Between April 15 and 18, the Enescu Festival Online presents the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Romanian conductor Christian Badea, alongside violinist Vadim Repin as soloist and the Radio Romania Academic Choir conducted by Ciprian Tutu.
Performed on the Grand Palace Hall stage in the 2019 George Enescu International Festival, the program includes the Isis Poem by George Enescu (written in 1923 and completed posthumously by Pascal Bentoiu), the Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor Op. 77 by Dmitri Shostakovich, and Antonin Dvořák’s Ninth Symphony in E minor Op. 95, From the New World.
The musicians delight the audience with an impressive and nuanced performance, outlining with beautiful sounds the richness of the myths, stories, and symbols that define each piece. Enescu’s Isis overwhelms by seduction. Vadim Repin’s violin embodies the composer’s turmoil since the Violin Concerto No. 1 was created by Shostakovich during a time when soviet censorship was at its worst. In the second half of the program, the New World’s reflection of hope achieved through terrible adversity, as well as its promise to conquer the abyss of darkness before the dawn, justify why Dvořák’s Ninth Symphony is one of the best-loved classical music works of all time.
“The perfect violinist I’ve ever heard,” said Menuhin about Vadim Repin. Fiery passion with impeccable technique, poetry, and sensitivity are Vadim Repin’s trademarks that established him in the elite of the world’s classical music soloists. Born in Siberia in 1971, Vadim Repin won the gold medal in all age categories in the Wieniawski Competition at only eleven years old, and gave his recital debuts in Moscow and St. Petersburg. At the age of fourteen, he made his debuts in Tokyo, Munich, Berlin, and Helsinki. A year later he debuted at Carnegie Hall. In 1987, Mr. Repin became the youngest winner ever of the prestigious Queen Elisabeth Violin Competition. Since then, Vadim Repin has performed with the world’s greatest orchestras and conductors. Other recent highlights have been his tours with the London Symphony Orchestra and Valery Gergiev; NHK Orchestra and Charles Dutoit; a tour of Australia with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Vladimir Jurowski. Also, the Violin Concerto written for him by James MacMillan had acclaimed premières in London, Philadelphia, New York’s Carnegie Hall, the Salle Pleyel in Paris, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, and culminated with a sold-out Royal Albert Hall at the BBC Proms. Vadim Repin plays on the 1733 ‘Rode’ violin by Stradivari.
photo credit: Alex Damian
