ensemble, Russian folk ensemble, chorus, chamber orchestra, orchestra of Russian folk instruments, and symphony orchestra. Ekaterina is a multiaward-winning composer. Competitions have included the International Composition Competition of the Winter International Arts Festival in Sochi (2015, 2nd prize and 2016, 1st prize), Malta International Composition Competition, (3rd prize in both 2016 and 2017), Maurice Ravel International Composition Competition (Finalist, 2016 and 2018), All-Russian Composition Competition “International Rostrum of Composers” (2019, 2nd prize), The First All-Russian Composition Competition Partitura (Score) in the nomination “Symphony orchestra” (2020, Laureate). Music by Ekaterina Buzovkina has been performed in the halls of Moscow International House of Music, Moscow Tchaikovsky State Conservatory, Moscow Glinka Museum, Palazzo Castelmur in Switzerland, Gnesin Russian Academy of Music, Yaroslavl State Philharmonia, Organ Hall of Sochi Philharmonia, the Concert Hall of Moscow Cathedral Chamber, as well as Culture television channel and Orpheus Radio in Moscow.
COVID-19 protocols:
In order to safely celebrate our 75th anniversary season, we are implementing new concert attendance guidelines. All audience members will need to provide proof of a full course of vaccination for COVID-19 or a negative COVID-19 PCR test taken within 72 hours from the start of the concert. Items you should bring for admission to the hall includes a photo ID, photo or copy of your vaccination card, OR a photo, text, or email of a negative test result, where applicable. Masks will be required indoors at all times unless actively eating or drinking. Anyone unable or unwilling to comply with these guidelines may be asked to leave the concert, however refunds will be available in such cases.
Additionally, there will be no pre-concert chats in the hall or post-concert receptions in the upper lobby as there have been in the past until it is deemed safe to resume these once more. These guidelines are subject to change as the circumstances require and if government and venue recommendations evolve.
ECSO general copy:
We are thrilled to announce our 75th Anniversary Season’s lineup, curated by Music Director and Conductor Toshiyuki Shimada. This season marks the 12th year under the musical leadership of Music Director and Conductor Toshiyuki Shimada.
Visit www.ectsymphony.com for more information and follow us on social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube) @ectsymphony
The ECSO offers a range of affordable seating options from $65 to as low as $12 for attendance to one concert. The ECSO will continue to offer those under 40 years of age and active or retired military members $12 tickets in premium sections.
Founded in 1946, the mission of the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra is to inspire, educate, and connect our communities through live orchestral music.