PROGRAMME

Trios for piano, cello, and violin

Mendelssohn Piano Trio No 1 in D Minor
Schubert Piano Trio No 2 in E Flat Major
Dvorak Trio in F Minor Op 65
Rachmanivov Trio élégiaque No 2 in D minor

BIOGRAPHY - Boris Berezovsky

"Here, surely, we have the truest successor to the great Russian pianists" (Gramophone)

Boris Berezovsky has established a remarkable reputation, both as the most powerful of virtuoso pianist and as a musician of unique insight and sensitivity.

Born in Moscow in 1969, Boris Berezovsky studied at the Moscow Conservatoire with Eliso Virsaladze and privately with Alexander Satz. Following his London début at the Wigmore Hall in 1988, The Times described him as "an artist of exceptional promise, a player of dazzling virtuosity and formidable power". Two years later, this promise was fulfilled when he won the Gold Medal at the 1990 International Tchaïkovsky Competition in Moscow.

Boris Berezovsky works regularly as concerto soloist with famous orchestras including The Philharmonia of London with Leonard Slatkin, The New York Philharmonic with Kurt Masur, The Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra with Leif Segerstam, The Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra with Dmitri Kitaenko, NDR Hamburg, New Japan Philharmonic, Cities of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Dallas and the BBC, Orchestre National de France…

Boris Berezovsky's recent recordings of the complete Beethoven Concertos with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra with Thomas Dausgaard were greeted with high acclaim from the press. He also made a considerable number of records for Teldec including solo discs of works by Chopin, Schumann, Rachmaninov, Mussorgsky, Balakirev, Medtner, Ravel and the complete Liszt Transcendental Studies. His recording of the Rachmaninov Sonata was awarded the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik and his Ravel disc was specially recommended by Le Monde de la Musique, Diapason, BBC Music Magazine and the Independent on Sunday. Boris Berezovsky is winner of the BBC Music Magazine Awards in March 2006.

In recital and as a chamber musician Boris Berezovsky performs regularly in series and festivals world-wide including the Berlin Philharmonic Piano Series and the Concertgebouw International Piano Series, Verbier Festival, La Roque d'Anthéron among others. In May 2005 he had his first solo recital in the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris. He has a strong partnership with Vadim Repin, Brigitte Engerer, Dmitri Makhtin, Alexander Kniazev but also other distinguished colleagues including Julian Rachlin, Michael Collins, Ralph Kirshbaum, Boris Pergamenschikov.

In August 2004, Trio B.Berezovsky, D.Makhtin, A.Kniazev, recorded a DVD of Tchaïkovsky Pieces for piano, violin and cello and Trio Elegiaque "A La Mémoire d'un grand artiste" of Tchaïkovsky presented on ARTE TV Channel and NHK in Japan. They received for this DVD the 4 stars Diapason d'Or.

For Warner Classics International, Boris Berezovsky recorded together with A.Kniazev and D.Makhtin in October 2004 the Chostakovitch Trio nº2 and Rachmaninov Trio Elégiaque nº2, awarded "Choc de la Musique" in France, "Gramophone" in England, "Echo Classic" 2005 in Germany. His solo live recording Chopin/Godowsky released in January 2006, got several awards : the Diapason d'Or and RTL d'Or. His most recent album Tchaïkovsky nº1 and Katchaturian Concerto (Ural Philharmonic Orchestra /Dmitri Liss) was released on April 2006 in the UK .

With the Mirare Label, he recorded the Rachmaninov Préludes (May 2005) as well as the complete Rachmaninov Piano concertos with the Ural Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Dmitri Liss (concertos nº 2 and 3 in November 2005, concertos nº1 and 4, Rapshodie in October 2006).

During the season 2006-2007, Boris Berezovksy is on tour with Maestro Saraste and the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Munich Phiharmonic Orchestra, The Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, the "Folles Journées" of Nantes, Bilbao, Tokyo, The Roque d'Anthéron Festival as well as the Aspen Music Festival among others. From the 8th to 18th January 2007, Boris Berezovsky had his "Carte Blanche" and played for 7 exceptionnal concerts with Vadim Repin, Alexander Kniazev, Dmitri Makhtin, Brigitte Engerer, Akiko Suwanaï and Michael Kugel.

Boris Berezovsky will make his debut in the United States at the Ravinia Festival in June 2007 and in Australia in August of the same year.

He received the "BBC Music Magazine Awards 2006".

BIOGRAPHY - Alexander Kniazev

One of the most powerful and enigmatic cellists, was born in 1961 in Moscow : Alexander Kniazev. He started the cello at the age of six with Alexander Fedorchenko. He graduated from the Moscow Conservatory in 1986. In 1991, Alexander Kniazev got a degree at the Nizhny-Novgorod Conservatory as an organist where he studied with the well-known Russian organist, professor G. Kozlova.

He was a prize winner of the National cello Competition in Vilnius, at the International cello Competition in Cassado, at the Chamber Music Competition in Trapani with the pianist Ekaterina Voskressenskaya, at the Tchaïkovsky Competition in Moscow and at the Pretoria Competition (UNISA).

He played with conductors like E. Svetlanov, J. Temirkanov, M. Rostropovitch, Y. Bashmet, V. Fedosseev, M. Shostakovitch, N. Jarvi and orchestras such as : Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Bayerische Rundfunk Orchestra, Göteborg Symphony Orchestra, Russian State Symphony Orchestra, Saint-Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, "Het Residentie Orchestra", Orchestre National de France, Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, among others.

His partners in chamber music are Evgeny Kissin, Vadim Repin, Boris Berezovsky, Dmitri Makhtin, Nicolaï Lugansky, Brigitte Engerer, Laurent Korcia.

