Hats off to winners of Tchaikovsky Prize winners

Three prize-winners of the XIV International Tchaikovsky Competition have given a performance with the London Symphony Orchestra under Maestro Valery Gergiev at London`s Barbican Hall.

ґThe long-awaited event, featuring South Korean soprano Sun Young Seo, Armenian cellist Narek Hakhnazaryan and Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov, impressed the British media which reported that the "gala concert was the first chance London has had to see the results" of the famous Russian Competition.

One of the reviewers, a music expert with The Guardian, was quoted as saying that it was a case of "hats off" to Maestro Gergiev for his "recent efforts to clean up and repackage classical music`s legendary Moscow Tchaikovsky Competition."

An online source, classicalsource.com, dubbed the gala concert of works by Tchaikovsky as a dazzling prelude to the start of the new season at the Barbican Hall. The music critic described Russia`s virtuoso pianist Daniil Trifonov as a "quixotic musician, attack-minded" and "exploiting a wide range of volume and touch."

According to The Times, Daniil Trifonov gave a "first-class performance" with "showmanship without ostentatious theatrics, and a generous willingness," thus letting Gergiev and the London Symphony Orchestra "take the lead where the music required it."

After their big London success, Daniil Trifonov and Narek Hakhnazaryan will give several performances in St. Petersburg, at the Concert Hall of the Mariinsky Theatre, on October 21 and 26.

A series of Performances by Prize-Winners of the XIV Tchaikovsky Competition will also feature recitals by pianist Seong Jin Cho and cellist Edgar Moreau.

sections: Culture