Media

Russian violin legend Dmitry Sitkovetsky
débuts with Hong Kong Sinfonietta plus gives a recital

For immediate release
26 July 2021

A magnetic creative force with a prolific career spanning more than four decades, Russian violinist Dmitry Sitkovetsky holds an undisputed and venerable position in musical society as a giant personality. As soloist, he has performed with the world’s leading orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Cleveland, LA Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus, New York Philharmonic and Philadelphia orchestras, amongst others. His extensive discography of more than 40 recordings sees collaborations with such legendary maestros as Colin Davis, Mariss Jansons, Neville Marriner and Yehudi Menuhin.

Sitkovetsky will appear with Hong Kong Sinfonietta for the first time ever on 21 Aug (Sat) to present his authoritative interpretation of Tchaikovsky’s timeless and virtuosic Violin Concerto under the baton of Daniel Raiskin, in a programme which also features the composer’s well-loved Symphony No 5. Also from Russia, Raiskin – currently Principal Conductor of the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, Music Director of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and Principal Guest Conductor of the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra – will also be conducting the Asian première of Pēteris Vasks’ 2015 work, Musica Serena.

In this visit to Hong Kong, Sitkovetsky will also join Hong Kong Sinfonietta’s musicians and local star pianist Colleen Lee in recital at the Grand Theatre of West Kowloon Cultural District’s Xiqu Centre, performing a selection of stunning chamber works by Beethoven, Prokofiev and Mendelssohn.

Disease Prevention Measures

Audience members will need to go through temperature checks upon entering the performance venue. Those with fever symptoms will be denied entry and should seek immediate medical advice.
Audience members must wear their own masks inside the performance venue.
To comply with the reduced capacity and social distancing regulations of the performance venue, special seating arrangements are in place. Please sit in your assigned seats.

Hong Kong Sinfonietta

Great Violin Concertos: Dmitry Sitkovetsky Plays Tchaikovsky

21 August 2021 (Saturday) 7:30pm
HK City Hall Concert Hall
$450, $320, $180 (Tickets at URBTIX)

Conductor: Daniel Raiskin
Violin: Dmitry Sitkovetsky

Programme
Pēteris Vasks – Musica Serena (2015) (Asian première)
Tchaikovsky – Violin Concerto in D, Op 35
Tchaikovsky – Symphony No 5 in E minor, Op 64

Dmitry Sitkovetsky Violin Recital

25 August 2021 (Wednesday) 8pm
Grand Theatre, Xiqu Centre, West Kowloon Cultural District
$400, $280, $160 (Tickets at Xiqu Centre’s ticketing office)

Violin: Dmitry Sitkovetsky
Piano: Colleen Lee (HKS artist Associate 2010-2011)

Programme
Beethoven – Sonata for Piano & Violin No 1 in D, Op 12 No 1
Prokofiev – Sonata for Violin & Piano No 1 in F minor, Op 80
Mendelssohn – Octet in E-flat, Op 20
Violin: Dmitry Sitkovetsky, James Cuddeford, Kim In-sun, Le Hoai-nam
Viola: Elvis Chan, Christina Bean
Cello: Chang Pei-chieh, Laurent Perrin

Half-price tickets available for full-time students, senior citizens, people with disabilities and their minder, and Comprehensive Social Security Assistance recipients
10% discount for group booking of 4 or more standard tickets

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Dmitry Sitkovetsky Violin

A renaissance man and a magnetic creative force with a prolific career spanning more than four decades, Dmitry Sitkovetsky is celebrated globally as a violinist, conductor, creator, transcriber, and facilitator – and holds an undisputed and venerable position in musical society as a giant personality and educator.

Sitkovetsky’s celebrated career as a violinist is documented in an extensive discography of more than 40 recordings, reflecting the impressive breadth of his repertoire. His recording collaborators to date include such orchestras as the London Symphony, Philharmonia and Royal Concertgebouw orchestras, working with such legendary maestros as Colin Davis, Mariss Jansons, Neville Marriner and Yehudi Menuhin. In 2019, he celebrated the release of a new recital disc on the Melodia label, recorded with Tchaikovsky Competition-winner Lukas Geniušas – with a programme designed as an homage to the legendary duo of Kreisler & Rachmaninov. As soloist, he has performed with the world’s leading orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Cleveland, LA Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus, New York Philharmonic, NHK Symphony, and Philadelphia orchestras, amongst others.

Sitkovetsky also enjoys a flourishing career as a conductor, having worked with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, Dallas Symphony, London Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Shanghai Symphony, and Tokyo Metropolitan orchestras, amongst others. In 1990, he founded the New European Strings Chamber Orchestra, bringing together the most distinguished string players from the top European ensembles, from both Russian and Western musical backgrounds. Since 2003, Sitkovetsky has served as the Music Director of the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra in North Carolina, to whom he has brought such soloists as Emanuel Ax, Yefim Bronfman, Garrick Ohlsson, and Pinchas Zukerman.

Given his unmatched ability to turn any project into a highly anticipated artistic event, Sitkovetsky has also been invited to create, develop and lead a number of festivals, including the Korsholm Music Festival in Finland, Seattle International Music Festival, Silk Route of Music in Azerbaijan and Festival del Sole in Tuscany. He was Artist in Residence of Vadim Repin’s Trans-Siberian Festival, with other festival visits of note include the Enescu, Ljubljana, and Verbier festivals.

