Torleif Thedéen (cello) & Elisaveta Blumina (piano)

Torleif Thedéen, one of the most celebrated cellists of our time, is visiting Cyprus for the first time, to join forces with the eminent German pianist Elisaveta Blumina in a fascinating cello and piano recital, as part of the Pharos Arts Foundation’s Concert & Recital Series.

Having gained an international recognition in 1985 by winning three of the world’s most prestigious cello competitions, Thedéen has since appeared as a soloist not only with all the leading orchestras in Scandinavia but also with many of the world’s greatest orchestras, including the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Bordeaux and the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, under the baton of such conductors as Esa-Pekka Salonen, Paavo Berglund and Neeme Järvi. An ECHO Klassik award winner, Blumina has released over 25 albums, which have been enthusiastically received by the press and earned her a reputation as an extraordinary musician. Her career to-date has taken her from halls such as the Berlin Philharmonic, Laeisz-Halle in Hamburg to Carnegie Hall in New York.

For their recital in Nicosia, on Thursday 29 November 2018, at The Shoe Factory / 8:30pm, Torleif Thedéen and Elisaveta Blumina will perform a spectacular programme of cello and piano sonatas by Schumann, Beethoven, Prokofiev and Kancheli.

The recital is organised by the Pharos Arts Foundation with the kind support of PwC.

PROGRAMME:

Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
Fantasiestücke for Cello & Piano, Op.73 in A minor (1849)

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Sonata for Cello & Piano No.3 in A major, Op.69 (1808)

Interval

Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953)
A selection from Visions fugitives, Op.22, for solo piano (1915-17)

Giya Kancheli (1935)
A selection from 33 Miniatures from Music for Stage and Screen, for solo piano (1965-2002)

Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953)
Sonata for Cello & Piano in C major, Op.119 (1949)

TORLEIF THEDÉEN cello

One of the most renowned cellists of our time, Torleif Thedéen gained an international recognition in 1985 by winning three of the world’s most prestigious cello competitions: The Hammer-Rostropovich Prize in Los Angeles, the Pablo Casals Competition in Budapest and the European Broadcasting Union's International Tribune for Young Interpreters in Bratislava. He has since appeared as a soloist not only with all the leading orchestras in Scandinavia but also with many of the world’s greatest orchestras, including the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, Wiener Symphoniker, Orchestre Philharmonique de Bordeaux, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Berliner Symphoniker, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, as well as the Dresden, Czech, Moscow, Rotterdam, Sttugart and Royal Stockholm Philharmonic orchestras, under the baton of such conductors as Esa-Pekka Salonen, Paavo Berglund, Neeme Järvi, Franz Welser-Möst, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Leif Segerstam and Eri Klas.

Active also as a chamber musician, Thedéen has appeared in major concert venues all over the world, such as London’s Wigmore Hall, New York’s Carnegie Hall and Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw. He often participates in prestigious music festivals, among them the Verbier Festival, Prague Spring Festival, the festivals in Schleswig-Holstein, Bordeaux, Oslo, Bath, Stavanger and Kuhmo.

Since 1986, Thedéen has made numerous recordings for BIS, featuring both standard repertoire works and contemporary music, including the renowned Dvořák Cello Concerto. His album of Shostakovich’s Cello Concertos won the Cannes Classical Award, and his recording of J.S. Bach’s Solo Suites for Cello was named Editor’s choice in BBC Music Magazine.

Career highlights include tours with Julian Rachlin and Janine Jansen to festivals in Europe, New Zealand and Australia; tours in Scandinavia and England with the Musica Vitae Chamber Orchestra of Sweden; a worldwide tour with Janine Jansen and Maxim Rysanov. Following a recording with DECCA, Torleif Thedéen performed with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, under the baton of Mario Venzago, toured with the BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestra, and recorded with NDR Orchestra in Hannover, Germany. Recent appearances included performances at the Helleruplund Kirke and the Hørsholm Musikforening in Denmark, an Australasian Tour including performances with the Auckland Philharmonia and the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra.

Torleif Thedéen was appointed Professor at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Fall of 2017, and has been Professor at the Edsberg Music Institute in Stockholm since 2016. He plays a cello by David Techler, dating from 1711, formerly owned by Lynn Harrell.

ELISAVETA BLUMINA piano

Eminent German pianist Elisaveta Blumina belongs to a generation of young musicians who put music on the forefront and do not pander to every demand made by the music business. This has not gone unnoticed and has earned her an ECHO Klassik award, together with her trio Ensemble Blumina, for the best recording of chamber music composed in the 20th and 21st centuries.

Blumina began her studies in her native St. Petersburg, Russia, at the Conservatoire Rimsky Korsakov. She continued her studies at the University of Music and Theatre Hamburg and later at the Conservatoire in Berne. Among her teachers were Sir András Schiff, Evgeni Koroliov, Radu Lupu and Bruno Canino. Her career to-date has taken her from halls such as the Berlin Philharmonic, Laeisz-Halle in Hamburg to Carnegie Hall in New York. She is frequently invited to appear in music festivals across Europe and America including the Schleswig-Holstein, the Mecklenburg Vorpommern, Campos de Jordao, Verbier and Colmar festivals. She has appeared as a guest soloist with many orchestras including the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, the Dresden Philharmonic, Moscow Virtuosi, Sinfonia Varsovia, the Hamburg Philharmonic and Staatskapelle Halle with conductors such as Thomas Sanderling, Yuri Temirkanov, Vladimir Spivakov, Gerd Albrecht, Andrey Boreyko and Daniel Raiskin.

Elisaveta Blumina has been amongst the first musicians to seriously study the work of Mieczyslaw Weinberg, a close friend and contemporary of Shostakovich. Her project to record a series of CDs with Weinberg's music has established her as a major factor in the recent renaissance of Weinberg's music in the West. She has received invitations by Gidon Kremer to perform and teach Weinberg's music in the Lockenhaus Festival and at the Kronberg Academy. She has recently released her first CD of Weinberg's solo piano sonatas for CPO label, following two well-received albums of his chamber music for strings and woodwinds. Her recordings of over 25 albums, covering a broad repertoire, have been enthusiastically received by the press and earned Elisaveta Blumina a reputation as an extraordinary musician.

A passionate and experienced chamber musician, Elisaveta works together with Kolja Blacher, Pierre Amoyal, the Vogler Quartet, Wenzel Fuchs, Hans-Udo Heinzmann, Marina Prudenskaya, Johannes Moser, Vasilly Lobanov and Julia Deyneka. Besides her performing career Elisaveta Blumina has, since 2012, assumed the role of Artistic Director of both the International Chamber Music Festival Hamburg and the festival "Giluim" Musica Judaica Salzland in Schoenebeck on the Elbe (Germany).

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. +35722663871 (Monday - Friday 10:00am-3:00pm)