Violinist Mikhail Simonyan Performs Live at (le) Poisson Rouge

Following recital and concerts around the world, violinist Mikhail Simonyan will release his Deutsche Grammophon debut recording, Two Souls, on November 1 in the United States. To mark the occasion Simonyan will present a 7:30pm concert at New York's renowned (le) Poisson Rouge featuring an eclectic program of works by Ysaÿe, Tchaikovsky, and Milstein. For an evening of energetic and undoubtedly exciting music making, Simonyan will be joined by his good friend maestro Kristjan Järvi (who leads the London Symphony Orchestra on Simonyan's new album) and Järvi's Absolute Ensemble in re-imagined settings of music inspired by folk influences, Vivaldi, Mendelssohn, and more, written by ensemble member Gene Pritsker.

Still in his twenties, Mikhail Simonyan is already recognized as one of the most celebrated talents of his generation. The New York Times has praised his, "breadth, lyricism and fleet technique," and reported that "Mr. Simonyan play[s] as if every note counted." The 2010-11 season saw his recital debuts at the Verbier, Aspen and Ravinia Festivals, a debut with the NHK Symphony Orchestra performing the Sibelius Violin Concerto under Sir Neville Marriner, a debut with the Dresden Philharmonic and Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, and debuts with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Aarhus Symphony Orchestra and Iceland Symphony Orchestra. In October, he filled in last minute for Midori to make his Baltimore Symphony debut to rave reviews.

Absolute Ensemble is conductor Kristjan Järvi's celebrated chamber band from New York City. Founded in 1993 when Järvi was a piano student at Manhattan School of Music, Järvi's uncanny prescience for the future of classical music led him to create a band so unique that the American Record Guide claims it "may well be the most alluring and virtuosic... of today's new music groups." An ebullient mix of jazz, classical and world music played with virtuosic flair, Järvi's group of musical omnivores creates each project from start to finish, restoring the composer/arranger/performer synthesis and flavoring each concert with spontaneity and musical charisma. Absolute tours the globe extensively while maintaining its New York presence and a European base at Musikfest, Bremen. Absolute Ensemble has released eleven albums and has been awarded the German Record Critics Prize, a Grammy nomination and the Deutsche Bank Prize for Outstanding Artistic Achievement.

For his Deutsche Grammophon debut recording, Mikhail Simonyan decided to pay tribute to his Armenian heritage and also the substantial amount of time he has lived in the United States as represented by the violin concertos of Khachaturian and Barber. Click here to learn more about the album and watch a video of Simonyan and Järvi discussing the works: http://www.deutschegrammophon.com/html/special/simonyan-twosouls/index.html.

Mikhail Simonyan is of Armenian and Russian heritage and began playing the violin at the age of 5. When he was 13, he toured the US as soloist with the American Russian Young Artists Orchestra; soon afterwards he moved to America and entered the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia to study with Victor Danchenko, a pupil of David Oistrakh. "Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Khachaturian - Victor Danchenko had known them all and studied their music with Oistrakh, who gave the premiere of many of their works, including the Khachaturian Concerto", says Simonyan. "It was wonderful to learn from him the traditions of performing that music."

For this recording Simonyan has commissioned a new cadenza for the Khachaturian concerto since he found the original essentially Oistrakh's version, which is violinistic and virtuosic but lacking in an essentially Armenian quality. "This new cadenza," according to Simonyan, "has a strong feeling of Armenian church music. Armenia was the first Christian country and has been persecuted for religion all through its history. Part of what it means to be an Armenian today is rooted in our deep, ancient and unique church music tradition. This element in Avanesov's cadenza brings a whole new color to the concerto."

As noted, Simonyan moved to the US when he was 13 and studied at the Curtis Institute of Music. To represent this other significant part of his life he performs Barber's Concerto for Violin and Orchestra - not only is the work a great American composition but Barber studied at the Curtis Institute of Music as well. Simonyan purposefully sought to draw out the American character of the work when, for instance, he slows the tempo of the last movement and uses an almost folk-like fiddling style.

Simonyan has recently launched a private initiative called "Beethoven Not Bullets" to assist the newly founded Afghanistan National Institute of Music (ANIM) in Kabul. He is working to raise funds to sponsor students at the Institute which is the war-torn country's only music school. ANIM's mission is to educate a new generation of musicians regardless of ethnicity or gender, revitalizing music in Afghanistan and restoring it as a cultural voice.

In Performance

Recital

(le) poisson rouge, New York, NY

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November 1, 2011

Khachaturian Concerto

Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra

Kristjan Järvi, conductor

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November 4 & 5, 2011

Recital

Troy, NY

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November 13, 2011

Recital

Kennedy Center, Washington DC

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March 31, 2012

Khachaturian Concerto

San Antonio Symphony

Alondra de la Parra, conductor

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May 25 & 26, 2012

MIKHAIL SIMONYAN - TWO SOULS

ARAM KHACHATURIAN (1903-1978)

Concerto for Violin and Orchestra 37:40

1 1. Allegro con fermezza 16:51

Cadenza by Artur Avanesov (world-premiere recording)

2 2. Andante sostenuto 11:31

3 3. Allegro vivace 9:18

Samuel Barber (1910-1981)

Concerto for Violin and Orchestra op. 14 23:03

4 1. Allegro 10:35

5 2. Andante 8:38

6 3. Presto in moto perpetuo 3:50

7 Adagio for Strings op. 11 9:47

Arr. of 2nd movement of String Quartet

MIKHAIL SIMONYAN violin
London Symphony Orchestra
KRISTJAN JÄRVI