National Symphony Orchestra of Uzbekistan
Alan Chircop(Malta)
Claudio Bohórquezcello(Germany)
Samuel Cutajarviolin(Malta)
Valletta
Mediterranean Conference Centre
Alan Chircop
Alan Chircop’s repertoire is very wide ranging and apart from an extensive symphonic and concerto repertoire, he has directed several opera productions, contemporary music premieres and also different genres arranged for symphonic orchestras.
In 1993 he obtained the Diplome de Fin d’Etudes in pianoforte with distinction at the Conservatoire Regional de Musique in Lyon (France). He pursued his studies at the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Music Academy in Leipzig (Germany) obtaining two Masters Degrees: in Pianoforte under the tutorship of Prof. Christoph Taubert (1994-2001) and Orchestral Direction with Prof. Gert Bahner (1997-2003). He also followed a one-year specialization course in Orchestral Direction with Prof. Uros Lajovic at the Hochschule für Musik in Vienna (Austria).
Alan Chircop was also the Founder and Principal of the Euro Academy of Music and Arts in Malta, Artistic Director of the Virtuoso Classics Concert Series, and Artistic Director of the Renaissance Cultural Foundation and Principal of the Visual & Performing Arts Schools in Malta.
Since 2014, he is the Artistic Director of the European Foundation for Support of Culture, organising many festivals, competitions and events around the world and often serves as jury member of international music competitions. He is also the artistic director of New Names Malta - National Music Competition.
Claudio Bohórquez
Cello
Among others, Claudio Bohórquez has performed with almost all German radio orchestras, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Wiener Symphoniker, the Collegium Musicum Basel, the Orchestre de Paris, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. In Japan, he performs with the NHK Symphony Orchestra and the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra. In the US, Claudio Bohórquez recently gave concerts with the Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Detroit Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, National Symphony and the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Renowned conductors Claudio Bohórquez has worked with include Daniel Barenboim, Christoph Eschenbach, Manfred Honeck, Sir Neville Marriner, Eiji Oue, Krzysztof Penderecki, Leonard Slatkin, Tugan Sokhiev, Lothar Zagrosek and David Zinman.
Claudio Bohórquez is a guest at numerous festivals. Among them are the Casals Festival in Puerto Rico, the City of London Festival, the Penderecki Festival in Warsaw and the Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival. Appearances in the United States have included performances at the Tanglewood, Ravinia and Aspen Festival as well as the Hollywood Bowl. He participated in the chamber music festival Lockenhaus in Austria and at Gidon Kremer's festival "Les Musiques" in Basel. As a passionate chamber musician, he has performed together with Jörg Widmann in Bilbao/Madrid, and with Viviane Hagner and Jonathan Gilad at the Beethoven Marathon at Konzerthaus Berlin.
The past seasons have led the artist to many festivals, including: a. to the Rheingau Music Festival with the Columbian Youth Philharmonic under Andrés Orozco-Estrada, to the Dresden Music Festival with a Chamber Music Project together with the violinist Philippe Quint and the pianist Boris Giltburg, to the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival and the Rheingau Music Festival. The upcoming season includes, among others, the Elbphilharmonie debut on November 8, 2018 and an Elgar cello concert with the Staatsphilharmonie Nürnberg on February 15, 2019.
In addition to numerous CD recordings, radio recordings and television appearances Claudio Bohórquez worked as an interpreter for the soundtrack of Paul English by to the film "Ten Minutes Older - The Cello", which was shown in theaters worldwide. Together with the painter Klaus-Peter Kirchner, Claudio Bohórquez developed the installation project "Raum für Pablo Casals" in homage to this great cellist. He was part of the ECHO-winning album "Four Seasons" (2017) of Daniel Hope, released by Deutsche Grammophon. In July 2018 Berlin Classics will release a new CD with the sonatas of Johannes Brahms and some bonus tracks together with Claudio Bohórquez's duo partner Péter Nagy.
Since the season 2017/18 Claudio Bohórquez is Artistic Director of the Festival Winnenden.
Samuel Cutajar
Violin
Samuel has recently been accepted to form part of Sinfonia Cymru in Wales, an ensemble promoting young talents across the UK. He has also been member of the Mediterranean Youth Orchestra and Stoneleigh Youth orchestra 5 years ago. He has been part of the Malta Youth Orchestra for the past 10 years this being his first ever orchestral experience.
Samuel has been a member of the EU Youth Orchestra since 2020 performing with world renowned conductors such as Ivan Fischer, Gianandrea Noseda, Vasily Petrenko, Elim Chan, Pekka Kuusisto and Gustavo Gimeno.
Samuel has given various solo and chamber recitals in Malta and the UK, particularly with his clarinetist brother Michael Cutajar and The Creation Quartet. He also participated in various masterclasses with renowned musicians including Tasmin Little, Werner Hink, Michael Vaiman, Nicolas Dautricourt, Carmine Lauri, Yuri Zhislin, Ofer Falk, Mauro Tortorelli, and Kati Sebestyén.
He won the Vera Kantrovich Bach Competition in 2020 and has achieved special mention in various other competitions held in London. He recently won the Maltese talent show "Brillanti" competition, giving Samuel his first solo opportunity this evening with the Uzbekistan National Symphony orchestra.
He performs on a violin made by Giovanni Gagliano c. 1800.
National Symphony Orchestra of Uzbekistan
In 1967 the orchestra toured in the republics of the former Soviet Union, in 1968 it won the competition for symphony orchestras of the Union republics.
In 1986, the National Symphony Orchestra was awarded the title of "Honored collective of the Republic of Uzbekistan".
In 1998, People's Artist of Uzbekistan Ismoil Jalilov was appointed artistic director of the orchestra, and composer Anvar Ergashev was appointed principal conductor.
In November 1998 the National Symphony Orchestra performed a concert dedicated to the 100th anniversary of George Gershwin, in which US soloists D. Washington (baritone) and D. Fergunes (piano) took part. The concerts organized by the US Embassy in Uzbekistan have become an important event in the cultural life of Uzbekistan.
The collective collaborated with musical ensembles from UK, USA, France, Thailand.
The National Symphony Orchestra has 101 employees, 89 of them are musicians. Artistic director of the orchestra is People's Artist of Uzbekistan Ismoil Jalilov, conductor - Alibek Kabdurakhmanov (since 2018).
Programme
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