October 8, 2026 | Zaryadye Concert Hall
Soloists: Oleg Akkuratov*, Daniil Kramer**, piano
Conductor – Alexey Vereshchagin
Rachmaninoff. Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini for piano* and orchestra, Op. 43
Gershwin. Rhapsody in Blue for piano** and orchestra
Mozart. Divertimento No. 3 in F major, KV 138
Mozart. Concerto No. 10 for two pianos and orchestra in E-flat major, KV 365 (316a)
October 8, the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia takes the stage at Zaryadye Concert Hall with a program that brings together Mozart’s early music and some of the great symphonic works of the 20th century. The orchestra will be joined by pianists Daniil Kramer and Oleg Akkuratov, both equally at home in the classical and jazz worlds. At the podium will be Alexey Vereshchagin, a conductor with the Bolshoi Theatre and a former participant in the NPR’s apprenticeship program who has since developed a successful ongoing collaboration with the orchestra. He has previously conducted the NPR in symphonic jazz programs featuring both Kramer and Akkuratov. This time, Kramer will perform Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, while Akkuratov will be the soloist in Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. The two pianists will also appear together in Mozart’s Concerto No. 10 for Two Pianos and Orchestra.
Jazz is an essential part of both musicians’ artistic identities; for Akkuratov, it is also an integral part of his formal musical training. Both regularly explore the meeting point between classical music and jazz, while Kramer has created entire concert series around this intersection, embracing crossover and the genre known as the “Third Stream.”
Gershwin’s and Rachmaninoff’s rhapsodies for piano and orchestra are linked by a remarkable musical connection. Rachmaninoff was in the audience for the New York premiere of Rhapsody in Blue at Aeolian Hall, where he witnessed Gershwin’s spectacular success. As conductor Walter Damrosch famously put it, Gershwin had “introduced Lady Jazz as an honored guest into the highest musical society.” A decade later, Rachmaninoff took up the idea of a symphonic variation set in the spirit of Gershwin, building his own Rhapsody around Paganini’s celebrated 24th Caprice for solo violin. He turned the virtuoso theme into a dramatic journey, constantly reshaping its character. Its best-known variation is also the one in which the influence of early jazz is most clearly heard.
Mozart offers a striking historical counterpoint. Divertimento in F major, K. 138 dates from the composer’s Salzburg years, when he was still in his teens. His brilliant Concerto No. 10 for Two Pianos and Orchestra, meanwhile, grew out of the intimate musical world he shared with his sister Nannerl and is one of his most substantial works for keyboard. The concerto is remarkable for the sophisticated interplay between the two soloists and the elegance of its orchestral writing.
In a program that moves freely between centuries and genres, Daniil Kramer and Oleg Akkuratov reveal three very different faces of virtuosity: Mozartian clarity, Rachmaninoff’s Romantic intensity, and Gershwin’s jazz-inspired freedom.