US conductor Martin Piecuch to give a concert in Moscow

Prominent American conductor Martin Piecuch will conduct the State Symphony Orchestra of Russia at the Tchaikovsky Hall on Tuesday.

On the program of that evening will be works by Brahms - his first symphony, "Hungarian Dances and the concert for violin and cello. The solo parts will be performed by Alexander Trostyansky (violin) and Denis Shapovalov (cello).

Martin Piecuch has come to Moscow at the invitation of Vladimir Ponkin who heads the State Symphony Orchestra and beginning with the current season is the main conductor of the Gelikon-0pera theatre. As Vladimir Ponkin said at a press conference on Monday, what particularly interests him is the width of Piecuch's artistic views, his emotionality, original techniques and ability to "squeeze" the maximum out of the orchestra. "This is a real find for the Moscow public," said Ponkin, adding that Gelikon-Opera has several proposals for Martin Piecuch on jointly working..

Martin Piecuch is a graduate of the Catholic American University, he specializes in saxophone playing and conducting, got a BA in art and holds a Master's degree in conducting. During his career he has conducted over 800 operas and also 25 musicals, many of which are the most popular works of the genre not only in the USA, but also elsewhere in the world.

Being art director and conductor of the Washington Symphonic Orchestra, Piecuch created an international orchestra which includes, apart from Americans, also musicians from the Czech Republic, Ukraine and Russia.

As Martin Piecuch said at the press-conference, he considers Russian musicians to be extremely talented people. Recalling that in his orchestra he has 9 Russian string musicians, the conductor said that "he knows exactly" that Russians are the best string musicians in the world. "My performance in Moscow and in Russia, in general, is my sixth visit to that country and it is a happy event, with its highlight the possibility of exchanging cultural values between our countries," stressed Piecuch. He also noted that he considers music education and the very method of teaching music in Russia to be unique.