VANCOUVER SYMPHONY DEBUTS MIKHAIL SIMONYAN

HULIQ
March 27 2009
SC

The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra proudly presents Mikhail Simonyan –
a violinist hailed as having "a flawless, liquid line and ravishing
tone," by The Washington Post – performing Chausson’s Poeme and
Ravel’s Tzigane.

The program, Fine French Fantasies, will be conducted by Vancouver
Symphony Orchestra Assistant Conductor Evan Mitchell and also
features Berlioz’s Le corsaire, Op. 21, Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite
and Dukas’ The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. The concerts take place on
Saturday, March 28 at 8pm and Sunday, March 29 at 2pm at the Orpheum
Theatre and will mark Mr. Simonyan’s debut with the Vancouver Symphony
Orchestra. Marking another debut, this concert features Evan Mitchell’s
2008/2009 Musically Speaking concert debut. These two great young
artistic talents team up for a beautiful concert of French repertoire.

Mikhail Simonyan, who hails from Novosibirsk (the same city that Vadim
Repin and Maxim Vengerov call home), began to study the violin at
the age of five. As part of the first generation of artists to forge
careers in an era with substantially decreased government support,
he has blazed a trail for young musicians in Russia. In 1999, at 13,
Mr. Simonyan made his acclaimed New York debut at Lincoln Center
with the American Russian Young Artists Orchestra (ARYO) and his
debut in St. Petersburg, Russia at the Mariinsky (Kirov) Theatre in
ARYO’s joint concert with the Mariinsky Youth Orchestra, performing
the Szymanowski Violin Concerto No. 1.

Mr. Simonyan has earned first prize awards at the all-Russia
Competition in Saint Petersburg, the Siberian Violin Competition,
the National Prize Prizvanie in Moscow, and the Salon de Virtuosi in
New York. He is a winner of the Yehudi Menuhin Foundation Award, and
received the 2000 Virtuoso of the Year award in Saint Petersburg. In
2003, the National Academy of Achievement selected him for an award
in the Performing Arts. In 2005, he received the highest level
of recognition when President Putin received him at the Kremlin,
in acknowledgment of his status as one of Russia’s most promising
young musicians.

Now in his early twenties, Mr. Simonyan is recognized as one of
the great talents of his generation. Celebrated for his "breadth,
lyricism and fleet technique" by The New York Times and compared to
master violinist David Oistrakh "on a good day" by The Miami Herald,
Mr. Simonyan proves that he has the talent and dedication to be one
of the great talents of our time.

Evan Mitchell, conductor

Conductor Evan Mitchell is proving to be one of Canada’s most promising
young conductors. Currently the Assistant Conductor of the Vancouver
Symphony, Evan is slated to play a key role in programming, artistic
development and of course performance with the Vancouver Symphony
Orchestra, leading the orchestra through a wide assortment of concerts.

Equally at home with chamber music, opera and full symphonic
masterpieces, Evan has enjoyed critical acclaim with recent operatic
performances including Britten’s Albert Herring, Ward’s The Crucible,
Hindemith’s "Hin und Zuruck" and the world premiere of Glenn James’
opera "To Daniel." Evan also won positions with the National Academy
Orchestra of Canada for four consecutive years as both conductor and
percussionist and now holds the title of Associate Mentor with the
orchestra. Highlights include conducting violin soloist Elizabeth
Pitcairn, the concertmaster of the New West Symphony and owner of
the Mendelssohn Stradivarius 1720 "Red Violin."

Evan is an advocate of contemporary music. Recently the resident
conductor of NUMUS New Music Ensemble, he has premiered several new
works, toured across Canada conducting a festival of contemporary
Chinese music and recorded works for the CMC, collaborating with such
Canadian artists as the Pentaedre Wind Quintet, Penderecki String
Quartet and Dancetheatre David Earle. Evan has also conducted and
performed works during the highly acclaimed Open Ears Festival.

As a percussionist Evan has enjoyed equal success. In demand as a
recitalist and concert soloist (recent performances of the Rosauro
Marimba concerto and the Mayuzumi Xylophone concerto), Evan’s
percussive performance has been hailed as "breathtaking in (his)
sensitivity" as well as "wizardly" and "awe-inspiring." Evan has
toured Canada, the United States and abroad, including a memorable
tour as Canadian ambassador during a concert tour with virtuoso
composer/percussionist Nebojsa Zivkovic, during which he performed as
concert soloist and along with the composer in a sold out performance
of Zivkovic’s celebrated "Trio per Uno" at the Stuttgart International
Theatre. Evan is a frequent performer with the Kitchener-Waterloo
Symphony and has performed with Orchestra London and the Toronto
Symphony. Evan has also been a faculty member and guest lecturer
with Wilfrid Laurier University, primarily as Music Director of the
Flute Ensemble.

