Oregon Music Festival: Mendelssohn & Shostakovich

• Alexander Kobrin, piano
• Jetro de Oliveira, conductor

Felix Mendelssohn — String Symphony No. 7 in D minor, MWV N 7
Dmitri Shostakovich — Piano Concerto No. 1 in C minor, Op. 35 (Alexander Kobrin, piano)
Ana Sokolović — Serbian Tango (US premiere; for violin, accordion, quartet bass, & piano)
Ernest Bloch — Concerto Grosso No. 1

Two brilliant pieces of piano/orchestral repertoire are on program on this concert: Bloch's rarely heard yet powerful Concerto Grosso, and Shostakovich's famous Piano Concerto No. 1. Resident artist Alexander Kobrin enters the stage for the second time in two days to deliver one of the most difficult and exciting pieces of the piano concerto repertoire. For the second time, but many years apart, another artist comes to the OMF stage: conductor and the new Music Director of Oregon Music Festival Jetro Meira de Oliveira. A consumate artist and great advocate of international repertoire, de Oliveira bring his Brazilian love for color and elan to both the concert stage and the organization in general.

Ending the first half of the program is a witty piece called Serbian Tango by a well-known Serbian-Canadian composer Ana Sokolović.

About Oregon Music Festival

https://www.oregonmusicfest.org/

About Oregon Festival Orchestra

The main performing ensemble for the Oregon Music Festival, this group is made up of some of the top professional musicians in the region. Specializing in both executing challenging smaller chamber works and large-scale masterpieces the ensemble exists to bring new life to the very best music of today and yesterday.

https://www.oregonmusicfest.org/artists

About Alexander Kobrin, piano

Called the "Van Cliburn of today" by the BBC, pianist Alexander Kobrin has earned a place at the forefront of today’s performing musicians. His prize-winning performances have been praised for their brilliant technique, musicality, and emotional engagement with the audience. The New York Times has written that Mr. Kobrin was a "fastidious guide" to Schumann's "otherworldly visions, pointing out hunters, flowers, haunted corners and friendly bowers, all captured in richly characterized vignettes." 'This was a performance that will be revered and remembered as a landmark of the regeneration of exceptional classical music in Central New York." – a critic wrote after Mr. Kobrin's performance of the Second Piano Concerto by Johannes Brahms with Syracuse Symphony in Syracuse, NY.

Mr. Kobrin has performed with many of the world's great orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, Tokyo Philharmonic, Russian National Orchestra, Belgrade Philharmonic, English Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra LaVerdi, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Moscow Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Dallas Symphony, Berliner Symphony, Chicago Sinfonietta, Swedish Radio, and others.

https://alexkobrin.com/

About Jetro de Oliveira, conductor

https://jetrodeoliveira.wixsite.com/mysite