Malta International Music Festival

2021

Bandoneon Master

15 June - 11 July 2022

22
June
8pm
Bandoneon Master

Kyiv Virtuosi Orchestra

Dmitry Yablonsky(USA ∙ Israel ∙ Spain)

Charlene Farrugiapiano(Malta)

Mario Stefano Pietrodarchibandoneon(Italy)

Floriana
Robert Samut Hall


Dmitry Yablonsky

Grammy-nominated conductor, cellist, and conductor Dmitry Yablonsky was born in Moscow into a musical family. He began playing the cello when he was 5 years old and was accepted to the Central Music School for gifted children. At the age of 9, he gave his orchestral debut playing Haydn’s cello concerto. Since then, his career had taken him to the most important stages in the world, such as the Carnegie Hall, La Scala, Moscow Great Hall, St. Petersburg Philharmonic Hall, Taiwan National Hall, Teatre Mogador, Cite de la Musique, Louvre, among others.

He regularly plays with important artists as Boris Berezovsky, Vadim Repin, Shlomo Mintz, Itamar Golan, Yuri Bashmet, and has collaborated with artists as Monserrat Caballé, Roberto Alagna, Olga Borodina, ... He played Mº Penderecki’s Cello Concerto with the composer at the podium.

He has also an important career as Conductor that begun in Camerino (Italy), where he had his first opportunity to conduct an orchestra. He was 26 years old and since then, has collaborated with many important orchestras as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra (principal guest conductor 2000-2004), Novaya Rossiya (Principal Guest Conductor 2012-), Israel Symphony Orchestra, Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, Belgian National Orchestra, Antwerpen Orchestra, North Netherlands Orchestra, Maastricht Orchestra, Russian State Orchestra, Orchestre National d'Ile de France, Taiwan National Orchestra, Catania Opera Orchestra, Holland Symphonia, Bologna Chamber Orchestra, Ofunam (México), etc..

His mother is the famed pianist Oxana Yablonskaya, with whom he immigrated in 1977 to New York where he studied with Lorne Munroe (solo cellist of New York Philharmonic Orchestra), David Soyer, cellist of Guarneri quartet, and with Aldo Parisot.

In the summer of 1979, at the age 16, Dmitry was accepted to participate in Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont and was the youngest participant. There, he had the opportunity to meet many great musicians as M. Horszowski, M. Tree, M. Schneider, M. Foley... and after playing for David Soyer, cellist of Guarneri quartet, he offered him to come to Curtis Institute of Music to study with him.

In 2010 Dmitry Yablonsky received the Diploma of the Honorary Academician at the Independent Academy of Liberal Arts at the Russian Academy of Sciences. He has transcribed and edited works for cello, which was released by International Music Company and Dover Publications. Naxos records released his recording of all 40 Popper etudes for solo cello in the fall of 2008, which received great critical acclaim.

But maybe, his most important recording is the Piano trio recording for Erato/ Warner with Vadim Repin and Boris Berezovsky that has won numerous awards.

Dmitry Yablonsky has an enthusiastic and charismatic character that takes him to initiate many projects. He has organized many festivals all over the world and is the artistic director of Gabala Festival in Azerbaijan.

Dmitry Yablonsky is Music Director of Kiev Virtuosi and Conductor Laureate of Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra. Since fall 2016, he teaches at the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music at Tel Aviv University and has been recently named Head of International Relations of the same University.

Dmitry plays two cellos: a Joseph Filius Andrea Guarneri and a Matteo Gofriller.

Charlene Farrugia

Piano

Charlene Farrugia was recognized at an early age as a particularly gifted child, and was referred to as the “enfant terrible of Maltese piano” and “Princess of Maltese piano” by music critics. In 2018, she received Malta’s International Achievement Award, and was made an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music in 2020. She is one of the ambassadors of the Euro Mediterranean Music Academy (EMMA for Peace) under the patronage of UNESCO and Honorary President Riccardo Muti. Charlene made her concerto debut with the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra at the age of 13, playing Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No. 1, the orchestra’s youngest ever soloist. Since then, she has been a regular performer on the Maltese cultural scene.

Charlene has performed as soloist with several orchestras, such as the Karlovy Vary Symphony Orchestra, Lisbon Metropolitan Orchestra, European Union Chamber Orchestra, Blackheath Halls Orchestra (London), South Czech Philharmonic, Rotterdam Ensemble (Netherlands), WinterGreen Orchestra (Virginia, USA), Kaliningrad Philharmonic Orchestra and Altai State Symphony Orchestra (Russia), Arad State Philharmonic Orchestra (Romania), Camerata Austriaca (Austria), Oregon Festival Orchestra and Orpheus Academy Orchestra (Oregon, USA), Gnessin’s Academy of Music Orchestra (Russia), Croatian Chamber Orchestra (Croatia), and other eminent ensembles and orchestras.

She has toured widely, engagements taking her throughout Europe to North America and the Far East, appearing in venues from the Teatru Manoel, Valletta, Théâtre Princesse Grace, Monaco and Château Sainte-Anne, Brussels to the Smetana Hall, Prague and the Shanghai Oriental Art Center.

