Friday, December 6, 2024 @ 7:30pm – 10:00pm (EST)
Ambassade de France / Embassy of France, Washington, DC, United States

Join The RCAS for an evening of Washington DC premieres!

The music of Lori Laitman and Margarita Zelenaia, two of the most talented women composers of this generation, create musical portraits of life encapsulating emotions ranging from grief to happiness, from tears to laughter.

About The Russian Chamber Art Society (The RCAS)

The Russian Chamber Art Society (The RCAS) is a non-profit organization dedicated to presenting Russian vocal chamber music to the public and providing educational opportunities for the study of Russian Lyric Diction. Founded in 2005 by pianist Vera Danchenko-Stern, the RCAS is Washington DC’s premiere presenter of Russian vocal chamber music.

While interest in Russian operas has increased in America over the last several decades, Russian romances (art songs) are largely absent from the concert halls. This repertoire is unique and prolific. It encompasses music by the most famous Russian composers from the 19th century to present day, from Glinka and Tchaikovsky to Prokofiev, Shostakovich, and Gavrilin, also including lyrics by the most beloved Russian poets, from Pushkin to Pasternak. The music is highly expressive, lyrical and passionate, and offers a great variety of genres and emotions, making it deeply appealing to all audiences. This series features emerging and established artists, providing a valuable educational experience, musically and culturally, for performers and audiences alike.

Since its founding in 2005, The RCAS has presented over 75 performances and hundreds of works, some never before heard in the United States.

https://thercas.com/concerts

About Martin Labazevitch, piano

Praised by critics for his lyricism, virtuosity, and an intensity of performance, pianist Martin Labazevitch appeared in many concert halls and festivals in Poland, Ukraine, Finland, Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Peru, and the United States.

Born in Poland, Mr. Labazevitch studied at the Odessa Conservatory in Ukraine and at the Manhattan School of Music in New York. In 2019 he received Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Rome School of Music, Drama and Art in Washington D.C. His main teachers and mentors include Nina Svetlanova, Horacio Gutierrez, Dmitri Bashkirov, Bella Davidovich and Jorge Luis Prats. He has been a soloist with orchestras in Spain, Poland, Lithuania, Japan, and the United States.

Of his debut album release on the Delos label, of the Chopin Concerto with the Beethoven Academy Orchestra lead by Ewa Strusinska, the Fanfare Magazine wrote: "His way of Chopin is fluid and convincing. He plays with a superb control of rubato and has the most beautiful way of melting a phrase." Of the same album, ConcertoNet wrote, "...he pleasantly refrains from overtaxing Chopin's conclusive Allegro vivace with shimmering grandeur and eloquent precision that could even rival that of Arthur Rubinstein."An avid chamber musician, he has collaborated with Isidore Cohen, Lukas Foss, Ruth Laredo, Andres Cardenes, Amit Peled, Ju-Young Baek, Michael Mermagen, as well as the Spokane and Vilnius String Quartets. After his piano trio debut at Carnagie Hall's Weill Recital Hall, The Strad Magazine wrote: "... exuberant, multi-faceted, ...gripping from first note to the last."

https://www.labazevitch.com/

About Margarita Zelenaia, piano

Versatile in classical genre, the music of pianist-composer Margarita Zelenaia defies stylistic boundaries and ranges from operatic and chamber works, to musical theater and art songs. Without prejudices and stereotypes in her writing, Zelenaia possess a rare ability to infuse her music with humor and lyrical tenderness, while also producing works of tremendous depth and seriousness. Casting aside the stereotypical mold of a "contemporary" composer, Zelenaia is a strong believer in melody and direct audience communication.

The music of Russian-born composer Margarita Zelenaia received premieres at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall, as well as around the globe: Australia, Brazil, Great Britain, Canada, China, Germany, Holland, Israel, Italy, Russia, and Kirgizstan.

Her Lamentation for violin solo and string orchestra became a winner of the competition "Donne in Musica" among woman-composers all over the world. The splendid violinist Lucio Degani and the great Italian chamber orchestra "I Solisti Veneti" under the baton of the legendary Maestro Claudio Scimone (Padova, Italy) gave its world premiere.

Her recent works are in the performing repertoire of musicians from the Metropolitan Opera, the New York City Opera, the New York Philharmonic, etc., as well as other renowned artists such as concert pianists Ana Maria Bottazzi, Clive Greensmith (from the Tokyo String Quartet), concert cellists Christophor Miroshnikov (Russia), Andrey Tchekmazov, Jacob Braun, Evangeline Benedetti (US), Italian concert pianist Paolo Vergari, Russian-American bass Mikhail Svetlov, Albanian baritone Kreshnik Zhabjaku, soprano Melanie Mitrano, mezzo-soprano Leslie Middlebrook, concert violinists Anna Rabinova, Nina Beilina, Jasmine Lin, David Fulmer, Claudia Shauer, and Ana Miloslavlevich (Serbia), award-winning clarinetist Sean Rice, award-winning violist Eniko Magyar (UK), One World Symphony Singers & Ensemble, the Second Instrumental Unit, ISSA Sonus Ensemble, neoLIT Ensemble, and chamber orchestras Bacchanalia, North/South Consonance, and Classic, among others.

https://margaritazelenaia.com/bio/

Ambassade de France / Embassy of France

4101 Reservoir Rd NW
Washington, DC 20007
United States

https://franceintheus.org/