January 15, 2018 | Tchaikovsky Concert Hall
Great Piano Concertos, Subscription series no. 30
Boris Berezovsky, piano
Conductor – Kalle Kuusava
Stravinsky. Suite from the music to the ballet "Pulcinella"
Saint-Saëns. Concerto No. 2 for piano and orchestra in G minor, op. 22 
Kodály. "Dances of Galanta"
Tchaikovsky. Concert Fantasia for piano and orchestra in G Major, op. 56

The National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia continues the popular "Great Piano Concertos" Subscription Sseries of the Moscow Philharmonic Society (No. 30). The star of the NPR's January program will be world-renowned pianist Boris Berezovsky, who will play the solo parts in the works by Saint-Saëns and Tchaikovsky. Boris Berezovsky, a Honored Artist of Russia and a Steinway Artist, is one of the most sought-after pianists in the world, whose art is marked by virtuosity, ingenuity and vast repertoire. The Winner of the IX Tchaikovsky International Competition in Moscow (1990), he plays in the best concert halls of the world with top orchestras and outstanding conductors. Every year he takes part in the concerts of the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia.

The young Finnish conductor Kalle Kuusava, the Winner of the European Conductors Competition in Oslo (2013) and an award-winner of the Evgeny Sbetlanov Competition in Paris (2014). He graduated from the Sibelius Academy of Music in Helsinki and the Vienna University of Music, then he got his masters degree at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo, where he studied conducting with Jukka-Pekka Saraste and Are Sandbakken. He elaborated his skills by assisting to such conductors as Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Hannu Lintu, Mikko Frank, Fabien Gabel, Tomas Hanus, Antonio Fogliani and others. The Maestro successfully builds his career as a symphonic and opera conductor, performing at the "An-der-Wien" Vienna Theatre, the Norwegian National Opera in Oslo, the Mariinsky Theatre, the Zurich Opera, and others.

Saint-Saëns' Second Concerto is regarded as the first classical sample of the French Piano Concerto. It was written in just 17 days in April 1868 and was soon performed by the author and the orchestra under the baton of Anton Rubinstein at the Salle Pleyel in Paris. Liszt and Tchaikovsky highly appreciated the new composition, the latter said the following about it: "The work is extremely beautiful, fresh, exquisite and rich in alluring niceties. The Concerto ... is very original in form - it has no slow second movement. Instead, he wrote a charming, extremely sparkling Scherzo, in which, as well as in the Finale, he revealed a wonderful art of instrumentation, a lot of humor, imagination and cleverness.”

Concert Fantasy by Tchaikovsky is close to the composer's three Piano Concertos, but consists of only two movements (Quasi rondo and Contrastes) and reflects the search for new original constructive solutions and orchestration effects. The Fantasy is entirely tailored out of the unused materials intended for the Third Orchestral Suite. Written in 1884, the Fantasy was first performed in 1885 in Moscow. The soloist at the premiere was Tchaikovsky's pupil Sergei Ivanovich Taneyev.