VSO Season Finale - Vancouver Symphony Orchestra

International Piano Competition and winningthe coveted First Prize and Gold Medal in1999.Alexander Gavrylyuk was proclaimed as“the best sixteen year old pianist of the latetwentieth century” by critics in Japan inNovember 2000, after winning the First Prizeof the prestigious Hamamatsu InternationalPiano Competition in Japan. He was sixteenyears old in a field of competitors ranging inage from sixteen to thirty-two.In 2003 he joined the honour roll and becamea Steinway artist. Alexander performsregularly at the Concertgebouw, the Great Hallof the Moscow Conservatory, TchaikovskyHall, Lincoln Center, Sydney Opera Houseand Suntory Hall. He has also performed asolo recital at the Kremlin. In 2009 Alexanderrecorded the complete Prokofiev Concertiwith Vladimir Ashkenazy and the SydneySymphony Orchestra.Reinhold Glièreb. Kiev, Ukraine / January 11, 1875d. Moscow, Russia / June 23, 1956The Red Poppy, Op. 70:Russian Sailors’ DanceGlière carried forward the appealing folkbasedstyle of Russian nationalists such asTchaikovsky and Rimsky-Korsakov into thetwentieth century. His ballet The Red Poppypremiered at Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre in1927. The required pro-communist plot seesthe Chinese lover of a young Russian sailormeet her death at the hands of her capitalistrival. The ballet’s best-known number, theRussian Sailors’ Dance, is an increasinglyexciting set of variations on a Russian folksong called Little Apple.Sergey Prokofievb. Sontsovka, Ukraine / April 27, 1891d. Moscow, Russia / March 5, 1953Romeo and Juliet,Op. 64: Act III: Finale SceneIn spite of the fact that Prokofiev’s balletbased on Shakespeare’s tragic romance isclearly his masterpiece, it took several yearsto reach the stage. Originally undertaken bythe Kirov Ballet of St. Petersburg in 1934, itpassed on to the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow,and finally to the ballet company in Brno,Czechoslovakia, which gave the belatedpremiere in January 1940. The final scenetakes place in the vault where the membersof Juliet Capulet’s family are buried. Romeo,not knowing that she has taken a potionwhich gives her the appearance of death, killshimself from grief. She awakens, finds himdead, then kills herself, too. Prokofiev’s musicmatches every emotion of this poignantscene.Sergei Rachmaninoffb. Oneg, Russia / March 20, 1873d. Beverly Hills, California, USA / March 28, 1943Piano Concerto No. 1in F-sharp minor, Op. 1Rachmaninoff completed this concertoin 1891. It was the eighteen-year-oldcomposer’s longest and most ambitious pieceto date, and the first he deemed worthy ofbearing an opus number. The premiere tookplace at a student concert the followingMarch, with the composer as soloist, but itmade little impression. As his fame grew, sodid curiosity over his first concerto, especiallyafter Concerto No. 2 proved enormouslyallegro 21