Etsuko Hirose, Chœur Philharmonique d' Ekaterinbourg & Andrei Petrenko
Biography Etsuko Hirose, Chœur Philharmonique d' Ekaterinbourg & Andrei Petrenko
Etsuko Hirose
Born in Nagoya in Japan, Etsuko Hirose began studying the piano at the age of three. When she was only six she performed Mozart’s Piano Concerto no.26 with orchestra. After pursuing her studies at the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris and at the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris in the class of Bruno Rigutto and Nicholas Angelich, she has received the guidance of Alfred Brendel, Marie-Francoise Bucquet and Jorge Chamine.
A prizewinner at prestigious international contests such as the Frederic Chopin Competition for young pianists (Moscow), the G. B. Viotti and the Munich ARD Competition, she won First Prize at the Martha Argerich Competition in 1999, which launched her solo career.
She is a guest at such renowned venues as the Herkulessaal in Munich, Kennedy Center in Washington, Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, and Suntory Hall and Orchard Hall in Tokyo, and has been accompanied by leading orchestras including the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional Argentina, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra Nazionale della RAI Torino, Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, Synfonia Varsovia, Warsaw National Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra and Ural Philharmonic Orchestra, under the direction of such conductors as Charles Dutoit, Marcello Viotti, Pedro I. Calderon, Dmitri Liss, Jacek Kaspszyk, Augustin Dumay, Faycal Karoui etc.
She has also been invited to appear at many festivals, including La Roque d’Antheron, La Folle Journée in Nantes, Tokyo, Warsaw, Ekaterinbourg and Bilbao; the Chopin Festival at Bagatelle, Nohant and in Poland; the Martha Argerich Festival in Japan, Taiwan and Italy; the Festival Radio Classique at L’Olympia in Paris, Lisztomanias, Mozartfest Würzburg, Brussels Piano Festival, Rhodes International Festival, Festival of Piano Rarities in Husum, Festival des Forêts, Festival Piano-Pic, Festival Berlioz and the Festival das Artes in Coimbra (Portugal).
Her performances are regularly broadcast, notably on Arte, France 3, France Musique, Radio Classique, and the NHK.
She has recorded numerous discs for Denon, Mirare, Warner and Piano21. Her two most recent recordings were devoted to Lyapunov, with 12 Etudes d’exécution transcendante, and an album of piano duets with Cyprien Katsaris.
Andrei Petrenko
Prize-winner at the II Competition of Russian Conductors (1988).
Graduated from the St Petersburg State Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatoire, specialising in choral conducting and opera and symphony conducting.
From 1981-1988 was a conductor with the Musical Comedy Theatre.
Taught choral and symphony conducting at the St Petersburg State Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatoire from 1989-2000 as well as running international master classes.
From 1990-1996 directed the Conservatoire Chamber Chorus (1st prize at the International Competition in Hajnowka, Poland, 1993). From 1994-1996 directed the Chamber Chorus of Smolny Cathedral, St Petersburg, and from 1996-2000 was a guest conductor with the St Petersburg Congress Orchestra. Has toured with St Petersburg choruses, ballet companies and symphony orchestras to more than twenty countries.
Has staged opera productions in Finland (Gounod?s Faust in Pori) and Estonia (Paisiello's Il barbiere di Siviglia).
Principal Chorus Master at the Mariinsky Theatre since 2000. At the Mariinsky Theatre he has conducted performances of Eugene Onegin, La traviata, Samson et Dalila and Don Pasquale (in concert).
Has toured abroad with soloists of the Mariinsky Academy of Young Singers (performances of Le nozze di Figaro and Il barbiere di Siviglia).
Under the direction of Andrei Petrenko, the Mariinsky Theatre Chorus has performed programmes a cappella in St Petersburg, Moscow, Helsinki, Bern and London.
Choeur Philharmonique d’Ekaterinbourg
Based in Yekaterinburg, the Yekaterinburg Philharmonic Choir was created in 2008 with the aim of collaborating with, and enriching the repertoire of the Ural Philharmonic Orchestra.
First led by Vera Davydova, the ensemble has been under the direction of Andrei Petrenko since 2015. The choir’s extensive repertoire has included many major classical works as well as more contemporary creations; the Requiems by Mozart, Verdi, Fauré, Berlioz, Schnittke and Silverstrov, as well as The Bells, Vespers and the Liturgy of St John Chrysostom by Rachmaninoff, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, Britten’s Spring Symphony, Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms, The Cantata for the 20th Anniversary of Prokofiev’s October Revolution, Missa Oecumenica by Gretchaninov, Olga Victorova’s oratorio Exodus, Carmina Burana by Carl Orff, and works by Sviridov and Gavrilin.
Since its creation, the choir has collaborated with prestigious conductors including Dmitry Kitaenko, Kristof Penderecki, Valeriy Gergiev, Jean-Claude Casadesus, Dmitri Liss, Evgeny Brazhnik, Andrey Boreiko and Alexander Vedernikov.
Invited to major stages and festivals across Russia including Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, the Mariinsky Theater, Isaak Cathedral in St. Petersburg, Moscow Easter Festival, and Yaroslavl Festival, the choir is particularly involved in cultural projects in their home city of Yekaterinburg, where they perform at Eurasia Festival and Folle Journee Festival Yekaterinburg. Lauded also in France, Germany, Denmark, and China, the choir has been the guest of many festivals including the Bachfest in Leipzig, La Folle Journée de Nantes (where the concert was broadcast live on ARTE), La Folle Journee Japan, Festival du Rivage des voix in Saint-Florent-le-Vieil and Festival Via Aeterna. They have also performs on prestigious international stages such as the Salle Pleyel in Paris and the Beethoven Hall in Bonn.
