Saturday 24th September 2022 | 7.30pm
City Hall, Cork
Tickets:
Balcony: €33 | €30 (concession) | €28 (COS members)
Front parterre: €25 | €22 (concession) | €20 (COS members)
Back parterre: €18 | €16 (concession) | €12 (COS members)
Programme:
Shostakovich: Festival Overture, Op.96
Prokofiev: Violin Concerto No.2 in G minor, Op.63
Mussorgsky (orch. Ravel): Pictures at an Exhibition
National Symphony Orchestra
Jaime Martín (conductor)
with Viktoria Mullova (violin)
Viktoria Mullova studied at the Central Music School of Moscow and the Moscow Conservatoire. Her extraordinary talent captured international attention when she won first prize at the 1980 Sibelius Competition in Helsinki and the Gold Medal at the Tchaikovsky Competition in 1982 which was followed, in 1983, by her dramatic and much publicized defection to the West. She has since appeared with most of the world’s greatest orchestras and conductors and at the major international festivals. She is now known the world over as a violinist of exceptional versatility and musical integrity. Her curiosity spans the breadth of musical development from baroque and classical right up to the most contemporary influences from the world of fusion and experimental music.
Her interest in the authentic approach has led to collaborations with period instrument bands such as the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Il Giardino Armonico, Venice Baroque and Orchestre Révolutionaire et Romantique. Viktoria has a great affinity with Bach and his work makes up a large part of her recording catalogue. Her interpretations of Bach have been acclaimed worldwide and led Tim Ashley to write, “To hear Mullova play Bach is, simply, one of the greatest things you can experience…” in the Guardian. Her recent disc of Bach Concerti with the Accademia Bizantina and Ottavio Dantone has been highly praised and her recording of Bach’s solo sonatas and partitas represents a significant milestone in Viktoria’s personal journey into this music. The recording received 5-star reviews from all over the world and she has embarked on an international several season-long, series of solo Bach recitals.
Mullova’s extensive discography has attracted many prestigious awards. Her recording of the Vivaldi Concertos with Il Giardino Armonico and directed by Giovanni Antonini, won the Diapason D’Or of the Year award for 2005 and her recording featuring Beethoven’s Op.12, No.3 and Kreutzer Sonatas with Kristian Bezuidenhout won immense critical acclaim. Other discs have included the Schubert Octet with the Mullova Ensemble, “Recital” with Katia Labèque, Bach Sonatas with Ottavio Dantone,“6 Solo Sonatas and Partitas” by JS Bach and the complete works for violin & orchestra by Arvo Pärt with the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra and Paavo Järvi. Recent releases include “Music We Love” with Misha Mullov-Abbado, and Beethoven and Schubert with Alsadair Beatson.
Viktoria either plays on her ‘Jules Falk’ 1723 Stradivarius or a Guadagnini violin from 1750.
In 2022, Spanish conductor Jaime Martín takes on the position of Chief Conductor of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Since 2019 Jaime has been Music Director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, with his appointment now extended up to 2027, and Chief Conductor of Ireland’s RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra. He was the Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of Gävle Symphony Orchestra from 2013 to 2022, and was recently announced as the Principal Guest Conductor of the Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de España (Spanish National Orchestra) for the 22/23 season.
Having spent many years as a highly regarded flautist, working with the most inspiring conductors of our time, Jaime turned to conducting full-time in 2013 and has become very quickly sought after at the highest level. Recent and future engagements include his debuts with the Dresden and Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestras, return visits to the London Symphony, Sydney Symphony, Spanish Radio Symphony Orchestra (RTVE), Antwerp Symphony, Colorado Symphony, Gulbenkian and Indianapolis Symphony orchestras, as well as a nine-city European tour with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
In recent years Martín has conducted an impressive list of orchestras that includes the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Royal Scottish National, Swedish Radio Symphony, Barcelona Symphony, New Zealand Symphony, Queensland Symphony, Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saabruecken, Essen Philharmonic and Philharmonia Orchestras, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France. He has forged strong relationships with renowned soloists such as Anne Sophie von Otter, Joshua Bell, Pinchas Zukerman, Christian Tetzlaff and Viktoria Mullova, among many others. Martín has also commissioned multiple world and regional premieres of works by composers Ellen Reid, Andrew Norman, Missy Mazzoli, Derrick Spiva, Albert Schnelzer and Juan Pablo Contreras.