Concert for the End of Time...

Rohan de Saram (cello) / Movses Pogossian (violin) / Artur Avanesov (piano) / George Georgiou (clarinet)

The legendary cellist Rohan de Saram will team up with violinist Movses Pogossian for a unique Pharos project, which involves a concert on 14 December 2010 to be followed by the recording of a CD that will be available exclusively only from the Pharos Arts Foundation.

For the concert, the two artists will be joined by the exciting pianist and composer Artur Avanesov and the Cypriot clarinettist George Georgiou. The programme will include Cyprus premieres by Avanesov, Andreas Tsiartas and Evis Sammoutis, Kodaly's Duo for violin and cello Op. 7 and one of the greatest masterpieces of 20th century, Messiaen's heartbreaking Quartet for the End of Time.

The CD, which will be available to buy online from the Pharos Arts Foundation's website in 2011, will be featuring De Saram and Pogossian in works which have been especially written for them by a number of renowned contemporary composers.

Rohan de Saram / cello
Rohan de Saram has performed with the major orchestras of Europe, USA, Canada, Australia and the former Soviet Union with such conductors as John Barbirolli, Adrian Boult, Zubin Mehta, Seiji Ozawa and William Steinberg, as well as with composers conducting their own works such as Luciano Berio. After the UK premiere of Il Ritorno degli Snovidenia for cello and orchestra, Berio said of him: "Your performance of Ritorno is splendid, but besides Ritorno, your sound, your perfect intonation, your phrasing and bowing technique, make you a great performer of any music." As a result Berio wrote for him his final Sequenza, no XIV, for solo cello which, as a tribute to Rohan, includes large sections based on the rhythms of the Kandyan drum of Sri Lanka, an instrument which Rohan himself has played since his childhood in Sri Lanka.

Rohan has worked with Kodaly, Shostakovich, Poulenc and Walton, as well as more recently with many leading contemporary composers such as Pousseur, Xenakis and Berio who have, amongst others, written works for him.

Some of his recordings include Vivaldi's Sonatas, Rubbra's Soliloquy for cello and orchestra, Britten's Cello Suites No 1-3, John Mayer's Ragamalas & Prabhanda, Xenakis' Kottos and Carter's Figment I and II. Rohan's recordings of Berio's Sequenza XIV was released by Mode in April 2006 and awaits its release on Edition Zeitklang (also including works by Xenakis, Carter, B. A. Zimmermann, Ruzicka, Gelhaar, Prove and Steinke). Upcoming recording projects include Feldman's Trio.

In December 2004 Rohan was awarded an honorary D. Litt. from the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. A year later, in December 2005 he received the Deshamaniya, a national honour of Sri Lanka, given by the President of Sri Lanka.

Movses Pogossian / violin
A native of Armenia, violinist Movses Pogossian made his American debut performing the Tchaikovsky Concerto with the Boston Pops in 1990. He has since performed with orchestras such as the Brandenburger Symphoniker and the Halle Philharmonic in Germany, the Sudety Philharmonic in Poland, the Tucson Symphony, the El Paso Symphony, the Scandinavian Chamber Orchestra of New York, and the Toronto Sinfonia. He is prizewinner in the 1986 Tchaikovsky International Competition, and the youngest-ever First Prize winner of the 1985 USSR National Violin Competition, previous winners of which included David Oistrakh and Gidon Kremer.

An active chamber musician, Pogossian has performed with members of the Tokyo, Kronos and Brentano string quartets, and he frequently collaborates with the Apple Hill Chamber Players, touring worldwide and teaching annually at their summer music festival in New Hampshire.

A committed propagate of new music, he has premiered over 30 works, and worked closely with composers such as G. Kurtag, A. R. Thomas, T. Mansurian, and P. Manoury. In July 2008, he made his debut at the Darmstadt Festival in Germany.

His latest releases include a solo violin CD of World Premiere recordings and Thoughts and Dreams with the Baird Trio, both on Albany label, as well as the upcoming release of G. Kurtag's Kafka Fragments for soprano and violin on the Bridge label.

Pogossian's principal teachers included L. Zorian, V. Mokatsian, V. Klimov and Louis Krasner. Since earning his advanced degrees from the Komitas Conservatory in Armenia and the Tchaikovsky Conservatory of Music in Moscow, Pogossian has held teaching positions at Duquesne, Bowling Green, Wayne State, and SUNY Buffalo Universities. Movses Pogossian is a Founder and Artistic Director of the Dilijan Chamber Music Series in Los Angeles, a member of the new music group XTET, and a regular participant at several music festivals. He is Professor of Violin at UCLA, California.

Programme:

Andreas Tsiartas (1986)
Hyacinthus for violin and cello World Premiere

Artur Avanesov (1980)
Zemestani/ Bahari/ Beheshti for violin and piano (2008) Cyprus Premiere

Evis Sammoutis (1979)
Tessarae for violin and cello World Premiere

interval 1

Zoltán Kodály (1882)
Duo for violin and cello, Op. 7 (1914)

interval 2

Olivier Messiaen (1908)
Quartet for the End of Time (1940-41)