23
November
9:00 pm

Orchestra:

Orchestra del Teatro Goldoni di Livorno

Conductor:

Epifanio
Comis
(Italy)

Soloist:

Anna
Ulaieva
Piano
(Ukraine/Austria)

Programme:

Alexey Shor

"Travel Notebook" –
Suite for piano and orchestra No 1

Sergey Rachmaninov

Symphony No.2 in E minor


Epifanio Comis

Epifanio Comis was student of Boris Petrushansky, Lazar Berman and Pietro Rattalino. He has toured as a soloist throughout Europe, Asia, Russia, and the United States. He has performed with numerous world class orchestras including the George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra of Bucharest, the Karlovy Vary Symfonic Orchestra, the Tulare County Symphony Orchestra of California, the Orquestra Sinfonica UANL, Catania Massimo Bellini Theatre Orchestra, Sicilian Symphony Orchestra, the Osaka Symphoniker, the Kyoto Symphony. His recitals in the USA and Asia have brought him great critical acclaim.

Epifanio Comis gives masterclasses in important academies and universities like Manhattan School of Music, Chopin Academy Warsaw, Royal Conservatoire Mons, Ecole Normale in Paris, Tchaikovsky Conservatory Moscow and Bucarest Music Academy. He performed in prestigeous halls such as Discoteca di Stato di Roma, Catania Massimo Bellini Theatre, Sala delle Erbe di Milano, Steinway Hall in New York, Symphony Hall in Osaka, Carnegie Hall in New York and many others. Comis is also active as a conductor. Last concerts he conducted are Rachmaninov’s Piano Concertos, Rhapsody and the Second Symphony with Catania Massimo Bellini Theatre Orchestra in Catania and in Moscow.

He is a very acclaimed teacher. His students achieve top prizes in the most important world piano competitions such as Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition, Queen Elisabeth Competition, Fryderyk Chopin International Piano Competition, International Tchaikovsky Competition Moscow etc. In 2013 he was awarded with the “Sergei Rachmaninov International Award” together with Vladimir Ashkenazy, Valery Gergiev and Nicolai Lugansky by the Moscow Conservatory.

Comis has a varied career as soloist and conductor. He is a professor at Vincenzo Bellini State Conservatory in Catania where he is also director and he is the artistic director of the Ljubljana Festival International Piano Competition 

Anna Ulaieva

Piano

The Ukrainian-Austrian pianist Anna Ulaieva began her musical studies at the age of 5, receiving instrumental lessons on both violin and piano.

After having won a number competition prizes by the age of 11 for highly gifted children on both instruments, Anna chose the piano as her main instrument and started taking piano lessons with Prof. Nina Naiditsch at the "M.V. Lysenko" high school for gifted children in Kiev (Ukraine).

She then continued her piano studies at the "Tchaikovsky National Academy of Music" in Kiev with Yuri Kot and graduated with distinction. As a laureate of the "New Names of Ukraine" programme, her exceptional talent was honoured by a scholarship awarded by the President of Ukraine.

From 2009 she completed her piano studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz (Austria) with Prof. Milana Chernyavska and graduated in 2017 with excellent results.

Anna Ulaieva has won prizes at numerous renowned international competitions. Her greatest success to date is the 1st prize at the "Malta International Piano Competition 2018". More than 720 pianists from more than 70 nations competed in the largest competition series in the world to win the largest prize money in competition history (1st prize 100,000€). Another milestone in her remarkable career was to receive a Blüthner Grand Piano as 1st prize after winning the Blüthner Golden Tone Award 2013.

Further competition successes include A. Scriabin Piano Competition Grosseto (2nd prize, 2018), German Piano Open Berlin (1st prize, 2017), Brahms Klavierwettbewerb Detmold (1st prize, 2017), Isidor Bajic Piano Memorial Competition (2nd prize, 2017), Blüthner Golden Tone Award, (1st Prize, 2013), Josef Dichler - Piano Competition (1st Prize 2011), Jeune Talents (1st Prize 2011) as well as Martha Debelli Competition in the categories piano solo and chamber music piano quartet in Graz (1st Prize 2009,2011,2013).

Now she is herself a sought after jury member at numerous international music competitions. Most recently at competitions in Serbia and Ukraine.

Anna Ulaieva made her solo debut in Kiev in 2001 with the Philharmonic Orchestra of Ukraine. Since then she has performed solo recitals and chamber and orchestra concerts all over the world and is a frequent guest at various festivals. She regularly performs with renowned orchestras such as the Chamber Orchestra of Bavarian Radio, Kiev Virtuosi Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, and such conductors as Dmitry Jablonski and Christian Jarvi.

Her live CD recording of Tchaikovsky’s Seasons and Prokofiev’s sonatas confirms her artistic and pianistic abilities.

Anna Ulaieva is a lecturer at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, where she leads the highly gifted and preparation piano class. She also teaches at master classes in Austria, Portugal and Ukraine.

A special concern of Anna’s is the advancement of highly gifted children and juveniles. In order to address this, she founded the master class "Gifted in Music" Kapfenberg (www.giftedinmusic.at) and acts as its artistic director.

Orchestra del Teatro Goldoni di Livorno

The Teatro Goldoni Orchestra established in 2020 from the main reference staff of the opera and symphonic seasons of the Theater has, over time, assumed connotations of stability, refinement and search for sonorities.

It represents a national and international point of reference for its Symphony Season and its productions such as Sheherazade by Rismky Korsakov performed for the first time in Livorno in November 2022 or Tchaikovsky's Symphony VI repeated 90 years after the first Italian performance conducted by Pietro Mascagni.

The artistic specificities of the orchestra are to be found in the Mascagnano, Pucciniano and Verdian opera repertoire. He actively participates every year in the Mascagni Festival in Livorno, giving new life to works by the composer from Livorno par excellence.

The conductors and soloists with whom the orchestra has collaborated have appreciated its dynamism and availability. The artists who have been able to appreciate it over time are: Anderson Dean, De Lorenzo Giancarlo, Fratta Gianna, Madaras Gergely, NG Wilson, Raskin Daniel, Smbatyan Sergey, Warner John, Blaumane Kristīna – Cellist, Brovtsyn Boris – Violinist, Cafaro Nicolò – Pianist, Chiacchiaretta Cesare – Bandoneonist, de Niese Danielle – Soprano, De Palma Dino – Violinist and Violist, Furia Fabio – Bandoneonist, Itamar Zorman – Violinist, Meloni Fabrizio – Clarinetist. Pellegrino Ettore – Violinist, Quaranta Salvatore – Violinist, Ruggiero Salvatore – Oboist, Semchuk Olexander – Violinist, Taverna Alessandro – Pianist, Yeol Eum Son – Pianist, Zhou Nancy – Violinist.

The Principal Conductor of the Orchestra is Maestro Eric Lederhandler, the Associate Conductor is Gianluca J. Greco.

In 2022, the Orchestra performed 82 concerts, 60% of which at the Teatro Goldoni in Livorno, and the remainder at important theaters such as the Ariston Theater in Sanremo, the Teatro Sociale in Camogli, the Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome and made co-productions with important symphonic institutions such as the Sanremo Symphony Orchestra, the Abruzzese Symphony Orchestra, the Bari Symphony Orchestra and the Sicilian Symphony Orchestra. He took part in the staging of 6 operas and strengthened institutional connections through the EU-funded project “Accordi Musicali”.

The YOM 2022 Competition saw the participation of 287 young instrumentalists for scholarships of €10,000.

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Teatro Goldoni