This preview has been provided by the Eastern Music Festival.
EMF Faculty are joined by guest pianists Alexander Toradze and George Vatchnadze as they perform chamber works including Shostakovich’s Concertino for Two Pianos in A minor, op.94 and Elgar’s Piano Quintet in A minor, op.84.
Guest Artists
Alexander Toradze is universally recognized as a masterful virtuoso in the grand Romantic tradition. Mr. Toradze maintains frequent appearances with the leading orchestras of North America, including the New York Philharmonic, Met Orchestra, Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Houston Symphony, Montreal Symphony, Toronto Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Seattle Symphony, and National Symphony of Washington DC. Born in 1952 in Tbilisi, Georgia, Alexander Toradze graduated from the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow and soon became a professor there. In 1991, he was appointed as the Martin Endowed Chair Professor of Piano at Indiana University South Bend, where he has created a teaching environment that is unparalleled in its unique methods.
Geroge Vatchnadze has appeared with orchestras and in recital throughout the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Netherlands, Finland, Italy, Israel, Russia, Japan, Taiwan, as well as Central and South America. Among others, he has performed at the Hollywood Bowl Festival, Ravinia Festival, Stresa Festival, and Rotterdam Philharmonic’s Philips Gergiev Festival. He has also been a frequent guest of St. Petersburg’s “White Nights” and “Mikkeli” (Finland) festivals, directed by Valery Gergiev. Mr. Vatchnadze’s recent engagements have included several performances with Kirov Orchestra under the direction of Gianandrea Noseda, at the St. Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theater and London’s Covent Garden, as well as multiple performances at the Gilmore International Festival. Currently he is on the faculty at DePaul University where he serves as Chair of the Piano Department.
The Eastern Music Festival’s mission is to promote musical enrichment, excellence, professional collaboration, innovation, and diversity through a nationally-recognized teaching program, music festival, concerts, and other programs which will enhance the quality of life, health, and vitality of our region. The Eastern Music Festival and School, founded in 1961 in Greensboro, North Carolina by Sheldon Morgenstern, is an internationally-renowned classical music festival and institute for young musicians that runs for five weeks each summer. The institute accepts students ages 14 through 22 from around the country and the world. The EMF faculty consists of world-class performing artists selected from top orchestras and music schools nationally and internationally. Led by music director Gerard Schwarz, the Eastern Music Festival and School celebrates its 51st season in 2012.
