VII International Music Festival
Odessa Classics 2018

June 1, at 19:00 — Opening of the Festival

Odessa Opera and Ballet Theater

Maxim Vengorov – violin
Polina Osetinskaya – piano

The name of Maxim Vengerov (Israel) belongs to the TOP-5 of the world’s best violinists  more than 20 years ago. Vengerov is a 2-time GRAMMY winner, 5-time holder of EDISON AWARD, BRIT Award, twice he had received Gramophone Classical Music Award, twice – ECHO KLASSIK. He also has the World Economic Forum Award “for changing the world to a better place.” Vengerov is a first musician in history, who became the UNICEF Peace Ambassador.

Polina Osetinskaya began to play the piano at the age of five.  For today the pianist had performed at the Great and Small Halls of the Moscow Conservatoire and the St Petersburg Philharmonic, Vienna’s Musikverein, the Concert Hall of the Mariinsky Theatre, various venues in Warsaw, San Francisco and Brussels as well as at the festivals December Evenings, Crescendo, Stars of the White Nights and Mainly Mozart among others. Osetinskaya’s stage partners had included the conductors Saulius Sondeckis, Laurent Petitgirard, Vassily Sinaisky, Andrey Boreyko, Gerd Albrecht, Yan Pascal Tortelier, Thomas Sanderling, Tugan Sokhiev and Alexander Sladkovsky.

Maxim Vengerov and Polina Osetinskaya perform together at the best stages of the world. Milan, Rome, Bologna, Turin and London will hear they this spring.

In the program

Brahms – Sonatas No.2 and No.3
Ravel – Sonata No.2
Saint-Saëns – “Introduction and Rondo Caprichioso”
Brahms – “2 Hungarian Dances”

June 2, at 19:00

Odessa Opera and Ballet Theater

Alexey Botvinov – piano
Burhan Öçal – percussion

In 2010, Alexei Botvinov and Burhan Öçal started the project “Goldberg. Reloaded”. It was a revolutionary attempt to rethink Bach’s eternal music, combining it with the ethnorhythms of the East and lighting special effects. Öçal and Botvinov played 20 concerts on the most famous stages of the world, including Istanbul, Paris, Zurich, Basel, Abu Dhabi and Montreux Jazz Festival. 6 concerts were performed for Ukrainian audience.

In 2018, Öçal and Botvinov teamed up again for the “Reloaded-2” project. This time, they took cult masterpieces of Bach, Beethoven (“Pathetique Sonata”), Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev and Mussorgsky. The premiere will take place at the ODESSA CLASSICS festival.

In the program
Bach – The “Well-Tempered Clavier”, Book I

Prelude and Fugue in C minor, BWV 847
Prelude and Fugue in D minor, BWV 851

Bach – Aria and 5 variations from the “Goldberg Variations”
Beethoven – Sonata No. 8 op.13 “Sonata Pathétique”, part 1
Mussorgsky – “Pictures at an Exhibition”

“The Old Castle”
“Cattle”
“Ballet of Unhatched Chicks”
“Catacombs (Roman Tomb)”
“The Hut on Hen’s Legs (Baba Yaga)”

Rachmaninoff

Étude-Tableaux in A minor No.6 op.39 “Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf”
Prelude in G minor No.5 op.23

Prokofiev – Sonata No. 7, part 3

June 3, at 19:00

Grand Hall of the Odessa Philharmonic

Roby Lakatos and ensemble

A long ago Hungarian violinist Roby Lakatos was named “the king of the Gypsy violin”. He is a representative of the famous Lakatos dynasty – Romany musicians, who have been considered the best violinists of the world in the genre of popular music for more than 150 years. Roby Lakatos himself is a recognized virtuoso, “the fastest-fingered fiddler  in the world” (“Daily Telegraph”).

The “La Passion” program (Monti, Piazzolla, Lakatos, Kosma) will be performed by the genius of the violin accompanied by his ensemble, in which each musician  is a world-class soloist-virtuoso.

June 4, at 19:00

Grand Hall of the Odessa Philharmonic

Stefan Vladar – piano

Leading pianist of Austria, one of the most demanded  artists of Europe, a longtime artistic director and chief conductor of the Vienna Chamber Orchestra.In the 2015/16 season, the Vienna Concert House celebrated his 50th birthday with a series of 13 concerts in which he displayed his diverse artistic scope as a soloist, conductor, accompanist and chamber musician. Vladar’s discography includes more than 30 releases.

In the concert program

masterpieces of the Vienna classics

Haydn – Andante with variations in F minor, Hob. XVII:6
Beethoven – Sonata No.23, op. 57 “Appassionata”
Schubert – Sonata in B-flat major, D.960

June 5, at 19:00

Grand Hall of the Odessa Philharmonic

Dimitri Ashkenazy– clarinet

Renato Bizzotto – oboe
Leonardo Bizzotto – bassoon
Karl (Charlie) Fässler – french horn
Alexey Botvinov – piano

The son of the legendary Vladimir Ashkenazy, the clarinetist virtuoso will perform with the wind ensemble – in a genre that rarely sounds on the Ukrainian stage. The SWISS CHAMBER QUARTET was founded by famous swiss oboist  Renato Bizzotto.

