Rachmaninoff. Beethoven

On February 28, the Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatory hosted a concert featuring stars of the classical music scene, dedicated to the great music of Ludwig van Beethoven and Sergei Rachmaninoff. Performed by a symphony orchestra and talented soloists, winners of top prizes at numerous prestigious competitions — Anastasia Makhamendrikova (piano), Boris Andrianov (cello), and Anna Savkina (violin) — were masterpieces that have become part of the golden treasury of classical music. The program included Rachmaninoff’s Sonata for Cello and Piano, Vocalise for Violin and Piano, and Trio élégiaque in G minor for Piano, Violin and Cello, as well as Beethoven’s Concerto for Violin, Cello and Piano with Orchestra. The concert featured the State Kremlin Orchestra, conducted by one of Russia’s most sought-after young conductors, Konstantin Chudovsky.

Anastasia Makhamendrikova (piano) is a student of the Gnessin Russian Academy of Music and a pupil of renowned pianist Vladimir Ovchinnikov. Her name is well known to classical music lovers — Anastasia has made a strong impression at numerous international and Russian competitions and festivals, including the First International Youth Competition of Classical Solo Performance Nota Bene, the 10th International Tchaikovsky Youth Competition, and the Crystal Heart of the World, Musical Ascent, Grand Prize Virtuoso (United Kingdom), Pietro Argent (Italy), and Alexander Scriabin (France) festivals, among many others. The pianist actively performs in Russia and abroad, having appeared at all major concert venues in Moscow as well as some of the world’s most prestigious halls in the United States, England, France, Belgium, Malta, Italy, Belarus, and Kazakhstan.

Boris Andrianov (cello) is a Honored Artist of Russia (2016) and a professor at the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory. At the age of 16, he became a laureate of the First International Tchaikovsky Youth Competition, and a year later won First Prize and the Grand Prix at a competition in South Africa. He subsequently became a laureate of numerous prestigious competitions, including the First International Dmitri Shostakovich Competition “Classica Nova” in Hanover, the 6th International Mstislav Rostropovich Cello Competition in Paris, and the 11th International Tchaikovsky Competition, where he won Third Prize and a Bronze Medal in 1998. He is the artistic director and creative force behind the nationwide “Generation of Stars” project, the founder and artistic director of the international Vivacello and Vivarte festivals, and the artistic director of the Musical Expedition festival. Since 2005, he has performed on a cello by Domenico Montagnana from the State Collection of Unique Musical Instruments of the Russian Federation.

Anna Savkina (violin) graduated from the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory in 2018, where she studied in Vladimir Ivanov’s class, and subsequently completed a postgraduate performance program under the same professor. She is currently furthering her musical training under Eduard Wulfson in Switzerland. A laureate of numerous international competitions, she has received recognition at the David Oistrakh Moscow International Violin Competition, the Louis Spohr International Young Violinists’ Competition, the Andrea Postacchini International Violin Competition, the Sendai International Music Competition, the Astana Violin Competition, Buchenau Spring, and many others. She actively performs solo concerts in Russia and abroad. She has participated in the Verbier Festival (Switzerland), the International Festival in Colmar (France), the Winter International Arts Festival in Sochi, the Night Serenades festivals (Batumi–Tbilisi), Queen Violin (Chisinau), Crescendo, Stars on Baikal, Moscow Meets Friends, and others. She currently performs on a 1752 Tommaso Balestrieri violin.

Konstantin Chudovsky is a Russian conductor and laureate of the Triumph Youth Award (2011). He is a guest conductor of the Bolshoi Theatre, principal conductor of the Ural Opera Ballet Theatre since 2019, and artistic director and principal conductor of the State Kremlin Orchestra since 2020. He graduated from the Gnessin State Musical College with a degree in choral conducting, studying under Professor V.A. Bogdanovskaya, and from the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory with a degree in opera and symphonic conducting, studying under Professor G.N. Rozhdestvensky. His repertoire includes more than 30 opera and ballet productions, as well as symphonic works.

The State Kremlin Orchestra, founded in 2019, operates under the Administrative Directorate of the President of the Russian Federation. Among the young ensemble’s key missions are participation in official state events and major social and political occasions, as well as the active promotion of Russian classical music.