Sitkovetsky is also in high demand as a jury member and educator. Recent jury roles have included the Indianapolis International Violin Competition, Concours Musical International de Montréal, XVI International Tchaikovsky Competition, and the Enescu Violin Competition, and the 2019/2020 season opened with the first of a series of teaching residencies at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. Additional highlights include Sitkovetsky’s début TEDx talk (The Power of Curiosity), the launch of his first book (Dmitry Sitkovetsky: Dialogues), and his interview series on Medici.tv (It Ain’t Necessarily So). Sitkovetsky’s name has also become synonymous with the art of transcription. His iconic orchestral and string trio versions of Bach’s Goldberg Variations have taken on a life of their own, enjoying regular performances and acclaimed recordings by many of the leading performers of today. He has also arranged over 50 works of major repertoire by Bartók, Beethoven, Brahms, Haydn, Schnittke and Shostakovich. In 2015, he unveiled his transcription of Stravinsky’s Le Baiser de la Fée, premiered by Augustin Hadelich at Carnegie Hall. The 2017/2018 season saw the successful premières the multi-genre work Devil, Solider & Violin (inspired by Stravinsky’s A Soldier’s Tale), and 2018 saw the world première of his transcription of Sarasate’s Navarra Fantasy, commissioned by the Verbier Festival. This performance – marking the Festival’s 25^th anniversary – was broadcast live worldwide with an all-star line-up of musicians, including Lisa Batiashvili, Leonidas Kavakos, Mischa Maisky, Vadim Repin, Maxim Vengerov, Tabea Zimmermann, and Pinchas Zukerman – as well as, of course, Dmitry Sitkovetsky himself.

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Daniel Raiskin Conductor

Son of a prominent musicologist, Daniel Raiskin grew up in St Petersburg. He attended the celebrated conservatory in his native city and continued his studies in Amsterdam and Freiburg. First focusing on the viola, he was inspired to take up the baton by an encounter with the distinguished teacher Lev Savich. In addition, he also took classes with maestri such as Mariss Jansons, Neeme Järvi, Milan Horvat, Woldemar Nelson and Jorma Panula.

Currently Principal Conductor of the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, Music Director of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and Principal Guest Conductor of the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra, Raiskin cultivates a broad repertoire and often looks beyond the mainstream in his strikingly conceived programmes. The 2020/2021 season included appearances with Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Janáčkova Filharmonie Ostrava, Sinfonia Varsovia and Württembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen. Further ahead, he will give his début with the Warsaw Philharmonic and will return to Hong Kong Sinfonietta and Stuttgarter Philharmoniker. With the Winnipeg Symphony, he will undertake a Japan and a European tour with appearances at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, De Doelen in Rotterdam and De Singel in Antwerp among others.

Raiskin was Principal Guest Conductor of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife (2017-2018), and Chief Conductor of both the Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie in Koblenz (2005-2016) and Artur Rubinstein Philharmonic Orchestra in Lódz (2008-2015). His regular guest engagements include the Athens State Orchestra, Copenhagen Philharmonic, Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Japan Century Symphony Orchestra, Malmö Symphony Orchestra, Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, Mozarteumorchester Salzburg, Taiwan Philharmonic, NDR Radiophilharmonie, NFM Wrocław Philharmonic, Orchestre National de Belgique, Orchestre National de Lyon, Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de México, Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra, Residentie Orkest, San Antonio Symphony, St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, Swedish Chamber Orchestra and the Tonkünstler Orchestra.

Among the major soloists with whom he has appeared are Emanuel Ax, Renée Fleming, Nelson Freire, Martin Fröst, Alban Gerhardt, Vadim Gluzman, Natalia Gutman, Kari Kriikku, Simone Lamsma, Lang Lang, François Leleux, Jan Lisiecki, Alexei Lubimov, Tatjana Masurenko, Albrecht Mayer, Daniel Müller-Schott, Olli Mustonen, Steven Osborne, Julian Rachlin, Benjamin Schmid, Julian Steckel, Anna Vinnitskaya and Alexei Volodin. Raiskin’s appearances in opera productions include Carmen, Shostakovich’s The Nose and Mozart’s Don Giovanni. He is also relentlessly committed to sharing his knowledge and passion with young musicians around the world. He devotes his time regularly to working with youth orchestras in Canada, Estonia, Germany, Iceland, Netherlands, Russia and South Africa.

Recent recordings include Mahler Symphony No 3 and Shostakovich Symphony No 4 with the label AVI, both to great critical acclaim. His recording with cello concertos by Korngold, Bloch and Goldschmidt with Julian Steckel under the same label received an Echo Klassik Award in 2012. Other recent recording projects include a Louis Glass symphony cycle and a concerto cycle with the entire concertos and rhapsodies by Aram Khachaturian with the label CPO, Lutosławski’s vocal-instrumental works with the label Dux, and a recording of Alexander Tansman’s Isaïe, le Prophète and Psaumes with the label World Premiere Recordings.

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