Conductor: Gudni A. Emilsson

Soloist: Dimitri Ashkenazy, Clarinet

Program:

• Narong Prangcharoen: Tri-Sattawat
• Jean Sibelius: Finlandia, op.26
• Jean Francaix: Clarinet Concerto
• Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No.7 in A major, op.92

Celebrating the GALA opening of the 4th season, the TPO presents the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius symphonic poem, Finlandia. Following his great acclaimed appearance as the soloist in the past season, Dimitri Ashkenazy is back again to perform the French composer Jean Francaix’s Concerto for Clarinet, and also to hear the TPO presents the Beethoven’s Symphony No.7, composed while Beethoven staying in the Bohemian spa town of Teplice in the hope of improving his health.

Dimitri Ashkenazy, Clarinet

Born in 1969 in New York, Dimitri Ashkenazy began playing the piano at the age of six and then switched to the clarinet under the tuition of Giambattista Sisini, with whom he continued studying when he entered the Conservatory of Lucerne in 1989. Since completing his studies, he has gone on to perform widely, both as soloist and chamber musician. On tour, he has appeared at the Royal Festival Hall in London with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, at the Hollywood Bowl with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, at the Sydney Opera House with the SBS Youth Orchestra, at the Casals Festival in Puerto Rico with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra and in Japan with the Japan Philharmonic, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony and Mito Chamber Orchestras.

In addition to the major concertos for the clarinet, his repertoire extends to include contemporary works such as Peter Maxwell Davies’ Strathclyde Concerto No.4, which he has performed with the composer himself conducting both in London and Santiago de Compostela, and Krzysztof Penderecki’s own transcription of his Viola Concerto with the composer himself conducting both in Poland and on tour in Spain. He also gave the world premiere performances of concertos by Marco Tutino (with the Filarmonici della Scala, Milan) and Filippo del Corno (with the orchestra “I Pomeriggi Musicali”), and of Peter Maxwell Davies’ Clarinet Quintet “Hymn to Artemis Locheia” (with the Brodsky Quartet at the Lucerne Festival). An active chamber musician, he has performed with the Kod?ly and Faust Quartets and with partners such as Edita Gruberova, Barbara Bonney, Helmut Deutsch, Cristina Ortiz, David Golub, Ariane Haering, Maria Jo?o Pires, and of course his brother Vovka and his father Vladimir Ashkenazy.

In addition to his concert activity, Dimitri Ashkenazy has made numerous CD (Pan Classics, Decca, Ondine), radio (Radio Nacional de Espa?a, France Musiques, Radio della Svizzera Italiana, DeutschlandRadio) and television recordings, and been invited to give master classes in Australia, Spain, Iceland, Switzerland and the U.S.

Engagements for Dimitri Ashkenazy in the 2006-07 season include appearances with the Camerata Schweiz, the “Arpeggione” Chamber Orchestra Hohenems, the Stuttgarter Kammerorchester, the KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Cairo Symphony, the Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra, the G?ttinger Symphonie-Orchester, the Ermitage Orchestra St.Petersburg, and the Sinfonisches Orchester Liechtenstein, as well as chamber concerts in France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, South Africa, the USA, Austria, and the Netherlands.