On 9 May, at 7 PM, at the National Philharmonic, violinist and conductor Sasha Rozhdestvensky will perform with the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra. Sasha comes from the famous musical family (his father is conductor Gennady Rozhdestvensky), and he has been pronounced by Yehudi Menuhin as "one of the most talented and refined violinists of his generation". The subtle concert program will feature compositions by J.S. Bach, J. Haydn, A. Pärt and A. Martinaitis.

Soloist and conductor Sasha Rozhdestvensky is distinguished among many of Russia's most talented young violinists. His creative path stretches all over the world; he has played with an impressive list of orchestras , that includes the Bavarian State Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra of “La Scala”, Dresdner Philharmonie Orchestra, Orchester der Beethovenhalle Bonn, Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, Symphony Orchestras of Ireland, Boston, Toronto, Prague, London, Sydney, Melbourne and others.

Sasha Rozhdestvensky plays several violins, among which are a Guarneri del Gesu and a Stradivari loaned to him by the Stradivari Society. He recently became an ambassador for the Stradivari Society. Sasha has recorded numerous works for the THESIS and CHANDOS labels. He recently recorded the Violin Concerto No. 1 by Dimitri Shostakovich and the Violin Concerto by Alexander Glazunov with his father, the conductor Gennady Rozhdestvensky and the State Symphony Capella of Russia. As he is interested in various genres, he founded in Paris a group of traditional Latin American music “Ambar”, and Argentinean tango trio “Paris Gotan Trio”.

S. Rozhdestvensky studied at the Central Music School in Moscow, the Moscow Conservatory, the Paris Conservatoire and the Royal College of Music in London. His repertoire consists of works of different eras - from J. S. Bach, A. Vivaldi, to S. Gubaidulina, A. Schnittke, G. Kancheli and L. Berio.

On 9 May, the concert program  will feature Sasha Rozhdestvensky playing solo with the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra; they will perform the Violin Concerto in A minor by J. S. Bach and “Fratres” by Arvo Pärt. The latter exemplifies Pärt's tintinnabuli style of composition (tintinnabuli is a description of bells’ dong).

Also, at the concert we will hear J. Haydn's Symphony No. 88 in G major, and "Musical Offering", concerto for tenor flute, oboe, harpsichord and strings by Algirdas Martinaitis. This time we will listen to the version of "Musical Offering", adapted this year for the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra by the author himself; Mindaugas Zimkus will be singing solo. It is symbolic that this piece which was written for Vilnius Festival of 2000, will be played just a few weeks before this year's Vilnius Festival – like a songbird it will invite music lovers to remember one of the greatest music festivities of the year.

LNF info