St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic · 2020. 11. 27. · Summer, 2005 Volume 1, Issue 1 St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic Welcome to the first St. PCP newsletter! Because our activities

Summer, 2005

Volume 1, Issue 1 St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic

Welcome to the first St. PCP newsletter!Because our activities take place almostentirely in Russia, and many of oursupporters are not able to travel to seethe fruits of their support, we would liketo provide this newsletter as a way forour friends and sponsors to keep up withthe orchestra and its activities.

The theme of the 2004-2005 concertseason was “A Journey Around theGlobe”. We sampled music andpresented performers from the UnitedStates, Russia, Germany, Spain,Finland, and Japan. The seasonincluded a world premiere performanceas well as several Russian premieres.

The St. Petersburg Chamber

St. PCP completes its third concert Season!

The Third Season: Basque Composers’ ConcertWe began the season with a unique andfascinating concert of music from theBasque region of Spain, featuring awonderful Basque clarinetist, OskarEspina-Ruiz. Espina-Ruiz has forged anindividual and singular career as a soloclarinetist, most recently focused on themusic of Basque composer, JuliánMenéndez. He also recently recorded adouble CD which is the first recording ofthe complete works for clarinet and pianoby this little known, but prolific andmasterful composer. The MetropolitanMuseum of Art in New York writes: "TheSpanish Basque Julián Menéndez (1895-1975) was a clarinetist of legendaryvirtuosity with the Madrid SymphonyOrchestra and Madrid Symphonic Band.His compositions for the instrumentrepresent a unique style of writing andgreatly expanded the technical andexpressive possibilities of the clarinet.Menéndez’s works are comparable ininspiration and scope to those written forpiano by Albéniz and Granados."

Philharmonic was featured in the St.Petersburg Times, the foremost Englishnewspaper in St. Petersburg, in time forits American and Russian composers’concert in March, 2005. It is a wellwritten and informative article whichincluded excerpts from an interview withmyself and Darrell Ang, the co-foundersof the St. PCP. Please visit our websitefor a link to the article online.

We are currently planning our 2005-2006concert season, a continuation of thejourney around the globe, to beannounced shortly. Our first concert ofthe season is planned for November.

I hope this newsletter helps bring you alittle closer to the St. PCP. –Jeff Meyer

The St. Petersburg Philharmonic had thedistinct pleasure and honor of introducingthe world premiere performance of theConcerto No. 2 for Clarinet andOrchestra, which was orchestrated byEspina-Ruiz himself. The work is lushand romantic, with an elegant Basquestyle and character. It was an immediatesuccess with the orchestra and audiencealike.

The concert was supported largely by agrant from the Basque Government,Department of Culture, in addition to ourseason’s general sponsors.

Of special note:

• St. PCP completes itsthird concert season!

• The 2005-2006 concertseason will beannounced shortly!

• The St PCP is acceptingsponsorship for theupcoming season!Please contact us forfurther details.

Articles in this issue:

Third Season Overview 1a

Basque Composers 1b

American & RussianComposers’ Concert 2a

Sharing of Cultures 2b

Photo Journal 3a

Other Season Highlights 3b

List of Sponsors 4a

About Us 4b

Meyer &

Espina-R

uiz

Jeffery Meyer, Artistic Director

St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic

‘We want more from the

St. Petersburg Chamber

Philharmonic.”

—Audience member in

St. Petersburg

Another highlight of the season was theAmerican and Russian Composers’concert in March. We focused theprogram on composers from the 20th

century through the present day, andproudly featured three living composers:Lawrence Dillon (USA), SergeiSlonimsky (Russia), and Timofey Buzina(Russia), all of whom were present at theconcert! Lawrence Dillon teaches at theNorth Carolina School of the Arts andSergei Slonimsky is a professor ofcomposition at the Rimsky-KorsakovConservatory in St. Petersburg. TimofeyBuzina is a former student of Slonimsky’sand was the youngest composersrepresented on the program. (He is alsothe General Manager of the St. PCP!)The other composers represented on theprogram were Alexander Tcherepnin(Russia) and Samuel Barber (USA).

Tcherepnin’s “Concerto for Violin andFlute” was an exciting opening to theprogram. Anastasia Khitruk, a virtuosoyoung Russian-American violinist fromNew York City, played beautifully, as didthe flute soloist, Denis Lupachyov, one ofSt. Petersburg’s finest young fluteplayers. Lupachyov plays in theMarinsky theater orchestra (Kirov) and isone of Maestro Gergiev’s favorite

American and Russian Composers’ Concert

One important aspect of the mission ofthe St. PCP is to bring together musicalcultures, specifically between the UnitedStates and Russia. We were able tomeet those goals in two areas inconjunction with this concert. First,several days prior to the concert, weorganized a meeting between LawrenceDillon and Professor AlexanderRadvilovich, another of St. Petersburg’sforemost composers who teaches at theRimsky-Korsakov Conservatory, alongwith several of his colleagues andstudents. We met for almost two hoursand discussed American and Russiacontemporary classical music—quitefascinating, and a very rare happening.Second, we held a post-concertconversation with Dillon, Slonimsky,

Sharing of musical cultures and ideas

Page 2 of 4

players. The performance was certainlyone of the highlights of the evening.Khitruk appeared again at the end of theprogram to give the audience asumptuous and dynamic reading ofBarber’s neo-romantic Violin Concerto.She has just released a CD of littleknown works by Khandoshkin, which isavailable at hermitagemuseum.org/shop.

