The Borodin String Quartet with Nikolai Demidenko

When?

Sunday 15 May 2011, 15.30

Where?

PATS Studio One

Open to:

Public, Staff, Students

Admission price:

Tickets: £22, £20 senior citizens, £10 concessions

Tickets:

Tickets are available from the University Box Office: T: 01483 686876, E: boxoffice@surrey.ac.uk

Buy tickets

The Borodin String Quartet commands a special position of respect in the chamber music world. In existence for more than 60 years, it has preserved a unique performance tradition, focussing on the masterpieces at the very heart of the quartet repertoire.

The artists have wanted to perform together for some time, and we are delighted to offer them the opportunity to do so by creating this special event.

Programme:

BORODIN                    String Quartet No 1 in A, Op 26
STRAVINSKY             Concertino, for String Quartet
SHOSTAKOVITCH     Piano Quintet in G minor, Op 57

For more information please visit: www.borodinquartet.com and Nikolai Demidenko

Borodin String Quartet Biography:

The Borodin Quartet commands a special position of respect in the chamber music world. In existence for more than 60 years, it has preserved a unique performance tradition, focusing on the masterpieces at the very heart of the quartet repertoire. Its interpretations are celebrated for their intensity and focus, a style in which individualism dedicates itself to the collaborative spirit of chamber music and total service of the composer’s wishes.

The Borodin Quartet’s particular affinity with Russian repertoire was stimulated by a close relationship with Shostakovich, who personally supervised its study of each of his quartets. Widely regarded as definitive interpretations, the Quartet’s cycles of the complete Shostakovich quartets have been performed all over the world, including Vienna, Zurich, Frankfurt, Madrid, Lisbon, Seville, London, Paris and New York. In recent seasons the ensemble has performed a broad repertoire, including works by Beethoven, Schubert, Prokofiev, Borodin and Tchaikovsky, while continuing to be welcomed and acclaimed at major venues throughout the world.

The Borodin Quartet was formed in 1945 by four students from the Moscow Conservatory. Ten years later, it changed its name from the Moscow Philharmonic Quartet to the Borodin Quartet. The current formation is Andrei Abramenkov, Ruben Aharonian, Igor Naidin and Vladimir Balshin: Andrei Abramenkov became a member in 1974; Ruben Aharonian and Igor Naidin joined in 1996; Vladimir Balshin joined the Quartet in August 2007. Valentin Berlinsky, one of the long lasting members, retired from the Quartet in the summer of 2007. He passed away on Monday 15 December 2008.

In addition to performing quartets, the members of the Borodin Quartet regularly join forces with other distinguished musicians to further explore the chamber music repertoire. Their partners have included Dmitri Shostakovich, Sviatoslav Richter, Mstislav Rostropovich, Yuri Bashmet, Elisabeth Leonskaja, Natalia Gutman, Elisso Virsaladze and Christoph Eschenbach. The Quartet also regularly give masterclasses.

For its 60th Anniversary Season, the Borodin Quartet performed cycles of the complete Beethoven quartets at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and Vienna Musikverein. Gala concerts honouring the Quartet’s contribution to musical history were performed in Moscow (January 2005) and at London’s Wigmore Hall and the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris (May 2005). The ensemble also gave recitals in Madrid, Rotterdam, Brussels, Geneva, Munich, Lisbon, Barcelona, Athens, Cologne, Istanbul, Zurich, Berlin, Moscow, New York and London, playing the music of Mozart, Schubert, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky, Shostakovich – and of course Borodin.

The CD label Chandos recorded and released the complete Beethoven quartets as part of the 60th anniversary celebration. The Quartet’s first release on the Onyx label, featuring Borodin, Schubert, Webern and Rachmaninov, was nominated for a Grammy in the 2005 Best Chamber Performance category. The Borodin Quartet has produced a rich heritage of recordings over several decades, for labels including EMI, Virgin Classics, RCA and Teldec. Among its Teldec recordings, those of Tchaikovsky’s quartets and Souvenir de Florence, Schubert’s String Quintet, Haydn’s Seven Last Words and a disc of Russian Miniatures all received acclaim. The Tchaikovsky disc was honoured with a Gramophone Award in 1994.

Nikolai Demidenko Biography:

Nikolai Demidenko’s passionate pianism means that he is in demand worldwide. Russian born and trained, he is proud to have been granted British Citizenship in 1995, having lived in the UK since 1990.

Frequent London recitals have included the Great Performers series at the Barbican Concert Hall, the International Piano Series at South Bank Centre and recently the London Pianoforte Series at the Wigmore Hall - a Chopin recital which was featured as the only live performance in BBC Radio 3’s Chopin Experience, a weekend celebration of his complete works.

He is renowned for his authoritative performances of the Russian concerto repertoire such as Prokofiev, Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky and has worked with many conductors and orchestras throughout the world. He has a flourishing relationship with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic and Yuri Temirkanov, with whom he performs regularly. He also enjoys a fruitful collaboration with several Russian artists who have made their homes in London; a cello and piano duo with Leonid Gorokhov; piano quartets with the exciting new Hermitage String Trio; and a two-piano partnership with Dmitri Alexeev, who likewise studied at the Moscow Conservatoire under Dmitri Bashkirov.

His repertoire is nonetheless wide-ranging including Bach, Clementi, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Mussorgsky and Scarlatti. He has a special affinity with the works of Chopin and travels frequently to Poland, most recently to Warsaw to perform at the Chopin & His Europe Festival. Other festival appearances include venues in Aldeburgh, Dubrovnik, Eilat, New York, Oslo and Singapore.

Concerto highlights this season include appearances with the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Hallé Orchestra and Sinfonia Lahti, and tours in the UK and Ireland with the Prague Symphony Orchestra and in Spain with the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine. His schedule also includes visits to Estonia, Germany, Italy and Singapore.

For Hyperion Records Nikolai Demidenko has recorded albums of Bach–Busoni, Chopin, Clementi, Liszt, Medtner, Mussorgsky, Prokofiev, Rachmaninov, Schubert & Schumann and concertos by Chopin, Medtner (which won a Gramophone Award), Scriabin, Tchaikovsky & Weber as well as the complete Prokofiev Concertos with the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Alexander Lazarev. For the Munich-based AGPL label he has recorded Beethoven’s Hammerklavier Sonata, a collection of Scarlatti sonatas and a Chopin CD which won the Preis der Deutschen Schallplatten Kritik Preis. Autumn 2008 saw the release of a new Chopin CD, including his first recording of the 24 Preludes, for Onyx Classics.