The Israeli pianist, composer and improviser Leonid Ptashka, nicknamed ‘piano wrecker’, appeared within the third international Jewish music festival in Kazan. New Music chamber orchestra conducted by Anna Gulishambarova performed opposite him, Tatar-inform reports.
The concert began with festival’s artistic director Eduard Tumansky and the first secretary of Israeli Embassy to Russia Elena Lagutina making welcoming remarks. “This is not just a series of concerts, it is a united act that we all are part to,” the diplomat noted. The performers then went onstage.
In the beginning of the concert, Ptashka’s own composition and works by other Israeli composers were played, after which Kazan audience could hear music by George Gershwin and The Beatles. The listeners could not help it but be captivated by maestro’s fast-paced and expressive manner. The concert lasted nearly two hours.
Throughout the concert, Leonid Ptashka was in constant contact with the house. It is not his first visit to Kazan, but he performed alongside a symphony orchestra for the first time. According to the artiste, the audience of Tatarstan capital is amazing and his stay in the city has been very pleasant, since its both architecture and representatives of the fair sex are beautiful.
Besides the concert at Grand Concert Hall, guests from Georgia, a Mzkheta quartet, played at the Joy Of All Who Sorrow icon’s church in Sviyazhsk on Saturday. In the evening, the Jewish music festival’s day two concluded at other two sites in Kazan.
Russkiy Mir Foundation Information Service
