Musical Olympus Hosts 5th Int'l Festival Concert, Zankell Hall At Carnegie 3/4

On March 4 at 3PM, the Musical Olympus Foundation will introduce this year's young international classical superstars in the International Musical Olympus Festival Concert, taking place in Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall.

Under the direction of President Irina Nikitina, Musical Olympus provides an opportunity to listen to winners and laureates of international competitions. This year's program features saxophonist Ashu, 2008 First Prize winner, "The International Salon de Virtuosi Career", New York, performing Ibert and Piazzolla; cellist Christoph Croisé, 2010 winner of Grand Prix, The IBLA Foundation Grand Prize Competition, Ragusa, Sicily, performing Tchaikovsky; tenor Mario Chang, 2011 First Prize winner of The Francisco Vinas International Singing Competition, Barcelona, Spain, performing Puccini and Verdi; and pianist Alexej Gorlatch, 2011 First Prize winner, The ARD International Music Competition, Munich Germany, performing Beethoven, with Stilian Kirov conducting the Musical Olympus Orchestra.

"The Musical Olympus Festival is truly a preview of the future of international classical music in formation," says Ms. Nikitina. "I am honored to present five of the most promising musicians of their generation to the New York Audience. If classical music is to remain a vital, relevant art form that can attract fresh, young audiences, it needs the musicianship and passion of these five artists. They, together with their esteemed musical colleagues, are poised to reinvigorate audiences around the world using the universal language of music."

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Stilian Kirov, Conductor
Stilian Kirov is currently the Associate Conductor of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra and Music Director of the Memphis Youth Symphony Program. In 2011-12 Season he also joins the conducting staff of the Seattle Symphony for four weeks of residency. He previously served as Music Director and founder of the Art Symphony Orchestra in New York and has conducted major orchestras in France, Germany, Italy, Greece, United States and in his native country of Bulgaria. Mr. Kirov was awarded numerous prizes and merits including Third Prize and the Orchestra Preference Award at the 2010 Mitropoulos Conducting Competition, The Charles Schiff Conducting Award for outstanding achievement at the Juilliard School, I distinction (equal 4th place) at the V Witold Lutos?awski International Contest for Young Conductors and the Bruno Walter Memorial Scholarship. Mr. Kirov has been awarded France's "Young Conducting Talent" 2010 prize from ADAMI, culminating in a showcase concert at the Salle Gaveau with Orchestre Colonne in October, 2010. Following the successful performance, Mr. Kirov was re-invited to conduct the orchestra's 2011-12 Season Opening Concert in Paris. 2011 marks Mr. Kirov's debut at the prestigious Musical Olympus International Festival in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Christoph Croisé, cello
Christoph Croisé was born in 1993 in Germany and started playing the violoncello at the age of 7 with Katharina KühneSchwarz. Since 2008, his teacher is the cellist Alexander Neustroev, principal-cellist at the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich. Since 2009 he has participated in master classes by C. Starck, W. Grimmer, M. Löhr, D. Geringas, W.-S. Yang and Y. Chiffoleau. In June 2010 he was invited by the European Union of Music Competitions for Youth to participate in the "Stars of
Tomorrow Tour 2010" with concerts in Germany and Austria. In July 2010 Christoph Croisé he performed as a soloist with the Budejovice Philharmonic Orchestra. Christoph is several First Prizes winner at the Swiss Music Competition for Youth. In 2009, he won the first prize in Solo-Cello at the 14th International Competition for Young Musicians „Petar Konjovi?" in
Belgrade, Serbia. Christoph was also the top prize winner and won the Tchaikovsky award and the Costanza Arezzo Giampiccolo di Donnafugata of the World music competition "IBLA grand prize" in 2010, in Ragusa, Sicily.

Ashu, saxophone
Concert saxophonist Ashu has continually defied conventions and won numerous major international and national competitions. He made his recital debut at Carnegie Hall's Weill Hall in New York City and, at age 16, made his concerto debut at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. Since then, concerto and recital performances have taken him to such
locations as France, Austria, Portugal, Norway, Switzerland, Germany, the West Indies, and throughout the USA, and with upcoming concerts this season in South Africa, Poland, Montreal, London, New Zealand, Kyrgyzstan, Virgin Islands, and Finland. Born and raised in California, Ashu graduated from Northwestern University and is currently based in Chicago.
Ashu has won First Prizes at competitions including the International Heida Hermanns, International Kingsville Wind Instrumentalist, National Federation of Music Clubs, National Midland-Odessa, National Alliance for Excellence, National George S. Howard, America Opera Society, and Houston Symphony Concerto Competitions. His latest victory was the First Prize at "The International Salon de Virtuosi Career" in New York (USA) in 2008.

