This week’s Symphonies of Iowa show on IPR features Orchestra Iowa with Ksenia Nosikova on piano and their “Russian Festival” concert. The all-Russian program includes works by Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky.
When Rachmaninoff was 17-years-old, he left the piano studio he was a part of in order to dedicate his life to composing. He became a major composer of the 20th century, performing his own concertos. At just 18-years-old, Rachmaninoff premiered his Piano Concerto No. 1 at the Moscow Conservatory in 1892.
Tchaikovsky waited eleven years after composing his Symphony No. 4 before composing his Symphony No. 5. He conducted the premiere of his Symphony No. 5 at St. Petersburg in 1888. Tchaikovsky once said, “I am dreadfully anxious to prove not only to others, but also to myself, that I am not yet played out as a composer.” Following his Symphony No. 5 success, he remarked “it seems to me that I have not blundered, that it has turned out well.”
Orchestra Iowa’s performance will feature guest pianist Dr. Ksenia Nosikova. Ksenia earned her degrees from Moscow Conservatory and the University of Colorado. The prize-winner of three international competitions, she performed extensively in Europe, Asia, Russia, USA, Canada, and South America. She is currently Professor of Piano and Co-Chair of Piano Area at the University of Iowa, where she “devotedly teaches an international studio of graduate and undergraduate students.”
Tune in on Sunday, March 17th, 2019 at 4 p.m. and again on Monday, March 18th, 2019 at 7 p.m. to hear Ksenia Nosikova and Orchestra Iowa perform Russian favorites.
PROGRAM:
SCHNITTKE Polyphonic Tango
GLINKA Overture: Ruslan and Ludmilla
RACHMANINOFF Piano Concerto No. 1
TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 5
Ksenia Nosikova, Piano
Tim Hankewich, Music Director and Conductor
