Schumann and Brahms
July 5 19:00
Aram Khachaturian Concert Hall
Program
Schumann: Piano Concerto in A minor /30-32 min./
Intermission
Brahms: Symphony No.2 /40-42 min./
Coming from a family of professional musicians, Nikita Mndoyants began to play piano and compose music a very young age. He entered to Central Music School in Moscow, where he studied piano with Tamara Koloss. He gave his first public recital at age eight, and recorded his first CD (of a live performance in Helsinki) at age ten.
Nikita Mndoyants received undergraduate and graduate degrees from the Moscow Tchaikovsky State Conservatory, where he studied composition with Professor Alexander Tchaikovsky and piano with Professor Nikolay Petrov and Professor Alexander Mndoyants.
Since 2013 he has taught orchestration, also at the Moscow Tchaikovsky State Conservatory.
Mr. Mndoyants won first prize at the 2016 Cleveland International Piano Competition, first prize at the 2007 Paderewsky International Piano Competition, and was a finalist at the 2013 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.
As a composer, Mr. Mndoyants received first prize at the 2014 Myaskovsky International Competition of Composers (Moscow, Russia) and 2016 Prokofiev International Competition of Composers (Sochi, Russia).
Most recently Mr. Mndoyants has performed with Saint Petersburg Philharmonic orchestra under the baton of maestro Charles Dutoit.
He also made his debut recital in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory and performed in Salle Cortot and Auditorium du Louvre in Paris, at the Bozar Centre for Fine Arts (Brussels), Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg and Luxembourg Philharmonie. He appeared as a guest artist with the Gangnam Symphony Orchestra at the new Lotte Concert Hall in Seoul, Korea.
Mr. Mndoyants made his Carnegie Hall debut in June of 2017.
Mr. Mndoyants has toured in Asia, Europe, Russia, and the U.S. and appeared in major concert halls in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Paris, and Seoul. He has worked with renowned conductors including Charles Dutoit, Bramwell Tovey, Leonard Slatkin, Eri Klas, Ignat Solzhenitsyn, Dmitry Sitkovetsky, Philipp Tchizhevsky, Alexander Sladkovsky, Alexander Rudin, and performed with the Svetlanov State Academic Symphony Orchestra, the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra and more. He has performed in major festivals, including the Klavier-Ruhr Festival (Germany), Chopin Festival in Duszniki-Zdroj (Poland), Mariinsky International Piano Festival (St. Petersburg) and International Keyboard Institute and Festival (New York). Mr. Mndoyants also has been artist in residence at the International Music Festival in Wissembourg (France) since 2012, where he has overseen the performance of his own compositions and performed solo works, chamber music, and concerts.
Giving his first chamber performance with the Borodin Quartet in 2004, he has continued to cultivate his passion for chamber music, working with such ensembles as the Brentano, Eben, Zemlinsky, and Szymanowsky Quartets.
Among his chamber music partners are pianists Alexander Ghindin and Vyacheslav Gryaznov, violinists Andrej Bielow, Dmitry Sitkovetsky and Valeriy Sokolov, cellists Lev Sivkov, Evgeny Rumyantsev and clarinetist Patrick Messina.
His piano and chamber works are made available by publishing houses Composers, Muzyka, and Jurgenson, and have been performed by Alexander Vinnitsky, Alexander Rudin, Daniel Hope, Nicolas Stavy, the Szymanowski and Zemlinsky Quartets, Moscow State Symphony Orchestra, and others.
Mr. Mndoyants has released solo and chamber recordings on the Classical Records, Melodiya and Praga Digitals labels. A new recording on the Steinway & Sons label, featuring works by Beethoven, Prokofiev, and Schumann, has been released in June 2017.
Ernest Hӧtzl is a Professor of Music History at University of Music Graz, Artistic Director of Musikverein Kärnten and Jeunesse Kärnten and Principal Conductor of Euro Symphony SFK.
Mr. Hӧtzl studied at the University of Graz, University of Music Graz and University of Texas at Austin, as a Fulbright Scholarship holder. He has received Master´s Degrees in Classical Philology (Latin/ancient Greek/Sanskrit), Music Education, Conducting and Musicology.
Ernest Hӧtzl has conducted more than 80 orchestras worldwide such as Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, Slovak Philharmonic, Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, Berlin Symphony Orchestra, Budapest Symphony MAV, Chamber Orchestra of Vienna Symphony, Tchaikovsky Orchestra Moscow, “Novaya Russiya” Orchestra, Berlin Symphony Orchestra, Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra and others.
His performances have taken place at important venues such as Vienna’s Musikverein, Berlin Philharmonie, Pragues Rudolfinum, New York Carnegie Hall, Teatro Amazonas in Manaus (Brazil), National Center for Performing Arts of Bombay, Aram Khachaturian Concert Hall, among many others.
He has been a frequent guest at various international festivals.
Ernest Hӧtzl has been decorated with many honorary titles and awards such as the Honorary Cross for Science and Art of the Republic of Austra, Gold Merit for Achievements for the Republic of Austria, Gold Merit of the Province of Styria and the Grand Merit of the Province of Carinthia.