Mario Chang, tenor
Mario Chang, from Guatemala City, Guatemala, is in his first year of the Metropolitan Opera's Lindemann Young Artist Development Program. Recent engagements include Nemorino in L'Elisir d' Amore with Festival de Arte Paiz, Gaston in La Traviata with Centro Cultural Miguel Ángel Asturias; Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni with Teatro Lirico D'Europa, and the title role in L'amico Fritz with Miami Lyric Opera. Concert appearances include the Mozart Requiem with Orquesta Sinfónica
Nacional de Guatemala, and Beethoven 9 with Orquesta Centroamericana in Nicaragua; Mr. Chang was also a guest soloist with the Saint Petersburg State Cappella Orchestra at Festival Music Olympus in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Mr. Chang is the 2011 recipient of the overall First Prize, the Placido Domingo prize, and the "Amigos de Sabadell" Prize in the Francisco Viñas Competition; he has also received awards from the Concurso Canto Lírico de Trujillo, the Asociación Artista del Año and the Asociación Dante Alighieri. Mr. Chang was a featured soloist at the Musical Olympus Festival, St. Petersburg, Russia, 2011.

Alexej Gorlatch, piano
Alexej Gorlatch's recent achievements include winning First Prize of the International ARD Competition 2011 in Munich, First Prize at the 2009 Dublin International Piano Competition in Ireland and the Silver Medal at the 2009 Leeds International Pianoforte Competition in the United Kingdom with a finals' performance of Beethoven's Emperor Concerto that the Guardian described as "immaculate in its poetry and aggression." Mr. Gorlatch's burgeoning career has seen him
participate in the International Chopin Festival in Duszniki-Zdroj, the Harrogate Festival in the UK and the SchleswigHolstein Musik Festival and give acclaimed recitals at Carnegie Hall in New York, Wigmore Hall in London, the Salle Cortot in Paris and the Kioi Hall in Tokyo, among other prestigious music centers. He has played concertos with leading orchestras of Japan, including the NHK, Tokyo Symphony and Nagoya Philharmonic, as well as Hallé Manchester, the Vienna
Chamber Orchestra, Johannesburg Philharmonic, the State National Orchestra of the Ukraine and numerous orchestras in Germany.

ABOUT MUSICAL OLYMPUS
The International Musical Olympus Festival has come to be known as a "showcase of winners." Every year since 1996, it has celebrated the exceptional talents of over 350 young musicians from 17 countries who have been distinguished with top prizes at the most prestigious international music competitions. In 1997, the festival was recognized by the World Federation of International Music Competitions. Musical Olympus Festival concerts take place in St. Petersburg, Zurich,
Berlin (Berlin Philharmonic) and New York (Carnegie Hall). 

The Musical Olympus Foundation was established in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1995. Since 1997, it is operating under the patronage of the Russian Ministry of Culture. The foundation develops and implements a range of international cultural projects. The Musical Olympus Festival, the annual charitable ball and the "Express-line St. Petersburg-Moscow" program are among the most successful and widely recognized initiatives of the foundation.

Irina Nikitina, President of the Musical Olympus Foundation
Irina Nikitina became the president of the Musical Olympus Foundation in September 1995, established through her initiative in St. Petersburg in the same year. The foundation's activity today is highly praised internationally and includes the annual Musical Olympus Festival (held since 1996) and a charity ball featuring the world's most prominent artists, orchestras and performers. From 1986 to 1995 Ms. Nikitina developed a solid international career as a pianist. She performed in numerous concerts in Germany, Switzerland, France, Italy, Japan, the U.S., Korea, and at international festivals in Davos, Spoleto, Interlaken, Zurich, Moscow, Budapest, Prague, and Paris. In addition to performing, Ms. Nikitina has been an active pedagogue, teaching piano at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. She has also given a series of master classes in Baltimore, Florida, Seoul, and Tokyo. As a soloist and chamber musician, Ms. Nikitina has recorded more than 13 CDs on such labels as Melodiya, Denon, Sony, and Toshiba/EMI, among others.

PROGRAMS
International Musical Olympus Festival Concert
Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall
March 4, 2012, 3:00PM
Alexej Gorlatch, piano
Ashu, saxophone
Christoph Croise, cello
Mario Chang, tenor
Stilian Kirov, conductor
MOZART Overture to "Le Nozze di Figaro" (1786)
BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 1 in C major, op. 15 (1797)
I. Allegro con brioII. Largo
III. Rondo. Allegro scherzando
TCHAIKOVSKY Variations on a Rococo Theme for Cello and Orchestra, Op. 33 (1876)
IBERT Concertino da Camera for Alto Saxophone and Eleven Instruments (1936)
I. Allegro con moto
II. Larghetto – Animato molto
PIAZZOLLA Two Tangos (Arr. for Saxophone and String Orchestra by Ashu)
CILEA E la solita storia del pastore from "L'arlesiana"
CURTIS Non ti Scordar di Me (1936)
PUCCINI Che gelida manina from "La Boheme" (1896)
VERDI Aria of Duke of Mantua from "Rigoletto" (1851)

TICKETS: $30-$60. Tickets may be purchased at the Carnegie Hall Box Office (57th Street and 7
th Avenue) or by calling CarnegieCharge at 212.247.7800. Visit carnegiehall.org for more information.