European Union Youth Symphony Orchestra China Tour August 29, 2008

Time: 2008/8/29-2008/8/30
Venue: NCPA-Concer Hall
Price: 100/200/300/400/500/800
Tel: 86-10-64177845
Web: www.piao.com.cn

Conductor: Vladimir Ashkenazy

About Vladimir Ashkenazy
Inthe years since Vladimir Ashkenazy first came to prominence on theworld stage in the 1955 Chopin Competition in Warsaw he has built anextraordinary career not only as one of the most renowned and reveredpianists of our times, but as an artist whose creative life encompassesa vast range of activities and continues to offer inspiration tomusic-lovers across the world.

Conductinghas formed the largest part of his activities for the past 20 yearsand, following on from his period as Chief Conductor of the CzechPhilharmonic from 1998 to 2003, Ashkenazy took up the position of MusicDirector of NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyoin September 2004. In Autumn 2005 he completed his second highlysuccessful European tour with them, including a televised concert atthe Vienna Musikverein which marked the orchestra’s debut in thisprestigious venue. Their regular work in Tokyohas included several television broadcasts and special programmes, suchas a commemoration in Spring 2006 of Toru Takemitsu, a composer whomAshkenazy greatly admires – and in homage to whom he directed‘Riverrun’ from the keyboard in this concert. After a short visit to Seoul in June 2006 they will undertake a major tour of the United States to include Disney Hall in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Boston and Carnegie Hall in New York.

Alongsidehis position with the NHK Symphony Orchestra, Ashkenazy continues tohave a warm and rewarding relationship with the Philharmonia Orchestraas their Conductor Laureate. In addition to his performances with theorchestra in London and around the UK each season, he tours with themworldwide, and has developed landmark projects such as ‘Prokofiev andShostakovich Under Stalin’ in 2003 (a project which he also took toCologne, New York, Vienna and Moscow) and ‘Rachmaninoff Revisited’ in2002 at the Lincoln Center, New York.

Ashkenazyalso holds the positions of Music Director of the European Union YouthOrchestra, with whom he tours each year, and Conductor Laureate of theIceland Symphony Orchestra. He maintains strong links with a number ofother major orchestras with whom he has built special relationshipsover the years, including the Cleveland Orchestra (of whom he is aformer Principal Guest Conductor), San Francisco Symphony and DeutschesSymphonie Orchester Berlin (Chief Conductor and Music Director1988-96), as well as making guest appearances with many other majororchestras around the world.

Whileconducting takes up a significant portion of his time each season,Ashkenazy continues to devote himself to the piano, directing Mozartand Beethoven concertos from the keyboard in performances in Europe andAsia, and continuing to build his extraordinarily comprehensiverecording catalogue with releases such as the 1999Grammy award-winning Shostakovich Preludes and Fugues, Rautavaara’sPiano Concerto No.3 (a work which he commissioned) and RachmaninovTranscriptions. Most recently released is his recording of that mostchallenging and enriching of works, Bach's Wohltemperierte Klavier.

Beyondhis hectic and fulfilling performing schedule, Ashkenazy continues tobe involved in some fascinating TV projects, often inspired by hispassionate drive to ensure that serious music continues to have aplatform in the mainstream media and is made available to as broad anaudience as possible. Many will remember the extraordinary Ashkenazy inMoscow programmes which marked his first visit in 1989 to the country of his birth since leaving the USSR in the 1960s. More recently he has developed educational programmes with NHK TV including the 1999 Superteachers working with inner-city London school children, and in 20034 a documentary based around his ‘Prokofiev and Shostakovich Under Stalin’ project.

Official Website: http://www.piao.com.cn