GEORGIA ON MY MIND: Kancheli + Piazzola
Julian Milkis and Sima Kustanovich in Concert
April 7th, 2017
Algonquin Club of Boston
217 Commonwealth Avenue
Presented with support from Jarred and Amanda Guthrie.
BRAI hosts international jazz and classical clarinet star Julian Milkis, the only living student of Benny Goodman, at the beautiful and historic Algonquin Club, and invites all ticket holders to a reception with wine from Georgia (the country) prior to the concert. The performance will be followed by an after-party for VIP ticket-holders with the musicians and the Ambassador of Georgia.
6:30 pm Reception with Georgian wine - taste the terroir of Georgia
7:15 pm Concert (no intermission)
Giya Kancheli (b. 1935): "Miniatures for Clarinet and Piano" (50 min. suite, 2014)
Select pieces by Astor Piazzola (1921-1992)
8:30 - 10:00 VIP After-party (food and wine included)
Milkis and Sima Kustanovich, one of the Northeast's most sought after pianists, will give the Boston premiere of a major recent composition Giya Kancheli and play selections by Argentinian composer Astor Piazzola, whose music-like Kancheli's-fuses classical and popular music traditions.
The blending of classical and jazz music is a speciality of Milkis and Kustanovich, who frequently share the stage. "The regular collaboration of the two artists imparts a conversational quality to their playing", the Worcester Telegram and Gazette has written of their performances, "Besides musicality, what came across in their playing was personality."
Julian Milkis has garnered worldwide recognition as a dazzling soloist, classical chamber musician, and jazz clarinetist. A student of the iconic Benny Goodman, Milkis stands out as a true "cross-over" artist, and one of the leading practicioners of his instrument.He has performed in solo concert or with orchestras on such prominent stages as New York’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, Salle Pleyel and Salle Gaveau in Paris, Great Halls of the Moscow Conservatory and the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Roy Thomson Hall and Weston Recital Hall in Toronto, and the National Concert Hall in Taipei, Taiwan. In addition to his classical repertoire, he is also leading voice for his instrument in the field of jazz. Mr. Milkis’s performances have been broadcast extensively on radio and television throughout the US, Canada, Europe and Asia. He has recorded for Warners' Classic Lontano, the French Suoni e Colori, Sony's Russian CEAUX, and Russian Melodiya and Russian Season.Learn more about Julian Milkis here>
Sima Kustanovich is one of the Northeast's most sought after pianists. Hailed by the Worcester Telegram & Gazette for the "extraordinary intensity and brilliance of her playing," she has performed in acclaimed international venues, including France's Courchevel Chamber Music Festival, New York City's BargeMusic, Toronto's Royal Conservatory Chamber Music Series, Niagara on the Lake Music Festival, Summit Festival, Sweden's St. Jacob's Cathedral, Hungary's Matthias Cathedral, Prague’s Hlahol and major cities of Russia, Austria, Italy and Estonia. Currently on the faculties of Clark University, where she was appointed Distinguished Artist in 2008, and Walnut Hill School for Performing Arts, she previously had appointments at the St. Petersburg Conservatory and the famed Leningrad Opera and Ballet Theater, where she worked intensively with such luminaries as Mikhail Baryshnikov and Natalia Makarova.
