Levon Mouradian (Cello) & Hayk Melikyan (piano)

The Pharos Arts Foundation presents a recital with cellist Levon Mouradian – prize winner in some of the world's most prestigious competitions including Pablo Casals, Tchaikovsky and Julio Cardona, and pianist Hayk Melikyan – recognized internationally as one of the most versatile and imaginative performers and among today's most engaging virtuoso pianists. The recital will take place on Wednesday 30 March 2016 at The Shoe Factory, Nicosia, 8:30pm, and will include an all-Russian programme of works by Taneyev, Schnittke and Rachmaninov.

PROGRAMME:

Sergei Taneyev: Canzona for Cello and Piano in F minor (1883)
Alfred Schnittke: Sonata for Cello and Piano No.1 (1978)
Sergei Rachmaninov: Sonata for Cello and Piano in G minor, Op.19 (1901)

An important Russian pianist, educator and composer, active at the turn of the 20th century, Sergei Taneyev is primarily known today as the teacher of Scriabin, Rachmaninov, and Glière. He initially composed the remarkably virtuosic yet vastly reflective Canzona in 1883, for the combination of clarinet and orchestra, but he later arranged the piece for cello and piano and it is in this form that it has gained worldwide recognition.

From the point of view of Western musicians and audiences, Russian composer Alfred Schnittke's rise to fame was a meteoric one, beginning in the early 1990s and building steadily until the composer's death in 1998. The West was late to the Schnittke scene: he had been famous throughout Eastern Europe all throughout the 1970s and 1980s, and had long been touted as one of Dmitry Shostakovich's rightful musical heirs. Such works as the Sonata for cello and piano No.1, written in 1978, make the Shostakovich connection plain. Schnittke was and is famous for his polystylistic approach to music, and in this piece, as in many others, it is the style of Shostakovich that comes most to the fore.

The first performance of Sergei Rachmaninov’s First Symphony in 1897 was a critical disaster, a blow to the young composer from which he took several years to recover. In 1901, however, with renewed confidence he produced what is probably his best known work, the Second Piano Concerto, which was a resounding success. Written in the same year, the Sonata for Cello and Piano, although less familiar, it is of the same quality and is conceived on a grand scale. It is one of the very few pieces of chamber music from a composer renowned as a pianist, and the sheer brilliance of the piano writing gives the work much of its dramatic power.

LEVON MOURADIAN / cello

Prize winner in some of the world's most prestigious competitions, such as Pablo Casals, Tchaikovsky, Julio Cardona, among others, Levon Mouradian is widely known for his unique and thorough reflection and interpretation of music.

Levon Mouradian has performed as a soloist with such eminent conductors as Valery Gergiev, Veronika Dudarova, Gennadi Rozhdestvensky, Jansug Kakhidze, Lawrence Foster, Vakhtang Jordania, David Khandjian, Omri Hadari, Daniel Nazare, Vag Papian, Avner Biron and Gheorge Kostin among others. He has performed as soloist and as part of chamber ensembles at major international music festivals, such as Munich (Nachtstuke), Weikersheim Castle in Germany, David Oistrakh Festival, Santander (International Music Festival), Burgos, Cangas de Onis, Madeira, Coimbra, Algarve, among others.

Levon Mouradian has released a number of CDs, featuring, amongst others, the A. Babadjanian Piano Trio and Seven Pieces by Komitas-Aslamazian (Clave Records, Spain), 20th century Armenian composers, the cello sonatas of H. Dellalian, T. Mansurian, K. Khachaturian, A. Terterian; three of the most virtuosic sonatas for cello ever written – by Locatelli, Valentini and Boccherini, works for piano trio and piano quartet; cello works by Dutch composer Wim Zwaag (Dutch Record Company, Holland 2010) which includes a cello and piano sonata which was dedicated to him; Ivan Moody’s Cello Concerto which was also dedicated to him.

Since 1996, Levon Mouradian has been directing the cello class in the department of Arts at the State University in Evora, Portugal. He regularly gives advanced classes at the Valle De Arlanza and Noeva Generaciòn Musical festivals in Spain, at Weikersheim Germany and at the International Festival in Viana do Castello, together with Ivan Monigetti and Nathaniel Rosen, among others. He has taught master-classes on the invitation of the University of Georgia in the US, and he has been a member of the Jury at the Julio Cardona International String Competition.
Levon Mouradian plays on a XVIII century Venetian cello from Gofriller workshop.

HAYK MELIKYAN / piano

Hayk Melikyan is recognized internationally as one of the most versatile and imaginative performers of the 20th Century and Contemporary Music and among today's most engaging virtuoso pianists. His international concert début took place at the “Concerto di Concerti” International Festival of the 20th Century Music in Rome in 2000. He leads an active concert life, playing throughout Europe, Asia and the Americas.

After having won the Second Prize in the International Piano Competition of the 20th Century and Contemporary Music “Premio Valentino Bucchi” in Rome in 2000 he included contemporary music as the leading part of his concert programmes. In 2012, Hayk Melikyan was awarded a Gold Medal by the Moscow Composers Union for his contribution and promotion of the World Contemporary Music, while in 2013, he was awarded the Title of an Honorary Artist of the Republic of Armenia. He is the first performer of numerous works by many composers of our time and dozens of pieces were especially composed for him.

In 2009, Melikyan initiated the Concert Series of “1900+”, which promotes the piano music of composers born after 1900. Several solo albums by Hayk Melikyan have been released since 2007 and in 2014 his solo album was released by NAXOS. Hayk Melikyan is regularly conducting master-classes on Contemporary music all over the world and he is regularly invited to perform in music festivals such as Festival de Valmagne and Festival de Musique en Côte de Nacre (France), Festival O/MODƏRNT (Sweden), the Geneva Piano Festival, the Warsaw Royal Arcades of Art Festival, and the Nuovi Spazi Musicali Festival (Italy). As a composer, Melikyan has produced a number of piano solo, chamber, instrumental, vocal and symphonic works. His piano transcriptions, concert paraphrases and arrangements are among the favourite ones in the repertoires of many pianists worldwide. Hayk Melikyan has earned a reputation as one of the most creative improvisators by world audience, which adds an unusual value to his recitals.

Tickets: €15 / €10 Concessions & members of the Pharos Arts Foundation, Box Office: Directly from the Foundation’s website www.pharosartsfoundation.org/Tickets_online.htm or Tel. 9666-9003 (Monday - Friday 10:00am-3:00pm)