Macedonian Philharmonic kicks off 2018 season with Russian wunderkind Daniel Kharitonov


The Macedonian Philharmonic will launch the 2018 concert season with a performance dubbed 'Laureates'. The concert, slated for January 18, will be conducted by Russian conductor, Daniel Raiskin with Russian pianist, the wunderkind Daniel Kharitonov performing as soloist.

Born in 1998, Kharitonov was the youngest competitor in the piano division of the prestigious XV International Tchaikovsky Competition held in June 2015, and won the Third Prize and Bronze Medal. He was 16 and a half years old and in the 10th grade of high school at the time of winning, which made him the youngest piano laureate in the history of the International Tchaikovsky Competition after Grigory Sokolov. He was also the Grand Prix winner of the 1st Vladimir Krainev Moscow International Piano Competition (2015). Kharitonov studies at the Central Music School of Moscow Conservatory with Professor Valery Piasetsky.

In Skopje, Kharitonov will play Franz Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 1, Antonín Dvořák's the concert overture Carnival and Jean Sibelius' Symphony No. 2.

This year's concert season of the Macedonian Philharmonic will feature a myriad of symphonic concerts with leading soloists and conductors, who will perform 'serious, complex, yet attractive and inspirational pieces.' It includes the concert 'Mozart's Complications' with conductor  MichaÅ‚ Nesterowicz at the helm (Jan. 25), followed by 'Apotheosis' on Jan. 31, which will be conducted by Borjan Canev with violinist Roman Simovic as soloist.

Following its tradition, the Macedonian Philharmonic on Valentine's Day is preparing an extraordinary musical treat. Namely, the orchestra will perform a concert dubbed 'Murder Ballads' of compositions by Leonard Cohen, Nick Cave, Portishead, Thom York, Bjork, Nancy Sinatra, Johnny Cash, etc. On Feb. 22 the concert 'Vocal Magic' is scheduled with the conductor Emil Tabakov. 'Female Tales' is the name of the concert being prepared on March 8 with maestra Elena Mitrevska as conductor.

The 2018 season will offer a platform for promotion of Macedonian musicians, such as Zdravko Angelov (clarinet), Aleksandar Ivanov (violinist), Gjorgi Damcevski (violinist) and Anna and Oleg Kondratenko (violinists).

Furthermore, the Macedonian Philharmonic in 2018 joins observations of the 100th birth anniversary of American composer Leonard Bernstein with a concert on March 29.

The Macedonian Philharmonic continues to organize children's symphonic concerts and chamber concerts, it said in a statement Wednesday.

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