Mikhail Pletnev Recital & Concert

Mikhail Pletnev is an artist whose genius as pianist, conductor and composer enchants and amazes audiences around the globe. His musicianship encompasses a dazzling technical power and provocative emotional range, and a searching interpretation that fuses instinct with intellect. At the keyboard and podium alike, Pletnev is recognized as one of the finest artists of our time. Pletnev was Gold Medal and First Prize winner of the 1978 Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition when he was only 21, a prize that earned him early recognition worldwide. An invitation to perform at the 1988 superpower summit in Washington led to a friendship with Mikhail Gorbachev and the historic opportunity to make music in artistic freedom.

In 1990 Pletnev formed the first independent orchestra in Russia’s history. The risks of this step, even with Gorbachev’s endorsement, were enormous and it was Pletnev’s reputation and commitment that made his long-held dream a reality. Sharing his vision for a new model for the performing arts, many of the country’s finest musicians joined Pletnev in launching the Russian National Orchestra. Under his leadership, the RNO achieved in a few short years a towering stature among the world’s orchestras. Pletnev describes the RNO as his greatest joy and today serves as its Artistic Director and Principal Conductor. In 2006, he launched the Mikhail Pletnev Fund for the Support of National Culture, a non-profit organization that supports major cultural initiatives and projects, including the RNO’s annual Volga Tour and, in collaboration with Deutsche Grammophon, the Mikhail Pletnev Beethoven Project.

As a guest conductor, Pletnev appears regularly with leading orchestras such as London’s Philharmonia Orchestra, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic, Concertgebouw Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. In 2008 he was named first guest conductor of the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana in Lugano, Switzerland. On February 13 and 14, 2011, in a concert commemorating the aerial bombing of Dresden, he conducted the Saxon State Orchestra Dresden (Staatskapelle Dresden) in a performance of “A German Requiem.” He is currently musical director of that orchestra, with which he has made numerous recordings and given many concerts in Russia and other countries.

Born in Tokyo in March 1959, Mr. Shigeo Genda began studying the cello with Katsuo Shimizu. He majored in conducting at the Tokyo Music College, studying under Yasuhiko Shiozawa and Sei-ichi Mitsuishi and, at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, under Kohtaro Satoh. In 1983, he was the recipient of the Nomura Scholarship. In 1986, following his opera debut conducting the Niki-kai Opera Foundation in Hansel und Gretel, he continued with the Niki-kai Opera in such performances as Die Fledermaus, at the same time steadily building his achievements with orchestra concerts.
In September of 1987, he was appointed conductor of the Japan Shinsei Symphony Orchestra. The next year in April, at the Japan Shinsei Symphony’s 108th Subscription Concert, he drew the attention of the music world when he conducted Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 in a striking orchestral debut. Since appearing that same year in October, as guest conductor with the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra on their Japan Tour, he has led Japan’s most important orchestras, receiving wide acclaim. In 1996, he was appointed conductor of the Kanagawa Philharmoic Orchstra and, since September 2000, he is in the post of the principal conductor of the orchestra.
　 Not confining his activities to Japan, Genda is an outstanding talent who continues to make rapid progress as an international conductor.
In May and June of 1990, he toured Europe with the Japan Shinsei Symphony and, from October of that same year, he studied at the Vienna Staatsoper at government expense as an overseas artistic research student from the Agency for Cultural Affairs. In January and February of 1991, he was praised highly for his work as the Prague National Theatre Orchestra’s guest conductor on their Japan Tour.
In May 1993, he appeared at the internationally watched Prague Spring International Music Festival, winning a favorable reception from audiences. He was invited to this Festival in May 1995, and has been chosen to be on the judging committee of the Conductors Section of the Prague Spring International Music Competition.
Genda is expanding his talent as an opera conductor with extensive experience in the orchestra pit. In 1994, he conducted Orphee aux enfers with the Hokkaido Niki-kai Opera Foundation in February, Le nozze de Figaro in Tokyo and Hiroshima in March, and Das Rheingold with the Kansai Niki-kai Opera Foundation in October. In July of 1995, he conducted the Tokyo Niki-kai Opera Foundation’s performance of Die Csardasfurstin. In 1996, he followed the March performance of Don Giovanni with the April performance of Le nozze de Figaro the May performance of Die Zauberflote, and, in October, toured Japan with Sato Shinobu. In may of 1997, he conducted the Kansai Niki-kai Opera Foundation’s production of Die Walkure. In 2001, he was a music director of the Japan Arts production’s Cosi fan tutte.
Future plans include the March 2003 performance with the Kansai Nikikai Opera Foundation’s production of Il Trovatore, and Die Fledermaus with Yokohama City Opera.
And in 2004, he will be a music director of Japan Arts Production Il Barbiere di Seviglia, and following September, he conducts as a guest conductor with the Slovak National Theatre’s La Traviata on their Japan Tour.