Georgian Piano Master Eliso Virsaladze to Play Schumann with National Symphony
Creatrip Team
3 months ago
On the 6th at the Seoul Arts Center Concert Hall, Georgian pianist Eliso Virsaladze, 83 and a 1962 Tchaikovsky Competition prizewinner, will make his first concerto appearance with a Korean orchestra, performing Schumann’s Piano Concerto (originally sketched in one movement for his wife Clara). The concerto emphasizes lyrical dialogue between piano and orchestra rather than virtuosic display. The second half features Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 11 “The Year 1905,” which musically depicts the tragedy of Bloody Sunday by incorporating revolutionary songs and alternating tense quiet and explosive passages. Conductor Aziz Shokhakimov, a prizewinner at the Gustav Mahler Conducting Competition and recipient of the Karajan Young Conductors Award, leads the National Symphony. The orchestra says the program aims to trace musical voices from individual feeling to collective memory and hopes the two contrasting works will resonate deeply with today’s audience.
