Guest Conductor Vassily Sinaisky Conducts An Evening Of Rachmaninoff And Shostakovich In His Utah Symphony Debut

Complete your week with a musical treat provided by Utah Symphony Guest Conductor Vassily Sinaisky and Guest Pianist Simon Trp eski for an evening of music composed by Rachmaninoff and Shostakovich on April 12 at 7:30 PM and April 13 at 5:30 PM in Abravanel Hall. Tickets, priced from $18 to $69 ($15 for students), are available for purchase through www.utahsymphony.org or by calling (801) 355-2787.

Utah Symphony Guest Conductor Vassily Sinaisky enjoys regular collaborations with world-renowned orchestras such as the Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, Berlin Radio Symphony, Stuttgart Radio Symphony and Czech Philharmonic. Maestro Sinaisky is a professor of conducting at the St Petersburg Conservatoire, and is known for his interpretations of Russian, German and English repertoire. During his first concert debut with Utah Symphony, Maestro Sinaisky programmed Kod ly's Dances of Gal nta, Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 4, and Shostakovich's Symphony No. 12 The Year 1917.

Simon Trp eski's musical talent has been described as fluent, muscular [and] humerous (New York Times). Mr. Trp eski regularly performs as a piano soloist with many orchestras in the UK, namely the London Symphony, City of Birmingham Symphony, Philharmonia, Royal Liverpool and London Philharmonic orchestras. In his country, Macedonia, Mr. Trp eski was awarded the first-ever title National Artist of the Republic of Macedonia, and acts as a committed cultural representative wherever he plays.

For Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 4, the third time was the charm. After two unsuccessful premieres, Rachmaninoff revised and republished it in 1941, finally achieving public acceptance as a worthy addition to his first three concertos. He continued to struggle with his compositions for the rest of his life, yet in his work, he accomplished a difficult blend of classical, romantic, and modern sounds.

I feel like a ghost wandering in a world grown alien. I cannot cast out the old way of writing and I cannot acquire the new. I have made an intense effort to feel the musical manner of today, but it will not come to me, explained Rachmaninoff.

Shostakovich, forced into the Soviet Communist Party and expected to compose a work dedicated to Lenin's memory, achieved the seemingly impossible in his Symphony No. 12 in D minor writing music that pulses with the energy of a revolution, while maintaining his personal integrity through his uniquely subversive, sardonic voice.