Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra in South Korea
The Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra (PRSO) will be touring South Korean cities in late May and early June. It opens the tour in Busan in the southeast of the country (29.5), before moving on to the capital Seoul for two concerts (31. 5 and 1. 6.); from there it will travel to Nowon-gu (2. 6.) and Gumi (3. 6.). The PRSO will appear at the country’s most important concert venues, a list of which is given below.
Compositions by Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Dvořák, Mozart, Rachmaninoff and Smetana will be conducted by Petr Vronský. Konstantin Shcherbakov, a Russian-born pianist living in Switzerland since 1992 and one of the most in-demand musicians around, will perform as a soloist.
To date the PRSO has performed in South Korean only once, when it played a concert of Dvořák and Smetana’s music in Seoul under the baton of Vladimír Válek two years ago.
What pieces will be performed?
Beethoven:
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 5 in E-flat Major, Op. 73 (the “Emperor Concerto”)
Tchaikovsky:
Romeo and Juliet Fantasy-Overture for large orchestra, based on the Shakespeare
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 in E Minor, Op. 64
Dvořák: Symphony No. 8 in G Major, Op. 88
Mozart: Marriage of Figaro, Overture
Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 18
Smetana: Vltava
Venues:
Busan Culture Center, capacity 1,403
http://culture.busan.go.kr/english/main/
Sejong Center, Seoul, capacity 3,022
http://www.sejongpac.or.kr/english/
Gumi Culture and Arts Center, capacity 1,361
http://english.gumi.go.kr/open_content/life/tour/cultural_facilities/
No-Won Culture and Arts Center, capacity 616
http://www.nowon.kr/foreign/eng/facility.jsp
Konstantin Shcherbakov, piano
A native of Barnaul, western Siberia (born 1963), Konstantin Shcherbakov won a reputation as an exceptional talent while still a child, performing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.1 in his first concert appearance at the age of 11. He studied under the legendary Lev Naumov at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow.
In 1983, Shcherbakov won the Rachmaninoff prize, also taking laurels in Montreal, Bolzano, Rome and Zurich. He became established as leading artist in the former Soviet Union.
His international career was launched by a unique success at the festival in Lucerne, where the critics hailed him as the new Rachmaninoff. The 20th edition of the music festival at Italy’s Asolo also played an important role in his career; during four recitals there he performed the complete works of Rachmaninoff for solo piano and won the admiration of Sviatoslav Richter. In 1992, he and his family moved to Switzerland, at which point his international career started to gather pace.
Today Konstantin Shcherbakov is among the most sought after of interpreters, with an impressively wide and demanding repertoire. His recordings have been released by the labels EMI, Naxos and Marco Polo and received many awards.