In 1999, he was awarded the title of the Musician of the year in Russia.

In the US, Alexander Kniazev appeared at the Tanglewood Festival.

His latest appearance in France at "Festival de Saint Denis", "Nuits de Suquet", La Roque d'Anthéron and Sisteron, Menton, in England at the Harrogate Festival, in Portugal at Espinhio Festival, "Folle Journée" of Nantes, Bilbao, Tokyo were acclaimed by both critics and the audience.

A recording of complete Bach suites at Warner Classic then followed by three concerts in Paris received a high International acclaim from critics and shops : recital with Nicolaï Lugansky at the "Théâtre du Châtelet", Shostakovitch nº1 Concerto with " Ensemble Orchestral de Paris" and John Nelson at the "Théâtre des Champs-élysées" and in chamber music with Dmitri Makhtin and Boris Berezovsky at the Louvre auditorium.

One of the most spectacular events were recital concerts with Evgueny Kissin, in Festival radio France Montpellier, performance of the Saint-Saëns cello Concerto with Maestro Temirkanov in Venice.

His last solo recital in 2005 in Paris Théâtre des Champs Elysées was devoted to Bach Suites.

He performed in Paris with Orchestra National de France conducted by Kurt Mazur, Ensemble Orchestral de Paris conducted by John Nelson, Tchaïkovski Symphony Orchestra conducted by V.Fedosseiev on their European tour and in trio with Vadim Repin and Bruno Canino for Repin' s « Carte Blanche ». In May 2006, with Berezovsky and Makhtin, he played on the stage of Concertgebow in Amsterdam and Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels.

His recording ("Le Chant du Monde") of Bloch "Schelomo" with Maestro Svetlanov and Russian State Symphony Orchestra received the highest awards. Kniazev's CD of Max Reger's composition was chosen by "Repertoire Magazine" as the best interpretation of the composer's work.

Trio B.Berezovsky, D.Makhtin, A.Kniazev, recorded a DVD of Tchaïkovski Pieces for piano, violon and cello and Trio Elégiaque "A La Mémoire d'un grand artiste" presented on ARTE TV Channel and NHK in Japan. They received for this DVD the 4 stars Diapason.

The CD (Warner Classics International) with B.Berezovsky and D.Makhtin, Chostakovitch Trio nº2 and Rachmaninov Trio Elégiaque nº2 received several highest awards like Choc de la Musique in France, Gramophone in England, Echo Classic in Germany.

He recently recorded for Warner Music, Tchaïkovsky Roccoco and Romances with the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, a Chopin/Rachmaninov CD with Nicolaï Lugansky and a Mendelssohn trios with Makhtin and Berezovsky to appear in the shops next Autumn.

BIOGRAPHY - Dmitri Makhtin

Born in St Petersburg in 1975, Dmitri Makhtin started his musical education at the age of 4 with his parents, both professional violinists. In 1981 he entered the Conservatory for highly talented children. In 1989 he won the prize of the National Competition for Young Violinists in Novossibirsk, Russia. He was then invited to perform recitals in his native country and appeared as a soloist with St Petersburg Philharmonic and Novossibirsk Philharmonic Orchestras.

In 1990, he obtained a scholarship from the Young Musicians' Foundation in the USA and gave his first recitals in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Dallas

From 1992 to 1995 he continued his musical education with professors Philip Hirshborn and H.Krebbers. From 1993 until 1996 he won the following international competitions : Kloster Schontal violin competition, Premio Paganini and Louis Spohr, Tibor Varga, Montréal and Sibelius or Pretoria.

Dmitri Makhtin made his French debut in Paris in 1997 with Maestro Svetlanov and the Russian State Symphony Orchestra, then, his American debut in 1998, with the Cleveland Orchestra with Maestro Slatkin. From then on, he appeared with orchestras such as : Het Residentie, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, St Petersburg Philharmonic and Symphony Orchestras, Sydney Radio and TV Orchestras, Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra, Montpellier National Orchestra, New Sinfonietta Amsterdam, Geneva Chamber Orchestra, Prague Philharmonia, Solistes Européens du Luxembourg and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra.

He performed with conductors such as Evgueny Svetlanov, Leonard Slatkin, Lev Markiz, James de Priest, Sakari Oramo, Jiri Belohlavek, Alexander Dmitriev, Jerzy Semkow, Yuri Temirkanov, Nikolaï Alexeev.

An active chamber music player, he has performed in prestigious festivals such as the Arts Square in St Petersburg, Lisbonne, Folles Journées de Nantes, Roque d'Anthéron , Musique en Côte Basque and Festival de Saint-Denis. His musical partners are Boris Berezovsky, Alexander Kniazev, Alexander Paley, Brigitte Engerer, Renaud Capuçon and Ysaÿe Quartet.

He recently recorded Prokofiev's Violin Concerto Nº1 with the Solistes Européens du Luxembourg. Trio Boris Berezovsky, Dmitri Makhtin, Alexander Kniazev, recorded a DVD of Tchaïkovsky's Pieces for piano, violin,and cello and Trio Elegiaque "A La Mémoire d'un grand artiste" presented on ARTE TV Channel and NHK in Japan. They received for this DVD the 4-star Diapason award.

The CD (Warner Classics International) with B. Berezovsky and D.Makhtin, Chostakovitch's Trio nº2 and Rachmaninov's Trio Elegiaque nº2 and received several highest awards like the Choc de la Musique in France, Gramophone in England, Echo Classic in Germany. His last CD at Warner Music devoted to Bach : partitas and sonatas will appear in September 2007.