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RUSSIAN NATIONAL ORCHESTRA Patrick Summers, conductor Yuja Wang, piano

ABOUT THE RUSSIAN NATIONAL ORCHESTRA: “They played with such captivating beauty that the audience gave an involuntary sigh of pleasure.” - Evening Standard (Russian National Orchestra): “A living symbol of the best in Russian art.” - The Miami Herald The Russian National Orchestra (RNO) has been in demand throughout the music world ever since its 1990 Moscow premiere. Of the orchestra's 1996 debut at the BBC Proms in London, the Evening Standard wrote, "they played with such captivating beauty that the audience gave an involuntary sigh of pleasure." More recently, they were described as "a living symbol of the best in Russian art" (Miami Herald). The first Russian orchestra to perform at the Vatican and in Israel, the RNO maintains an active international tour schedule, appearing in Europe, Asia and the Americas. Popular with radio audiences worldwide, RNO concerts are regularly aired by National Public Radio in the United States and by the European Broadcasting Union. Gramophone magazine called the first RNO CD in 1991 "an awe-inspiring experience; should human beings be able to play like this?" and listed it as the best recording of Tchaikovsky's Pathétique in history. Since then, the orchestra has made over 50 recordings, featuring RNO Founder and Artistic Director Mikhail Pletnev, Principal Guest Conductor Vladimir Jurowski, Kent Nagano, Alexander Vedernikov and Paavo Berglund. The RNO’s recording of Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf and Beintus's Wolf Tracks, conducted by Kent Nagano and narrated by Sophia Loren, Bill Clinton and Mikhail Gorbachev, was the winner of a 2004 Grammy Award, making the RNO the first Russian orchestra ever to win the recording industry's highest honor. The orchestra’s ongoing Shostakovich cycle on PentaTone Classics is being widely acclaimed as “the most exciting cycle of the Shostakovich symphonies to be put down on disc, and easily the best recorded” (SACD.net).
ABOUT YUJA WANG: Twenty-two year old Chinese pianist Yuja Wang is widely recognized for playing that combines the spontaneity and fearless imagination of youth with the discipline and precision of a mature artist. Regularly lauded for her controlled, prodigious technique, Yuja’s command of the piano has been described as “astounding” and “superhuman,” and she has been praised for her authority over the most complex technical demands of the repertoire, the depth of her musical insight, as well as her fresh interpretations and graceful, charismatic stage presence. This past season The Washington Post called her Kennedy Center recital debut “jaw-dropping” and following her San Francisco recital debut The San Francisco Chronicle wrote “The arrival of Chinese-born pianist Yuja Wang on the musical scene is an exhilarating and unnerving development. To listen to her in action is to re-examine whatever assumptions you may have had about how well the piano can actually be played.”
REPERTOIRE: Beethoven: Coriolan Overture, P. 62 Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 73 Emperor Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36
TICKETS: BUY TICKETS NOW! Tickets for the Russian National Orchestra are $75/90. Tickets are available online, by phone at 888.920.ARTS(2787) or in person at the VPAC Box Office in Beaver Creek. Book accommodations for RNO & Yuja Wang
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