RNO Winter 2004 US Tour
The Russian National Orchestra toured the Eastern United States this winter, performing 9 concerts from Florida to New York. The tour was led by Alexander Vedernikov, Music Director of the Bolshoi Theatre and a member of the RNO Conductor Collegium. RNO Associate Conductor Dmitri Liss conducted the February 2 concert in Wilmington, Delaware. Acclaimed pianist Hélène Grimaud was the featured soloist for the tour.
;) |
;) |
| Hélène Grimaud on tour with the RNO. | |
The tour began in Florida January 25 with a sold out concert at Sarasota's Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, and proceeded to three other Florida cities. "It's clear that the super-orchestra Pletnev formed in 1990 remains a remarkable machine," wrote the South Florida Sentinel. "The tensile brilliance of the strings, gleaming brass, and rich-toned winds attest to the turn-on-a-dime virtuosity in every section." The Palm Beach Daily News called the RNO performance "spellbinding from the opening gesture... Many orchestras come to the Kravis Center stage, but none is more musical or more disciplined than the Russian National Orchestra." The Miami Herald said, "This may be a young orchestra, but it is also a great one... [The RNO] has become a living symbol of the best in Russian art amid the uncertainty and joy of creating democracy in Russia."
;) |
;) |
| Alexander Vedernikov and Hélène Grimaud rehearse Bartok's Piano Concerto No. 3 | |
Vedernikov and Grimaud were praised for their collaboration with the RNO. The South Florida Sentinel called Vedernikov "consistently scrupulous," and The Washington Post said he "guided his troops through a [Shostakovich Fifth Symphony] of crystalline textures, with wind solos sounding in soft pastel tints and focused dynamics." The Washington Post called Grimaud's interpretation of Bartok's Piano Concerto No. 3 "radiant." Music and Vision said she displayed a "unique mastery" of the work and called it "one of the most dazzling pianistic displays in this or any music season."
After Florida, the orchestra headed north for concerts in New Jersey, Delaware, Washington, DC and New York. Of the New Brunswick, NJ performance, the Star Ledger wrote, "Alexander Vedernikov...led a bristling evening of Russian works full of sound, fury and even a few sublime moments."
On Super Bowl Sunday, the RNO performed to a packed house at the Kennedy Center. The Washington Post called it "a thrilling and commanding experience for the capacity audience." President Bush offered the White House box at the Kennedy Center for some of the dignitaries and members of the presidential administration in attendance.
While in Washington, the Russian Wind Quintet also perfomed a private concert at The Phillips Collection, an evening capped by the announcement of HRH Prince Michael of Kent GCVO as Royal Patron of the RNO.
;) |
;) |
| RNO Royal Patron Prince Michael of Kent is presented with an honorary conductor's baton by RNO Chief Executive Sergei Markov. | Sergei Markov, HRH Prince Michael of Kent, and Dr. Eric Motley, Special Assistant to the President, at White House Box before Kennedy Center concert. |
Two dinners were held in Washington to honor Prince Michael as RNO Royal Patron, one hosted by British Ambassador Sir David Manning and Lady Catherine Manning, and the other by Mr. and Mrs. William A. Nitze. Dinners in Prince Michael's honor were also held in Wilmington, hosted by Mr. and Mrs. Gerret van S. Copeland, and in New York, hosted by Mrs. Carroll Petrie.
The tour concluded February 3 with a concert at Carnegie Hall. The New York Times praised the RNO's performance of Shostakovich's 5th Symphony, saying that "specially notable was the Shostakovich Symphony's slow movement, done with deep, straining yet beautifully prepared intensity." Classics Today added, "[This] isn't your father's stereotypical Russian orchestra: the strings were warm but not overly thick and with plenty of bite, the brass forceful but without shrillness,... the percussion section fearlessly dynamic, the full orchestra sleekly polished, relishing powerful fortissimos without sounding raw."
;) |
;) |
| Hélène Grimaud takes a bow after her performance at Carnegie Hall. | After the concert: from left, Rick Walker, President of the Russian Arts Foundation, Hélène Grimaud, Conductor Alexander Vedernikov. |
While in New York, RNO Chief Executive Sergei Markov participated in a press conference announcing the RNO and New York Philharmonic's co-residency at the Seville (Spain) International Music Festival in September 2004. The RNO will perform 9 concerts at the festival with conductors including Mstislav Rostropovich, Mikhail Pletnev and Carlo Ponti, Jr., and an unprecedented joint concert with the New York Philharmonic under the baton of Lorin Maazel.
On February 4, the RNO returned to Moscow -- but the tour continues for American audiences through rebroadcasts in all fifty states on National Public Radio's Performance Today.
One of the orchestra's ensembles, the Russian Wind Quintet, was "left behind" and on February 5 set off on its Debut North American Tour, which took it to Connecticut and Bermuda. Three days later came the announcement that the RNO's recording of Peter and the Wolf/Wolf Tracks had won a 2004 GRAMMY Award, making the RNO the first Russian orchestra ever to win the recording industry's highest honor.
The RNO returns to the US in July 2004 for its annual Grove Street Winery Summer Concert Series.