Enjoy a jubilee programme in the intimate atmosphere of the Recital Hall (Kleine Zaal) in one of the world’s finest concert halls, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.
Have you visited the Concertgebouw yet?
It was Bernard Haitink who once praised the Concertgebouw as “the best instrument of the orchestra that it houses”. In the time that The Concertgebouw was taking shape, the science of acoustics was still considered a mysterious combination of many different and undefinable factors. Professional recording equipment was still to be developed in the 20th century, so the architects at that time had only successful examples to look to.
As a result, the Recital Hall became nearly identical to the renowned oval hall in the Felix Meritis House, and the Main Hall (in terms of design and materials used) to the Neue Gewandhaus in Leipzig, Germany. In later restorations, the original design and finishing details of the halls were left intact as much as possible to preserve the sensitive world-famous acoustics.
Ruhadze and Stahievitch play duets for violin and piano
The concert programme is dedicated to three great composers for whom important anniversaries are commemorated in 2021. This year, the famous Russian Sergei Prokofiev would have turned 130 years old. The renowned French composer Camille Saint-Saëns passed away in 1921, and in the same year the important Armenian composer Arno Babajanian was born.
Violinist Igor Ruhadze and pianist Vital Stahievitch created an interesting programme dedicated to these three important figures. All three of them were familiar with each other's works, although they belong to different eras and styles. Saint-Saëns, for example, strongly condemned Prokofiev's work. In turn, after Prokofiev's return to the Soviet Union, Babajanian was well acquainted with him, and some of his works were influenced by Prokofiev.
This is the programme for the concert on September 19:
Saint-Saëns - Sonata no. 2 in E-flat major, op. 102
Prokofiev - Sonata no. 1 in F minor, op. 1
Babadjanian - Sonata in B-flat minor
The musicians
Both Igor Ruhadze and Vital Stahievitch belong to the old “Soviet” school. They graduated from the conservatories of Moscow and Minsk respectively before they moved to Amsterdam to study at the Conservatory of Amsterdam, where Vital currently teaches.
Both being laureates of important international competitions, they form a special cultural cross-over: having experienced both musical traditions from within, they are able to reflect the difference between the Soviet and the modern Western styles in their interpretations.
The composers
All three composers were pianists. Camille Saint-Saëns, as a personality of multiple talents, was known as a composer, pianist, music teacher and conductor. Next to this, he wrote several books on philosophy, literature, visual art, theatre, composed poetry and plays, and even drew cartoons.
Sergei Prokofiev entered the Conservatory of St. Petersburg as a wonder-child at the age of 13. After the Russian revolution (1917), he resided abroad and only moved back to Moscow in 1936. The musicians will perform the famous transcription of his March from the opera "Love for the Three Oranges” which was completed in the same year as Babajanian was born.
Arno Babajanian (192-1983) was born in the same year as Saint-Saëns passed away, thus completing the circle of this programme. He received an excellent academic education at two conservatories: Yerevan and Moscow and became an outstanding pianist. Very well known for his piano compositions and especially for film music (think of the Soviet equivalent of John Williams), he is very rarely performed outside Russia and Armenia nowadays.
We Paint Music - an exhibition by children, based on the concert programme
We Paint Music is an initiative carried out in collaboration with the Olga Meshkova Artlama studio. Her young students (aged 8-12) were asked to create drawings of the melodies from this concert programme. The exhibition resulting from this project called “We Paint Music” was presented to the public on July 2, 2021. The brochure with the full catalogue of paintings will be presented to all of the concert’s guests, free of charge.
Buy your tickets
Buy your recital concert tickets online. Find out even more about the concert on the Concertgebouw website.