Pianist Rokas & 2017 CMF Artist Valuntonis Thursday 2nd May 2019, 7.30pm The Priory Church of St Bartholomew the Great Thank you for coming to this evening’s recital – to enjoy this spectacular church, and s u p p o r t C i t y M u s i c F o u n d a t i o n A r t i s t , p i a n is t R o k a s V a l u n t o n i s . CMF’s mission is ‘turning talent into success’. We select exceptional professional musicians at the start of their careers when managing ‘the business of music’ can be a challenge, and support them with a comprehensive career development programme. We arrange mentoring, run workshops, do agency and management, make CDs, videos and websites, commission new music, secure airtime on BBC Radio 3 and promotion though online, print and social media, and put on our own recitals and concerts. CMF Alumni tell us of the many ways CMF has helped them during those very fragile early stages of their professional careers. Getting the necessary visibility, and developing networks, gaining recognition in the industry, having recordings – all this has allowed them to secure their careers as performers. Our aim is that CMF Artists are ready for four decades or more of contributing to society’s culture and wellbeing – reaching hundreds of thousands through live performance, CDs, streaming, broadcast, teaching and mentoring – giving back a thousandfold what CMF has given them. If you'd like to support our work you can donate online (cafdonate.cafonline.org/7944) or by cheque (post to: Church House, Cloth Fair, London EC1A 7JQ). Upcoming Events Wednesday 15th May 1pm Tom Millar Quartet FREE Barts Pathology Museum Tom Millar (2018 CMF Artist) brings his celebrated Tom Millar Quartet to Barts Pathology Museum for a lunchtime performance of original tunes and jazz standards. Weekend of 18th-19th May Sound Unbound 2019 FREE Various including St Bartholomew the Less City Music Foundation is partnering with Barbican and Culture Mile for Sound Unbound, a free music festival taking place in the City of London. Five CMF Artists will be performing in venues including Piano Smithfield, The Charterhouse, and St Bartholomew the Less. Rokas Valuntonis, piano 2017 CMF Artist P raised for his “liquidity of sound” and “devilish performances”, Lithuanian pianist Rokas V aluntonis has drawn admiration for his imaginative interpretations and striking virtuosity. A laureate of more than 20 international competitions, Rokas won First Prize at the 2018 Campillos International Piano Competition (Spain) and previous victories include both the International Music Competition “Societa Umanitaria” (Italy) and the Nordic Piano Competition (Sweden). He has performed all over Europe, including Denmark, Finland, France, and Portugal, in venues such as Milton Court (Barbican Centre), La Sala Verdi, The Wallace Collection, Lithuanian National Philharmonic Hall, and La Sala Casella Accademia Filarmonica Romana. Rokas has also performed with the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, Lund Symphony Orchestra, St Christopher Chamber Orchestra, Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, and Panevėžys Chamber Orchestra. Growing up in Lithuania, Rokas studied at the Lithuanian Music and Theatre Academy under Aleksandra Zvirblyte, before attending the Sibelius Academy (Finland), followed by studies with Eugen Indjic in Paris. He is currently completing an Artist Diploma at Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. For his many achievements, Valuntonis has been honoured with the prestigious Queen Morta Award and acknowledgements by two Lithuanian Presidents. rokasvaluntonis.com @RValuntonis Programme Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840 – 1893) Dumka in C minor, Op. 59 Fryderyk Chopin (1810 – 1849) Four Mazurkas, Op. 6 No. 1 in F sharp minor No. 2 in C sharp minor No. 3 in E major No. 4 in E flat minor Robert Schumann (1810 – 1856) Etudes symphoniques, Op. 13 Interval Aleksandr Scriabin (1872 – 1915) Piano Sonata No. 2 in G sharp minor 'Sonata-Fantasy', Op. 19 I. Andante II. Presto Domenico Scarlatti (1685 – 1757) Sonata in C major, K487 Sonata in G minor, K8 Sonata in G major, K79 Claude Debussy (1862 – 1918) Images, Book 1 I. Reflets dans l'eau II. Hommage à Rameau III. Mouvement Franz Liszt (1811 – 1886) Mephisto Waltz No.1 'The Dance in the Village Inn' Tchaikovsky Dumka in C minor, Op. 59 S u b t i t l e d ‘ R u s s i a n R u s t ic S c e n e ', D u m k a , O p . 