Ilya Gringolts Plays Paganini With The Australian Chamber Orchestra
Russian violin virtuoso Ilya Gringolts will make his highly-anticipated debut with the Australian Chamber Orchestra (ACO) performing music by Vivaldi, Paganini and Bartók.
Gringolts will perform on two extraordinary violins in these concerts. He will play a 2011 Matthieu Devuyst violin for Paganini’s Violin Concerto No.1, re-tuned to replicate how the concerto would have been performed in the early 19th-century by Paganini himself. For the works by CPE Bach, Vivaldi and Bartók, Gringolts will perform on a precious 1723–24 Guarneri, del Gesù violin, tuned to modern pitch.
Also in this concert, ACO Principal Cello Timo-Veikko Valve and cellist Julian Thompson perform as soloists with Gringolts in Vivaldi’s Concerto for Violin and Two Cellos. The concert concludes with Bartók’s Divertimonto, a piece that was included in the ACO’s inaugural concert in 1975, that showcases the virtuosity of the entire ensemble.
Ilya Gringolts studied violin and composition in St. Petersburg after which he attended the Juilliard School of Music where he studied with Itzhak Perlman. He has appeared as a soloist with the world’s leading orchestra’s including the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony and the BBC Symphony and has released critical acclaimed recordings for Deutsche Grammophon, BIS and Hyperion.
A former child protégé, Gringolts became the youngest ever first-prize winner at the Paganini International Violin Competition at just 16. He is renowned for his extraordinary technical command and musical sensitivity. His interpretations of Paganini’s music, regarded as the ‘Everest’ of technique in the violin repertoire, have received critical acclaim. Gramophone Magazine described his recording of Paganini’s 24 Caprices for Violin, “Where we were once content simply to marvel at the pyrotechnics, now, because of Gringolts, we hear the music.”
It was during a broadcast performance of Paganini’s First Violin Concerto that ACO Artistic Director Richard Tognetti first experienced Gringolts’ playing, on the radio while driving. He was so mesmerised that he had to pull over to find out who had made such a visceral impression. Tognetti extended an invitation to Gringolts to guest direct the ACO, an offer which Gringolts enthusiastically accepted, and will see him perform that very same concerto with the Orchestra.
PROGRAM: CPE BACH String Symphony in C major/ PAGANINI (arr. Bernard Rofe) Violin Concerto No.1 in D major/ VIVALDI Concerto for Violin and 2 Cellos in C major/ BARTÓK Divertimento
ARTISTS: Ilya Gringolts, Guest Director & Violin/ Timo-Veikko Valve, Cello/ Julian Thompson, cello