For Naxos she has recorded Charles Camilleri’s Piano Concerto No. 1, featured on the album ‘Mediterranean’ and which has been aired on BBC Radio 3, RAI 3 and ORF RADIO, to name just a few. In addition, she has also recorded the Piano Concerto and Tango Concerto by contemporary composer Beth Mehocic, released by Navona Records in 2019 and 2021 respectively. Charlene has also recorded two albums for Sony Classical Records (Korea), one with trombonist Cheolwoong Lee and the other with flutist Youngjin Kwon. In 2020, Charlene recorded her first solo album of works by Aram Khachaturian which was released by Grand Piano Records in March 2021, to critical acclaim. Her newest album entitled “In the midst of things”, which features piano and chamber music works by contemporary composer Karl Fiorini, was released by Grand Piano records in November of 2021.

Charlene Farrugia studied with Dolores Amodio in her native country, and with Diana Ketler at the Royal Academy of Music in London. For several years she was mentored by Boris Petrushansky. She gained her doctorate in performance under Kenneth Hamilton with a thesis on piano repertory for the left hand. She is currently on the teaching faculty at the Music Academy, Juraj Dobrila University of Pula, Croatia.

Mario Stefano Pietrodarchi

Bandoneon

Mario Stefano Pietrodarchi was born in Atessa on December 26th 1980. He began studying the accordion at the age of nine before switching to the bandoneon later. From 1993 to 2001, he studied at the F. Fenaroli Civic Music school in Lanciano with M° C. Calista and with M° C. Chiacchiaretta. In 2007, he graduated with honours from Santa Cecilia Conservatory of Music in Rome. In 2006, he resided at the Montreal Jazz Festival “I colori del mare” with Gabriele Mirabassi and Pietro Tonolo a project of the EGEA record company. On 25th May 2009, he played at the Colosseo (Rome) with M° Andrea Bocelli, Angela Gheorghiu, Andrea Griminelli and the Abruzzo Symphony Orchestra. The event “L’alba separa dalla luce l’ombra” was in aid of the earthquake victims of Abruzzo. It was exclusively broadcast worldwide on RAI 1 and RAI SAT. On December 25th 2010, he performed with the Orchestra Giovanile Italiana in Concerto per la Vita e per la Pace (Concert for Life and Peace), worldwide broadcast by RAI in Bethlehem.

 

On June 1st 2011, he performed at the Arena of Verona together with Erwin Schrott during the festivities for the 150th anniversary of the Italian unification. The show was broadcast live by Rai 1.

Together with Erwin Schrott and Anna Netrebeko, he performed in the most important cities in Germany, England and Denmark in 2012. In the same year, he recorded the DVD "Live in Portofino" on a guest appearance with Andrea Bocelli.

In 2013, he performed on a guest appearance with Andrea Bocelli, Riccardo Cocciante, Pino Daniele and Simona Molinari at the event "Teatro del Silenzio". On February 22 2014, he performed at the Ulker Sports Arena in Istanbul together with Andrea Bocelli.

In 2018 recorded “Tango Seasons” for Sony Records, alongside Andrés Gabetta leading the fantastic baroque ensemble Cappella Gabetta.

Apart from frequently performing in Italy, he has been giving concerts in England, France, Belgium, Denmark, Croatia, Serbia, Germany, the U.S.A., Poland, Portugal, Finland, Switzerland, Hungary, Canada, Armenia, Russia, Israel, Bosnia Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Turkia, Libano, Belarus and China.

Kyiv Virtuosi Orchestra

Grammy Nominated cellist/conductor Dmitry Yablonsky has been Chief Conductor of Kyiv Soloists for 3 years before deciding to organise a renovated orchestra, Kyiv Virtuosi. All musicians were hand picked to join this exclusive ensemble and immediate success was obvious. All concerts in Kyiv are performed to a sold out audience. Musicians in Kyiv Virtuosi are the best chamber music players and professional soloists, who performed all over the world from Paris to Japan and from London to San Francisco, not to mention many countries in South America. In addition to the intense activity as a chamber orchestra, Kyiv Virtuosi are also a symphony orchestra that is very demanded for special projects. In summer 2016, Kyiv Virtuosi chamber orchestra and Kyiv Virtuosi Symphony orchestra were both in residence of Gabala Music Festival in Azerbaijan, and have toured Italy, France, Spain and Switzerland. In February 2017 Dmitry Yablonsky become the initiator of the tour devoted to the 25th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between Ukraine and Izrael. There were 17 concerts in the different places such as: Herzliya, Rishon, Le Zion, Motzkin, Tel-Aviv, Rehovot, Beer-Sheva, Haifa, Hahariya, Ashkelon, Or Akiva, Petah Tikva, Modiꞌin.

A symphonic serie with important soloists have been organized at the Franco Theatre in Kyiv, with a great welcome by the audience and specialized critic.

Kyiv Virtuosi perform and tour around the world, and are starting a very vast and intense recording schedule for Naxos Records, with Chamber Symphonies by Shostakovich and Silvestrov among others.

Programme

Coming soon...

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