5 9 was written in Maydanovo, a village in the Moscow area where Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky rented a house from 1885-88. Other w o r k s c o m p le t e d t h e r e i n c l u d e T h e N u t c r a c k e r , h i s l a s t o p e r a I o l a n t a , a n d t h e Manfred S y m p h o n y . In letters written to the work’s French commissioner, Tchaikovsky refers to the p iece as a "rhapsody", but ‘dumka’ is a Ukranian musical term usually given to a song w it h a m e l a n c h o l i c c h a r a c t e r . L i k e t h e d u m k a s o f D v o r a k ’ s m o r e f a m o u s ‘ D u m k y ’ P i a n o T r i o N o . 4 , Tchaikovsky’s impassioned piano work contrasts doleful music with an ebullient and bucolic central section. Tchaikovsky achieves a feeling of melancholy through pointed dissonances and spread chords, invoking a story-teller’s lute or guitar. C hopin Four Mazurkas, Op. 6 Although 'Frédéric' Chopin became the darling of Paris and a French citizen, he spent the first 20 years of his life as Fryderyk in Poland. Chopin left for good in November 1830 and headed to Vienna just before the 'November Uprising' (a native rebellion against the Russian Empire) consumed his home of Warsaw. Chopin wanted to return and fight, but he was dissuaded. After Warsaw had been captured, Chopin noted in his diary, ‘And I sit here idle, and I sit here with bare hands, sometimes just groaning, grieving at the piano, in despair’. It was during his eight-month stay in Vienna that he wrote his first Mazurkas; how fitting that he should write music inspired by a Polish dance during a time of such deep homesickness. However, Chopin wasn't writing folk music: he had created a new genre. Schumann Etudes symphoniques, Op. 13 U n l i k e m a n y o f R o b e r t S c h u m a n n ’ s p ia n o w o r k s – C a r n a v a l, D a v id s b ü n d l e r t ä n z e , and P a p il l o n s , f o r e x a m p l e – h i s E t u d e s s y m p h o n i q u e s , O p . 1 3 was written without the direct i nspiration of the usual complex literary subtext, musical cryptograms, or his erstwhile love f or Clara Wieck; but a personal story nevertheless surrounds the work. This sequence of s tudies is actually a set of variations on a theme by Baron von Fricken, the guardian of E rnestine von Fricken with whom Schumann fell in love and soon became engaged in 1 834. Despite this, he subsequently broke off the relationship the following year after l earning that she was illegitimate, but perhaps his growing feelings for Clara had s omething to do with his decision. The twelve studies are for the most part faithful to the B aron’s theme, with the addition of a quotation from an opera by Heinrich Marschner ( b a s e d o n S i r W a l t e r S c o t t ’ s I v a n h o e ) in the finale, perhaps a nod to the nationality of the work’s dedicatee: the English pianist and composer, William Sterndale Bennett. S criabin Piano Sonata No. 2 in G sharp minor 'Sonata-Fantasy', Op. 19 Like so many of his fellow Russian composers – Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, and Prokofiev, for example – Aleksandr Scriabin was a composer-pianist. However, he spent much of his youth in the cadet corps and didn’t begin taking formal piano lessons until he was 14, the same age at which he was badly hurt in a collision involving a horse-drawn vehicle, an accident which often led to repetitive strain injury in his right arm. Begun in 1892 (the year Scriabin graduated from the Moscow Conservatory), but not completed until after h i s f i r s t m a r r ia g e in 1 8 9 7 , t h e S o n a t a is accompanied by a short programme: "The first part evokes the calm of a night by the seashore in the South; in the development we hear the sombre agitation of the depths. The section in E major represents the tender moonlight which comes after the first dark of the night. The second movement, presto, shows the stormy agitation of the vast expanse of ocean." S carlatti Sonata in C major, K487; Sonata in G minor, K8; Sonata in G major, K79 To play the complete Keyboard Sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti – some 555 in all – in one sitting would take roughly 34 hours.