Internationally renowned violinist Anastasia Khitruk will present a very special concert celebrating the 100th birthday of Hungarian composer Miklos Rozsa on Saturday, April 14 – 6:00 PM at the Embassy of Hungary, 2950 Spring of Freedom St., NW in Washington, D.C. Ms. Khitruk will be joined by cellist Emilio Colon, and Nariaki Sugiura. The program, which is the first program of the Rozsa Centenary Project, will be introduced by legendary cellist and friend of Miklos Rozsa, Janos Starker.
This concert is being presented with the sponsorship of Hungarian Ambassador to the U.S. András Simonyi.
Selections on the program include the Allegro non troppo movement from Rozsa\'s Violin Concerto, his Tema con variazioni for violin and cello and Toccata Capricciosa for cello solo, along with works by Kodaly and Bartok.
This concert is free and open to the public however, a free-will donation of $20 is requested. For more information, please call the Embassy of Hungary at 202-362-6730 or visit them online at http://www.huembwas.org/. To schedule an interview with Ambassador Simonyi, please contact Zoltan Feher at zfeher@kum.hu or at 202-364-9506.
The Geers, Gross Agency of New York has announced the launch of the Miklos Rozsa Centenary Project for recording and performing the Hungarian master\'s music, with the lead sponsorship of The Argent Funds Group, LLC and Dr. D. Bruce McMahan, in cooperation with internationally renowned violinist Anastasia Khitruk, the National Christina Foundation, Naxos Records and the Miklos Rozsa Society.
To schedule interviews or for more information about Anastasia Khitruk or the Miklos Rozsa Centenary Project, please contact the Geers, Gross Agency at 212-472-8616 or Jeffrey James Arts Consulting at 516-586-3433 or jamesarts@worldnet.att.net.
Dr. McMahan has said of this project, \"It is crucial to support young performers, so when violinist Anastasia Khitruk said she was working this exciting project I was happy to help.\"
The first recordings on the Naxos label will be of the Violin Concerto Op. 24, the Sinfonia Concertante Op. 29, and the Sonata for solo violin Op. 40. The Concertos will be performed and recorded in Moscow by the Russian Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Dimitry Yablonsky with violinist Anastasia Khitruk and cellist Andrey Tchekmazov. Violinist Philippe Quint will record the solo sonata, also for Naxos, and with William Wolfram, the Duo for violin and piano. There are several recitals in preparation, and plans are underway for a major event in Hollywood at the end of the Centenary year.
John Fitzpatrick of the Miklos Rozsa Society has written, “The Rozsa concertos and other concert scores were introduced by some of the finest artists of the last century—Charles Munch, Bruno Walter, Georg Solti, Jascha Heifetz, János Starker, and many others. Today a new generation is coming to the fore. In particular, I have been impressed by the violinist Anastasia Khitruk. Hearing her play, both on records and in person, I am convinced that she will make a splendid new advocate for the great Rozsa concerto.”
Miklos Rozsa lived a “double life” (as he entitled his autobiography) between the world of Hollywood film scoring and his love of classical music. He won the Academy Award in 1945 for his score for Hitchcock\'s Spellbound (still his most popular work), again in 1947 for A Double Life, and for a third time in 1959 for Ben-Hur, but his classical works do not get the attention they deserve. It is the intention of this project to change that, to build new interest in these wonderful compositions, and to see them performed again worldwide. Since Dr. Rozsa was born in Budapest on April 18th 1907, Ms. Khitruk and her associated artists have decided to use this anniversary as the starting point of their recording and performing project. More about Rozsa at http://www.miklosrozsa.org/.
New York-based Anastasia Khitruk comes from a musical and artistic family. After immigrating to the United States, Ms. Khitruk continued the violin studies she had begun at Moscow\'s Central Music School. Her talent was immediately recognized when she made her orchestral debut at the age of eight. Since then, she has appeared in concert and recital worldwide, including numerous performances in Boston, Los Angeles, New York, Aspen, London, Geneva, Adelaide, Sofia, Paris, and Moscow—where Katerina Birukova of Vremya wrote: \"She sparkles with brilliant violin playing.\" Ms. Khitruk has appeared on television and radio in England, Russia, Germany, the United States, and Australia. Her concert series in Bulgaria, during the prestigious Sofia Music Weeks, was televised and greeted with enthusiasm. In his review of her performance of the Shostakovich Concerto No. 1 at the Adelaide Festival for Real Time, Chris Reid declared, \"Anastasia Khitruk is masterful!\" She has been a prizewinner at numerous competitions in the U.S. and internationally, including the Paganini International Violin Competition. The recent Naxos release, CD 8.570028 “Virtuoso Music at the Court of Catherine the Great” of her performances of the solo violin music of Ivan Khandoshkin has received international acclaim. Visit Anastasia online at http://www.anastasiakhitruk.com.
Dr. D. Bruce McMahan is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Argent Funds Group of Companies and is also the Controlling General Partner and Chief Executive Officer of McMahan Securities Co. L.P and the founder of the National Christina Foundation, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the support of training through donated used technology. Visit the Foundation online at http://www.cristina.org/.