This preview has been provided by Jerry Posner.

On November 7, 2014, world acclaimed violinist, Natasha Korsakova, makes her North Carolina DEBUT in a recital with Maestro David Michael Wolff at the piano.  Wolff is the Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of the Carolina Philharmonic which is presenting this performance. The concert takes place at 7:00 pm on November 7 at Owens Auditorium which is located on the Sandhills Community College campus in Pinehurst. It includes music from Beethoven’s transcendental Kreutzer Sonata to the Heifetz transcription of five pieces from Porgy and Bess by Gershwin. Tickets for this concert are available online at www.carolinaphil.org. For more information, please call (910) 687-0287.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS…

NATASHA KORSAKOVA

Maestro Evgeny Svetlanov, former conductor of the Bolshoi Theater, said that “without any doubt, Natasha Korsakova is a truly remarkable artist … one of the greatest representatives of Russian violin playing.”

Korsakova is a descendent of the famous Russian composer, Nicolai Rimsky Korsakov, composer of the famous symphonic suite, Scheherazade and the Capriccio Espagnol. 

Members of the international press have called the incomparable Natasha Korsakova “a singing angel,” and “a violinistic phenomenon.” She is one of the most popular violinists of her generation whose violin playing has been described as “a sinfully beautiful listening experience.” She is noted for her “perfect technique, bold stylistic sense, and musical intuition.”

Her repertoire consists of some 60 major violin concertos. Most recently, she recorded the Beethoven Violin Concerto and the two Romances with the Orquesta Filharmonica de Queretaro in Mexico. Among her other recordings are “Natasha Korsakova Plays Gershwin and More,” with the North Czech Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Charles Olivieri-Munroe, and “Opera Fantasies” with the noted Kira Ratner at the piano.

Her virtuosity is reminiscent of Leonid Kogan, her father Andrei Korsakov, and even Jascha Heifetz. In fact, following her recital debut in New York, the New York Concert Review wrote: “Korsakova sounded as if she belonged on the stage of the MET with the cast of the opera as she sang Gershwin’s inspired melodies on her fiddle with loyalty to the text of the original songs and the characters that sing them.”

Natasha was born into a musical family in Moscow. She began playing the violin at the age of 5. Her first teacher was her grandfather, Boris Korsakov. She then studied with her father, one of the world’s greatest violin virtuosos, Andrei Korsakov. Her mother is world class pianist Yolanta Miroshinkova. When her father died an untimely death, the teenaged Natasha fulfilled 60 of his concert engagements to great acclaim in Russia, Europe and Japan.

She has appeared in some of the world’s most prestigious concert halls such as the Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, Tokyo’s Santory Hall, the Cologne Philharmonic, the Concertgebouw of Amsterdam, the Wigmore Hall in London, the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome and the Alte Oper in Frankfurt. Natasha was invited by Irina Shostakovich to appear in a concert honoring Dmitri Shostakovich at the Opera Comique in Paris.

She has played with the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Dutch Radio Broadcasting, the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano G. Verdi, the Classic Philharmonic of Bonn, Neue Philharmonie Westfalen, Oviedo Filarmonia, the Russian State Orchestra, the Moscow Philharmonic, Filarmonica di Verona, the European Union Chamber Orchestra, the Orquestra Sinfonica del Estad de Mexico and the Orquesta Sinfónica de Chile, among others.

Natasha is an avid chamber music player and has appeared at the Ludwigsburger Festspiele, the Liechfield Festival, and at Gidon Kremer’s invitation, the Lockenhaus Festival.

In 1996, Natasha was the first musician ever to receive the “Russian Muse” award in Moscow’s’ Big Conservatory Hall. In 1998, she was “Artist of the Year” in Chile. In 2004 she performed the Tchaikovsky Concerto in Berlin for the 15th anniversary of the fall of Berlin Wall.

In July 2008, she was awarded the “Premio Sirmione Catullo,” one of the most prestigious Italian awards given to musicians, politicians and journalists, and was named “Artist of the Year” in Italy. In the same year, Natasha played a recital in Palazzo Quirinale Rome, in the presence of the Italian State President. She also gave four performances in the Kunsthistorischen Museum Vienna on the legendary violin by Guarneri del Gesú, formerly owned by Yehudi Menuhin.

In 2011 she performed with the Italian-Swiss violin virtuoso, Manrico Padovani, at the Nervi Hall, Vatican City, for Pope Benedict XVI.  

A concerned citizen, Natasha is Cultural Ambassador for Sorella Natura Foundation, an Italian organization dedicated to environmental issues.

This great young violinist currently plays a rare violin made in 1765 by Vincenzo Panormo.

MAESTRO DAVID MICHAEL WOLFF (photo)

David Michael Wolff is now in his fifth season as Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of the Carolina Philharmonic.  Under Maestro Wolff’s leadership, the orchestra has rapidly grown from a small chamber orchestra into one of the leading symphony orchestras in the region.  Two of the Philharmonic’s first concerts were at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Hall, and in the past year the orchestra has come full circle with a meaningful partnership with the famed hall, bringing its education programs to the children of North Carolina.  Recent performance highlights include an acclaimed pops concert during the US Opens in Pinehurst, NC in June 2014. 

Wolff made his orchestral début as piano soloist at the age of twelve. Three years later he entered the University of Washington on full scholarship majoring in  Romance Languages and Piano Performance.  After obtaining his Master’s Degree in NYC under the direction of Byron Janis, celebrated pupil of Vladimir Horowitz, Wolff took up the baton.  Three years of study in Rome led to performances throughout Italy, conducting opera and symphonic works, as well as leading piano concertos from the keyboard.  Along the way, Wolff won numerous prizes in international competitions, including Grand Prize in the Naomi Management International Competition in New York City.  Hundreds of performances across North America, Europe and Asia solidified his reputation as one of the foremost performing artists of his generation.  He has appeared over a dozen times at Carnegie Hall, both as pianist and conductor. 

Wolff resides in Pinehurst, NC with this wife and daughter. An avid linguist, Wolff is fluent in five languages and has been a sought-after coach of international opera stars as well as aspiring concert pianists. His diverse interests have led to collaborations with such artists as dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov and choreographer Ruth Davidson Hahn and to numerous commissions to arrange and compose works for opera, modern dance and other multi-media projects. 

Career highlights include a return to Carnegie with the Carolina Philharmonic, a performance for President Bill Clinton’s Global Initiative in Arkansas, and performances in Shanghai at the World Expo and at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music with renowned Diva, Angela Brown.  Upcoming highlights include a duo recital in November 2014 with internationally acclaimed violinist, Natasha Korsakova. Wolff is author of Zen and the Art of Piano.

*****

Korsakova then makes her RALEIGH DEBUT recital on November 9, 3:00 pm, at St Michael’s Episcopal Church, in Raleigh. This concert will also spotlight organist Kevin Kerstetter, St. Michael’s Director of Church Music, Cuban pianist and former piano professor at the National School of Music in Havana, Ariadna Nacianceno, and Katherine Kaufman Posner, called by Metropolitan Opera conductor Kurt Adler, one of the voices of her generation.  For more information on this concert, see https://cvnc.org/eventDetail.cfm?eventId=13543.