In the program

Karl Stamitz – Quartett in F-Dur for oboe, clarinet, horn and bassoon
Caspar Diethelm – Trio op. 28 for oboe, clarinet and bassoon
Francis Poulenc – Trio for Piano, oboe and bassoon “For Mister Manuel de Falla”
– Entracte –
Darius Milhaud – Suite for oboe, clarinette and bassoon
W.A. Mozart – Quintett in Es-dur for oboe, clarinet, horn, bassoon and piano

June 6, at 19:00

Odessa Opera and Ballet Theater

Daniel Hope – violin
Deutsches Kammerorchester Berlin

Daniel Hope is in the TOP-5 of the world’s best violinists, he is undoubtedly one of the most creative and multifaceted musicians of our time. 7-times winner of ECHO KLASSIK AWARD, 4-time GRAMMY nominee, laureate of BRIT Award, holder of the European Culture Award-2015. Daniel Hope l will present the project that won the ECHO KLASSIK-2017 award for the best project of the year – “Vivaldi Recomposed”. It’s a new sensational version of Vivaldi’s “Seasons” by the British composer Max Richter. The recording of this project  became the world’s best seller at Deutsche Grammophon.

In the program
“The Four Seasons” by Antonio Vivaldi
“Vivaldi Recomposed” by Max Richter

June 7, at 19:00

Grand Hall of the Odessa Philharmonic

Sebastian Knauer – piano and conductor
Pascal Schumacher – vibrafon
Deutsches KammerOrchester Berlin

Knauer is a leading German pianist, a 4-time winner of the ECHO KLASSIK AWARD. One of them was given for the “UBER-BACH” project, which “extends the boundaries of the classics” and represents a new look at Bach – from the Iranian-German composer Arash Safaian.

In the program
Johann Sebastian Bach – «Die Kunst der Fuge», BWV 1080
Johann Sebastian Bach – Klavierkonzert d-Moll, BWV 1052

Arash Safaian “ÜberBach”:

1st Concerto – “Infinite games”
2nd Concerto – “As above so below”
Modulation Looping Bach
3rd Concerto – “Fuge like a Passion”
4th Concerto – “Newton´s law”
5th Concerto – “Dorian”

June 8, at 21:00

Open air at Potemkins Stairs

Zakhar Bron – violin

Michael Guttman – violin

Alexey Botvinov – piano

Jing Zhao – cello

Deutsches Kammerorchester Berlin, conductor Michael Guttman

VJ Videomatics – video installations

The winner of the Odessa Classics’s competition of young pianists Roman Fedurko also takes part in the concert

The open air concert with video installations and the light show. Berlin Chamber Orchestra conducted by Michael Guttman, pianist Alexey Botvinov, and other soloists. The expected audience of the open air concert is about 10 000 -15 000 people.

Free entrance

In the program

Music by Mozart, Bach, Vivaldi, popular classical pieces and soundtracks from movies.

June 9, at 14:00

The Odessa Stolyarsky
Special Music School

Zakhar Bron (violin)

Concert

Masterclass

Q&A

Free entrance

Irina Vinogradova (piano) takes part in the concert

June 9, at 19:00

Grand Hall of the Odessa Philharmonic

Andrey Tarkovsky Project

The project in memoriam of the genius Andrei Tarkovsky. It will be presented by the son of the great film director Andrei A. Tarkovsky (Italy). The musical part contains the DUO GAZZANA (sisters Rafaella and Natasha Cazzana, violin and piano, Italy). Hommage  to Tarkovsky “Nostalgia for the Absolute” – a synthesis of music, cinema, poetry and memories of Tarkovsky. Music of Bach, Pärt, Messiaen, and Valentyn Sylvestrov. Dmitry Cherchenko – literary part. Video installations – Andrei A. Tarkovsky.

In the program
J.S.BACH — Adagio ma non tanto from Sonate in E Major, BWV1016
A.PÄRT — Fratres
BACH-BUSONI — Ich ruf’ zu dir, herr Jesu Christ. Coral prelude in F min, BWV639
J.S.BACH — Sarabanda from Partita II in D minor for violin solo, BWV1004
V.SILVESTROV — Hommage à J.S.Bach
A.PÄRT — Spiegel im Spiegel
O.MESSIAEN — Thème from Thème et variations pour violon et piano
O.MESSIAEN — Variation V from Thème et variations pour violon et piano
J.S.BACH — Largo from Sonate No.4 in C minor, BWV1017

June 10, at 19:00

Grand Hall of the Odessa Philharmonic

Antonio Meneses – violoncello
Alexey Botvinov – piano
Michael Guttman – violin

Antonio Meneses is one of the best cellists in the world. He won the ARD International Competition in Munich and received the First Prize in the Tchaikovsky Competition. A long-time participant of the legendary “BEAUX ARTS TRIO” in its final formation, together with D. Hope and M. Pressler – the most famous trio in the history of classics of the last decades.

Alexey Botvinov is a pianist, initiator and President of the ODESSA CLASSICS Festival, the star of world piano, one of the best Rachmaninoff’s interpreters in Europe.

Michael Guttman is world-star violinist and a conductor, founder of music festival in Pietrasanta, Italy.

The evening of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s music

Sonata for cello and piano and the Trio Elegiaque № 2 “To the Memory of a Great Artist”.

Odesa Museum of Western and Oriental Art

📅 May 31 – June 14