The works by the three living composersdemonstrated how diverse and invitingthe “new music” landscape can be. Theworks by Dillon and Slonimsky providedan intriguing contrast to each other.Dillon’s work is a whimsical re-imaginingof Mozart's 40th symphony from theperspective of a sophisticated - butsomewhat disoriented – machine, andSlonimksy’s work is a one movementcomposition for strings, trumpet andchimes, where each orchestra memberfunctions as soloist. The music is filledwith pathos, lyricism, and drama.Buzina’s work often displayed a drivingrhythmic pulse, obviously indicative ofthe musical influences of his generation.

In addition to our general sponsors, wewould like to thank the US ConsulateGeneral and Mr. Peter Tcherepnine ofthe Tcherepnin Society for theirgenerous support for this concert.

myself and Anastasia Khitruk, who notonly took part in the conversation, butfunctioned as translator as well! Theconversation ranged from thecomposers’ views on their own musicand where they find their inspiration tothe state of contemporary classicalmusic. My favorite response from anaudience member was one fellow whostood up and said simply, “Americancomposers: Copland, Carter, Adams....We want more from the St. PetersburgChamber Philharmonic!!” I told themthat they would get it! ProfessorSlonimsky was very vocal in his praise ofthe concert and our efforts, which was avery meaningful endorsement from oneof the Russia’s most famous andrespected composers.

Anastasia Khitruk

Sergei Slonimsky

Lawrence Dillon

St. Petersburg Chamber PhilharmonicPage 3 of 4

Composers’ meeting in the “House of Composers”

Other highlights of the last season include aconcert in celebration of the FinnishIndependence Day, led by young Finnishguest conductor, Sasha Mäkilä, andfeaturing Soprano Hanna-LeenaHaapamäki, who recently made her debut inthe Finnish National Opera in the role ofMaria in opera "Rasputin" by EinojuhaniRautavaara. Performed were works by

Other season highlights of note…Sibelius, Mozart, Merikanto, andRautavaara.

Lance Inouye, our AssociateConductor, presented a program inDecember that featured ourprincipal cellist, Vsevolod Dolganov,performing Shostakovich’s intenselyimpressive second cello concerto.Also on the program was a work byAmerican composer AlanHovhaness, as well asMendelssohn’s Symphony No. 3.Lance has just taken a post withSarasota Opera as Music Director oftheir youth opera program. He willcontinue his post with the St. PCP,as well. Congratulations, Lance!

The last concert of the 2005-2006season was conducted by guestconductor Satoshi Kawasaki, andwas part of the 5th Annual Festival

Sharing of musical cultures and ideas continued: a photo journal…

Dillon, R

advilovich, & colleagues

Post concert talkwith Khitruk,

Meyer, Dillon,and Slonimsky(listed from theaudience view’s

left to right)

Lance Inouye

Vsevolod DolganovHanna-LeenaHaapamäki

"Japanese Spring in St.Petersburg". It was an eclecticprogram of works by Japanesecomposer Yoshimatsu,American composer JohnCage, Stravinsky andBeethoven that played to avery enthusiastic full house.

-Mr. Wayne Aldridge (02-03)-Dr. Judith Burleigh-Steere-Mr. Richard Bumstead-Mr. & Mrs. Phil and Mary deBuhr-Dr. Brigitte M. Erbe-Dr. and Mrs. David Meyer (02-03)-Mrs. and Mr. Margie and Scott Morris (02-03)-Dr. Jack Passman & Mrs. Giovanna Passman-Mr. Peter Tcherepnine, The Tcherepnin Society

Thanks to our past and present sponsors!

The St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonicis a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organizationthat aims to promote cultural exchangeand understanding, and the integration ofthe repertoire of our time into the standardrepertoire of the concert hall.

The St. PCP was founded with a focus onRussian-American cultural interaction.However, it will not be limited to thosenations in terms of selection of repertoire,

About the St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic…

4525 WoodlandAve.

Western Springs, IL60558

PHONE:+1 312 593 8088

FAX:+1 312 593 8088

E-MAIL:[email protected]

Please visit our website:

www.st-pcp.org

St. Petersburg ChamberPhilharmonic

4525 Woodland Ave.Western Springs, IL

60558

-The Institute for Cultural Programs, AndreiZonin, Director-The United States Consulate General in St.Petersburg, Jeffrey Murray, US Consul forCulture and Press-City Realty, St. Petersburg-Klassica Radio St. Petersburg, 88.9 FM-The Basque Government Department ofCulture-Petersburgcity.com

musicians and partners.

The St. PCP hopes to be an example ofcollaboration and co-operation betweena diversity of musicians, which upholdshigh standards of musical integrity andembraces an openness to all music,musicians and audiences, regardless ofnational boundaries. Please considersupporting our efforts in time for our firstconcert of the upcoming season!

Jeffery Meyer,Artistic Director andPrincipal Conductor

Lance Inouye,Associate Conductor

Darrell Ang,Co-founder and

Conductor Laureate

Timofey Buzina,General Manager

Katya Nicholas,Translation

St. PCP in rehearsal with Denis Lupachyov, flute (Shuvalovsky Palace)