Violinist Gidon Kremer and Pianist Daniil Trifonov Join the LA Philharmonic in Concert Tonight

In the course of his distinguished career, Gidon Kremer has established a worldwide reputation as one of the most original and compelling artists of his generation. He has appeared on virtually every major concert stage with the most celebrated orchestras of Europe and America and has collaborated with today's foremost conductors. Kremer's repertoire is unusually extensive, encompassing all of the standard classical and romantic violin works, as well as music by 20th- and 21st-century masters such as Henze, Berg and Stockhausen. He has also championed the works of living Russian and Eastern European composers and has performed many important new compositions, several of them dedicated to him. Kremer has become associated with such diverse composers as Alfred Schnittke, Arvo Pärt, Giya Kancheli, Sofia Gubaidulina, Valentin Silvestrov, Luigi Nono, Aribert Reimann, Peteris Vasks, John Adams, Victor Kissine, Michael Nyman, Philip Glass, Leonid Desyatnikov, and Astor Piazzolla, bringing their music to audiences in a way that respects tradition yet remains contemporary. It would be fair to say that no other soloist of his international stature has done as much for contemporary composers in the past 30 years. An exceptionally prolific recording artist, Kremer has made more than 120 albums, many of which brought him prestigious international awards and prizes in recognition of his exceptional interpretative powers.

Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov has made a spectacular ascent to classical music stardom since winning First Prize at both the Tchaikovsky and Rubinstein competitions in 2011 at the age of 20. Combining consummate technique with rare sensitivity and depth, his performances are a perpetual source of awe. "He has everything and more, ... tenderness and also the demonic element. I never heard anything like that," stated pianist Martha Argerich, while the Financial Times observes, "What makes him such a phenomenon is the ecstatic quality he brings to his performances. ... Small wonder every western capital is in thrall to him." Trifonov launched the 2014/15 season with the Seattle Symphony, making his debut in Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto, which is also the vehicle for his upcoming Japanese tour with the Mariinsky Orchestra and Valery Gergiev. This season, he also debuts with the Dallas Symphony and returns to the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Washington's National Symphony, London's Philharmonia Orchestra and the Vienna Symphony, among many others. With a solo recital program of Bach, Beethoven, and Liszt, he tours a host of key venues, including London's Royal Festival Hall, the Théatre des Champs Elysées in Paris, Tokyo's Opera City, Barcelona's Palau de la Musica, and New York's Carnegie Hall, for the third consecutive year.

Giedre Dirvanauskaite was born in Kaunas, into a family of musicians. In 1995, she graduated from the M.K.Ciurlionis Art Gymnasium where she studied cello with Romanas Armonas and entered the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre to study with Prof. S. Sondeckiene. She is the laureate of several competitions and has attended master classes held by M. Rostropovich, D. Geringas, G. Kremer, V. Hagen, H. Bayerle, T. Grindenko, B. Garlicki and others. Dirvanauskaite has participated in music festivals in Lithuania and abroad: the cycle Vilnius Quartet and Young Talents organized by Vilnius Quartet, youth festival Atzalynas, the international music festival Sugrizimai and chamber music festival in Gstaad (Switzerland); every year she participates in Lockenhaus Chamber Music Festival (Austria) organized by Gidon Kremer. As a soloist she has performed with the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, Kremerata Baltica orchestra, with the conductors Esa-Pekka Salonen, Juozas Domarkas, Saulius Sondeckis and Robertas Servenikas. She has been a member of Kremerata Baltica since 1997. In 2004, on the advice of Gidon Kremer, she founded the string quartet Kremeratini with her colleagues Dzeraldas Bidva, Marija Nemanyte and Ula Zebriunaite, and has given concerts in the U.S., Latvia and Austria.