Sunday, August 18, 2019

Alexandra Dovgan, piano

The very day I arrived in Salzburg there was a very special concert by Alexandra Dovgan (sadly, too early for me to attend). Special for a couple of reasons: one was that Grigory Sokolov, who was playing the next night, endorsed her talents, which I have never heard him do before; and second, she was born in 2007 which makes her twelve years old. Here is the Salzburger Festspiel writeup.


And here is what Sokolov had to say:
‘This is one of those rare occasions. The twelve-year-old pianist Alexandra Dovgan can hardly be called a wonder child, for while this is a wonder, it is not child’s play. What one hears is a performance by a grown up individual and a person. It is a special pleasure for me to commend the art of her remarkable music teacher, Mira Marchenko. Yet there are things that cannot be taught and learned. Alexandra Dovgan’s talent is exceptionally harmonious. Her playing is honest and concentrated. I predict a great future for her…’
Grigory Sokolov
In December of last year she played a Mozart concerto in a regular season concert with the Moscow Philharmonic. Here, have a listen:

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2 comments:

  1. Marc in EugeneAugust 18, 2019 at 11:07 PM

    I missed entirely the fact that she had performed at Salzburg; that's pretty amusing. The Sokolov Facebook people will have known but I simply presumed that they were excited over the Kommersant interview (because 'Sokolov doesn't do interviews').

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  2. Bryan TownsendAugust 19, 2019 at 7:02 AM

    I saw some notice about Dovgan beforehand, but I didn't pay a lot of attention to it. If I had arrived a day earlier I could have attended. Tickets were free, but you had to apply. They were available from July 6, so they may have all been claimed. The concert, in the Grosser Saal, was co-sponsored by Sokolov and the Salzburg Festival.

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