Pushkin House hosts a chamber music concert offering a dreamy meditation on the theme of Winter and the start of a new year through the works of three contemporary composers — Valentin Silvestrov (b. 1937, Kyiv), Sergei Zagny (b. 1960, Moscow) and Georgs Pelēcis (b. 1947, Riga).
Drawing: Nadya Zakharova
Composer Valentin Silvestrov describes his music as an echo of something that already exists. This speaks to where we would expect to find ourselves in this concert: a space evoking the ideals of the past, while dreaming in an ever-unfolding present.
In their methods, directions and poetics, the works of each of the three composers alludes to very particular states: at times melancholic, at others uplifting or mesmerisingly monotonous. What may seem trivial in one moment gradually fades into elegiac familiarity – an inherent and immediate emotiveness built on the foundations of musical tradition.
Scroll down to see the full programme, composer bios and list of performers.
Curated by Sasha Elina.
Duration: 70 mins without intervals.
PROGRAMME:
Valentin Silvestrov — Kitsch-Music (1977) for piano.
Valentin Silvestrov — Winter Road (on the poem by A. Pushkin), from Silent Songs (1973-77) for voice and piano.
Sergei Zagny — The North (2011) for a number of instruments.
Georgs Pelēcis — New Year’s Music (1996) for piano.
PERFORMERS:
Thomas Ang, piano
Alex Nikiporenko, piano
Sasha Elina, voice, flute
Roxanna Albayati, cello
Cameron Graham, sound assistance
ABOUT THE COMPOSERS:
Valentin Silvestrov is a Ukrainian composer and pianist born in Kiev in 1937. He graduated from the Kiev Tchaikovsky Conservatory in 1964, by which time he was already recognised as one of the leading figures of the "Kiev avant-garde". In the early 1970s, Silvestrov's musical approach shifted towards what he termed a "metaphorical" style reminiscent of post-Romanticism, further describing it as “metamusic”. In 1970, he was nominated for the International Gaudeamus Composers’ Prize. In 1998-99, he was a visiting fellow of the DAAD in Berlin. Silvestrov’s work has been performed widely across Europe, as well as in Russia, Japan and the United States.
Sergei Zagny is a Russian composer and musical theorist born in 1960 in Moscow. He graduated from the Moscow Conservatory where, since 1993, he has been teaching polyphony, harmony, analysis and composition. In 1992, Zagny received the inaugural Russian John Cage Prize. His music has been performed in Russia, Germany, the USA, France, the UK, Japan, Italy, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. As a composer, performer and interdisciplinary artist, Zagny has collaborated with Anton Batagov, Teodor Currentzis, Natalia Pshenitchnikova, Alexei Lyubimov, Andrey Monastyrsky, Nikolai Polissky, Dmitry Prigov, Frederic Rzewski, Vladimir Smolyar, Boris Yukhananov and many others.
Georgs Pelēcis is a Latvian composer and musicologist. He was born in 1947 in Riga, and studied composition with the prominent Armenian composer Aram Khachaturian at the Moscow Conservatory. His work is widely referred to as “new consonant music”. As a musicologist, he has written a number of essays about form in the music of the Renaissance, the Baroque, and in contemporary composition, including two theses on Johannes Ockeghem and Palestrina. His music has been performed at the Royal Albert Hall in London, the Alternativa Festival in Moscow, and the Lockenhaus Festival in Austria, to name a few. Pelēcis is currently a Professor at the Latvian Academy of Music.
ABOUT THE PERFORMERS:
Thomas Ang is a pianist who has performed around the world and earned critical recognition as a champion of obscure and neglected repertoires ranging from baroque to contemporary music. He currently works for the Royal Ballet, and writes various transcriptions and arrangements in his spare time.
Sasha Elina is a music curator, flautist and vocalist, currently based between Moscow and London, specialising in new music, sound installation and improvisation. She is a founder and artistic director of the Music Space Architecture project, alongside many other projects presented in Russia and the UK.
Alex Nikiporenko is a London-based composer, teacher, pianist and curator of 840, a concert series dedicated to new experimental and minimal music. His music has been performed throughout Europe, nominated for awards, and broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and Resonance FM.
Roxanna Albayati is a cellist, artist and a founding member of New Maker Ensemble, currently working at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance as a graduate co-researcher. She merges experimental music and performance art in her cross-cultural approach.