Maxim Mogilovsky and Svetlana Smolina to Offer Faculty and Guest Recital of Solo and Duet Works Entitled "Almost All American," on Saturday, April 29, 6:30 P.M. in Warner Concert Hall at 6:30 p.m. Story by Emily Manzo
	THE PROGRAM Sonata (1918), by Charles Tomlinson Griffes (1884-1920) • Feroce • Molto tranquillo • Allegro Vivace Svetlana Smolina Ballade, Op. 46 (1977) Samuel Barber (1910-1981) (Commissioned by the Van Cliburn Foundation) Maxim Mogilevsky Souvenirs, Op. 28, by Barber • Waltz • Pas-de deux • Two-Step • Schottische • Galop • Hesitation Tango Svetlana Smolina, Maxim Mogilevsky, piano four hands PAUSE Suite from the Ballet Firebird,by Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) • Danse Infernale de Tous les Sujets de Kastchei • Berceuse (L'Oiseau de Feu) (Concert transcription for piano by Svetlana Smolina) • Reveil de Kastchei • Mort de Kastchei • Profond Tenebres • Disparition du Palais et des Sortilieges de Kastchei, Animation des Chevaliers Petrifies, Allegresse Generale Svetlana Smolina Concerto per due pianoforti soli (1935), by Stravinsky • Con moto • Notturno • Quattro Variazioni • Preludio e Fuga Svetlana Smolina, Maxim Mogilevsky El Salon Mexico, by Aaron Copland/Leonard Bernstein (1900-1990)/(1918-1990) Maxim Mogilevsky RELATED About the Artists		Maxim Mogilovsky, visiting assistant instructor of piano, and his wife, pianist Svetlana Smolina will offer a concert of solo and duet works by Griffes, Barber, Stravinsky and Copland this Saturday, April 29, in Warner Concert Hall at 6:30 p.m. The concert is free and open to the public. Mogilevsky and Smolina find "the idea of juxtaposing Russian and American music fascinating" and have chosen to call the concert and evening of "Almost All American Music." Although the only non-American name on the program is Igor Stravinsky, they believe that the program includes pieces that have Russian/American connections, even to the extent that each American composer has a Russian counterpart. "Russian and American music are like sponges," says Smolina. "It's hard to define one American style, or one Russian style, they have gathered so many influences from so many places." Smolina, who will begin the program with Charles T. Griffes' Sonata (1918), has discovered much in common between the works of Griffes (1845-1920) and Russian composer Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915). "The Griffes Sonata is a very dark piece," says Smolina. "And like Scriabin, Griffes creates with his music something very spiritual, something that is not grounded anywhere. It is in that space," Smolina makes hand gestures as if trying to find the space, "that is neither here, nor there." The Sonata was written only a year after Griffes' orchestral work inspired by a Samuel Taylor Coleridge poem, 'The Pleasure Dome.' Griffes was by all means interested in ethereal settings." The program will continue with Samuel Barber's Ballade Op. 46 (written in 1977; commissioned by the Van Cliburn Foundation) to be performed by Mogilevsky, and Barber's Souvenirs Op.28 for piano four-hands, to be performed by both husband and wife. Souvenirs is divided into six movements, entitled "Waltz," "Pas-de deux," "Two-Step," "Schottische," "Galop," and "Hesitation Tango." Mogilevsky feels that the music of Barber (b.1910) is comparable to the music of Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943). "Take the Barber Sonata, Op. 26, for example. That piece has such a dark character, like Rachmaninoff. The way that Barber and Rachmaninoff write for the piano is also very similar," says Mogilevsky. The next portion of the program will include two works by Stravinsky (1882-1971), beginning with Smolina's performance of her own transcription for solo piano of the Suite from the Ballet, "Firebird"(1919). Stravinsky, although Russian- born, spent most of his life in the United States. His music straddles two nationalities, and an earlier work like "Firebird" is exemplary of his more Russian characteristics. Mogilevsky and Smolina will perform next on the program the Concerto per due Pianoforte Soli (1935), a piece that reveals Stravinsky's "American" influences, in both his rhythm and harmonic language. Mogilevsky will end the concert with the Oberlin premiere of a Bernstein arrangement of Copland's "El Salon Mexico," written originally for orchestra. Since Bernstein and Copland's deaths in 1990, their music has been in the process of being published posthumously, and this transcription is a recent acquisition to the repertoire. At Home in Academia Mogilevsky feels quite at home in academia. For spring semester 2000, Mogilevsky has replaced associate professor of piano Monique Duphil during her sabbatical, and has been invited to Oberlin several times before by associate professors of piano Sedmara Rutstein and Lydia Frumkin. He feels that it is necessary, as a teacher, to give to his students "more about life, and how to live," along with musical instruction. Mogilevsky's father, Yevengy teaches at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Brussels, Belgium, and was Smolina's teacher during her studies there. The couple's musical paths are intertwined again, as Smolina is finishing her Masters of Music degree at Indiana University with Mogilevsky's former teacher, Alexander Toradze. Mogilevsky and Smolina believe that "Oberlin is one of the finest institutions in the world, and the energy here is so contagious. It's like every one moves at turbo speed!" Summer Engagements Despite their youth, Mogilevsky, 32, and Smolina, 22, are by no means new to the concert world. They both look forward to a blockbuster summer with concert engagements at festivals in St. Petersburg, France, Israel and the Settimani musicali di Stresa e Lago Maggiore in Stresa, Italy, with Rostropovich and Y. Bashmet, to name a few. Their first performance will be at the "White Nights Festival" under Valery Gergiev and his famed Kirov Opera House on June 21, 2000. The duo will deliver a demanding program including Rachmaninoff's Opus 15 (six songs for a piano and mixed choir) and Suite Opus 17 No. 2 for two pianos solo, Bartok's Sonata for two pianos and percussion. This program will end with Stravinsky's "Les Noces" for four pianos, four soloists, percussion and mixed choir, for which Mogilevsky and Smolina will be joined by Mogilovsky's parents, Yevgeny and Olga Mogilevsky, both professors at the Royal Brussels Conservatory of Music in Brussels, Belgium.
			Back to the Backstage Pass