Awards include First Prize at the Werlde Musik Kontest in Kerkrade,
Netherlands, finalist at the upcoming TD Canada Trust Elora Festival
Competition and Winner in Marching category as part of the Kavaliers
DCI Drum Corps. Evan is also the winner of the 2006 Pioneer Leading
Edge Arts Award.

Evan is a graduate of Wilfrid Laurier University where he completed a
Bachelor of Music degree as a percussion major; he is also a graduate
of the University of Toronto, where he studied on a full scholarship
sponsored by Elmer Iseler and Victor Feldbrill, earning a Masters
degree in conducting. His principal conducting teachers include Raffi
Armenian, Doreen Rao, Paul Pulford and Boris Brott. Additionally,
he has studied and performed in concert series with Denise Grant,
Martin Fischer-Dieskau and most notably, Helmuth Rilling, in the
inaugural Toronto Bach festival.

Mikhail Simonyan, violin

At just 22 years of age, Mikhail Simonyan is already recognized as
one of the most celebrated talents of his generation. The New York
Times has praised his, "breadth, lyricism and fleet technique," and
reported that "Mr. Simonyan play[s] as if every note counted." The
Miami Herald has declared, "Mikhail Simonyan . . . played with the
poise, perfection and inner burning fire of a master like David
Oistrakh – in his prime on a good night."

Mr. Simonyan has performed with, among others, the Russian National
Orchestra, the Kirov Orchestra, the Moscow Chamber Orchestra,
the Kremlin Chamber Orchestra, the Vienna Tonkunstler Orchestra,
the Novosibirsk Philharmonic, and the Moscow Virtuosi. He has
worked with conductors including Valery Gergiev, Mikhail Pletnev,
Constantine Orbelian, Vladimir Spivakov, Arnold Katz, Kristjan Jarvi,
Leon Botstein, and the late Yehudi Menuhin.

Performance highlights for Mr. Simonyan include a solo appearance
with Leonard Slatkin at the Kennedy Center’s 35th Anniversary Gala
in 2001, after which he made his official debut with Maestro Slatkin
and the National Symphony Orchestra in 2002. Later that same year,
he performed at the Davos World Economic Summit.

In 2004, Mr. Simonyan made his debut with the Kirov Orchestra
of the Mariinsky Theatre under Maestro Valery Gergiev in Eduoard
Lalo’s Symphonie Espagnole at the Grand Opera House in Wilmington,
DE, and at Mechanics Hall in Worcester. Also in 2004, he made his
subscription debut with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra performing
the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with Maestro Gergiev. He also soloed
with Maestro Constantine Orbelian at the Moscow State Conservatory’s
Great Hall, and in Saint Petersburg with the Novosibirsk Philharmonic.

In addition, he was selected to appear at the Horatio Alger Awards
Dinner in Washington DC. In spring of 2004, he performed the
Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto at SUNY Performing Arts Center and with
the Boston Pops Symphony Orchestra.

In the autumn of 2004, after studying at the Curtis Institute of Music
in Philadelphia, Mr. Simonyan returned to Russia and was immediately
in demand by the leading Orchestra’s of his home country. After his
debut with the Russian National Orchestra, the Moscow Times wrote,
"… he seems destined to be ranked on the same Superstar level as
fellow Novosibirsk natives Maxim Vengerov and Vadim Repin." Highlights
of the 2004-2005 season included his debut in Vienna’s Musikverein as
soloist with Maestro Kristjan Jarvi and the Tonkunstler Orchestra, a
highly acclaimed solo recital debut in Washington D.C. at the Kennedy
Center, as well as recitals and orchestral performances in New York
and other cities across the US.

Other performance highlights of Mr. Simonyan’s past seasons include
a tour of the United States with the Kirov Orchestra of the Mariinsky
Theatre under Maestro Valery Gergiev, concerts with Maestro Kristjan
Jarvi and the Russian National Orchestra, his debut at the Prague
Spring Festival under Maestro Pletnev, and recitals in Europe, Asia
and the United States.

Highlights of Mr. Simonyan’s current concert season include debuts at
the Wigmore Hall in London and at the Berlin Philharmonie; his debut at
the Teatro Municipal in Santiago, Chile, performing the Bruch Violin
Concerto; a recital during the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Musikfestival
in Germany as part of the "Junge Elite" concert series; appearances
with the Seoul Philharmonic, the Vienna Tonkunstler Orchestra at the
Musikverein, and the Vancouver Symphony; and recitals in the United
States and Russia. In addition, his much anticipated debut recording
of the Prokofiev Sonatas for Violin and Piano, recorded with Grammy
Award-winning producer Adam Abeshouse, will be released in 2008.

Mr. Simonyan continues to work with Victor Danchenko in the United
States and now lives in Philadelphia. He performs on a Zygmuntowicz
violin. He is managed worldwide by Tanja Dorn at IMG Artists. —