Beethoven. Violin Sonatas

Russian violinist Aylen Pritchin has, in recent years, firmly established himself as one of the most interesting and versatile young rising stars of the international concert stage. 

Born in Saint Petersburg, Aylen studied with Pr. Elena Zaitseva in his hometown and at the prestigious Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow, where he studied with Pr. Eduard Grach. In 2014, Aylen was awarded First Prize at the Long-Thibaud International Violin Competition. He was a former major prize winner at the Wieniawski, Tchaikovsky, Sion-Valais, Kreisler and Oistrakh International Violin Competitions.

His career has led him to perform in Russia and abroad, including Switzerland, Netherlands, Italy, Israel, Poland, Belgium, Bulgaria, Sweden, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Vietnam and Japan; In such prestigious venues as the Vienna Konzerthaus, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Stockholm Musikaliska, Salzburg Mozarteum, Tchaikovsky Conservatory Hall in Moscow and the Champs-Elysées Theatre in Paris. 

His recent orchestral solo performances included the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, MusicAeterna Orchestra, Orchestre National de Lille, Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire, Russian National Philharmonic Orchestra, Poznan Philharmonic Orchestra, the Svetlanov Symphony Orchestra, Tatarstan National Orchestra or I Pomeriggi Orchestra among others. 

He performs under the baton of prestigious conductors such as Teodor Currentzis, Maxim Emelyanychev, Cornelius Meister, Mikhail Gerts, Valentin Uryupin, Yuri Simonov, Dorian Wilson, Shlomo Mintz and Roberto Benzi. Aylen also enjoys playing chamber music regularly with such artists as: Maxim Emelyanychev, Lukas Geniusas, Yury Favorin, Alexander Melnikov, Maxim Rysanov, Vladimir Mendelssohn or David Geringas. 

Highlights of the 2020/21 season featured him with Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra/Vladimir Fedosseiev (Elgar), Orquesta Filarmonica de Gran Canaria /Maxim Emelyanychev (Schnittke 2), Toulouse Orchestre National du Capitole/Maxim Emelyanychev (Prokofiev 2), Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra / M.Bakauskas, Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra/Y.Simonov (Mendelssohn), Scottish Chamber Orchestra/Maxim Emelyanychev (Brahms). 

The 2019/20 season included his return to the Svetlanov Symphony Orchestra with the Dvorak violin concerto, a collaboration with the Omsk Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Dmitry Vasilyev as part of the Siberian Symphony Orchestra Festival, a tour in Germany with the Russian State Chamber Orchestra and conductor Alexei Utkin (Cologne and Wablingen) and a Japan’s tour in which he plays with the Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra under Christian Arming and the Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra under Michiyoshi Inoue. Among Aylen’s major recital dates in the 2019/20 season is La Folle Journée in Nantes. 

The 2018/19 season saw Aylen touring with Teodor Currentzis and the MusicAeterna Orchestra with the Tchaikovsky’s violin concerto, in Russia and Japan, as well as being a guest soloist of the Svetlanov Symphony Orchestra performing the Korngold’s violin concerto in Moscow. The concert was broadcasted live on Internet. He made his debut with the Transilvania Philharmonic Orchestra in Cluj (Romania) and with the Cannes Orchestra in France under the baton of maestro Roberto Forés-Veses. In April 2019 Aylen Pritchin made his recital debut in Vancouver and Toronto (Canada) together with his duo partner pianist Lukas Geniusas. In chamber music, Aylen performs at the Hamburg Elbphilharmonie and collaborates with his music partners Lukas Geniusas and Yuri Favorin, as well as conductor and pianist Maxim Emelyanychev. 

In December 2017 the Russian label Melodiya published Aylen Pritchin’s third album with Prokofiev´s works for violin and piano with Yury Favorin. Two other albums include Russian music for violin (Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky, Desyatnikov) and works for piano trio with Lukas Geniušas and Alexander Buzlov. In August 2019, the label Ad Vitam Records released his latest cd dedicated to solo violin music with some of the most important and significant of the 20th century, including the first edition ever of Tema con 8 variazioni by the composer Jean Françaix. 

Aylen Pritchin and Maxim Emelyanychev’s latest album, dedicated to Brahms Violin Sonatas was released by Aparté in 2021.

Russian-Lithuanian pianist Lukas Geniušas has firmly established himself as one of the most exciting and distinctive artists of his generation. 

Praised for his ‘brilliance and maturity’ (The Guardian) he is invited to give recitals in the most prestigious venues all over the world such as the Wigmore Hall, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Salle Gaveau, Louvre Auditorium, Frick Collection New York, Phillips Collection, Teatro Carlo Felice, Sala Verdi in Milan and the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory. He is also regularly invited to festivals including La Roque d’Anthéron, Piano aux Jacobins, Rheingau, the Ruhr Piano Festival, Schloss-Elmau and the Lockenhaus Music Festivals.

Lukas Geniušas performs with numerous orchestras including Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra, National de Lyon Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Stavanger Symphony, St Petersburg Philharmonic, Kremerata Baltica, Russian National Orchestra, Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, Toronto Symphony, Warsaw Philharmonic under the batons of conductors such as Valery Gergiev, Mikhail Pletnev, Leondard Slatkin, Charles Dutoit, Andrey Boreyko, Tugan Sokhiev, Saulius Sondeckis, Antoni Wit and Rafael Payare to name but a few. Recent highlights included Lukas’ debuts at the prestigious Gilmore Keyboard Festival and recitals at the Salle Gaveau, Auditorium de Lyon, as well as concerts with the St Gallen Symphony Orchestra, Bulgarian National Symphony Orchestra and the Aalborg Symphony Orchestra. 

The 2020/21 season began with performances in Paris with Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Orchestre de Paris. Lukas gave many performances in Russia, notably at the Moscow, St Petersburg and Novosibirsk Philharmonies, the National Philharmonic Hall in Warsaw and at the Nohant Chopin Festival. Highlights of 2021/22 include performances with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Maxim Emelyanchev, Royal Northern Sinfonia and Marta Gardolinska, the Aalborg Symphony Orchestra and Andris Poga, a tour with the Flanders Symphony Orchestra and Kristiina Poska, recitals at the Piano à Lyon series, the Folle journée de Nantes and for the Sociedad Filarmónica de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Later in the season, he gives concerts with the soprano Asmik Grigorian in some of Europe’s most prestigious halls including the Geneva and Frankfurt Opera houses, the Laeiszhalle Hamburg and La Scala Milan. 

Known for his innate curiosity and extensive musical interests, Lukas Geniušas explores a wide range of repertoire, from the baroque to works by contemporary composers. His repertoire spans from Beethoven Piano Concerti through to Hindemith’s Ludus Tonalis and John Adams, as well as a strong interest in Russian repertoire such as Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov and, of course, Prokofiev. He is an avid chamber musician and an extremely inquisitive performer and enjoys working on new works by modern composers, as well as resurrecting rarely performed repertoire. 

These aspects of his career are reflected in Lukas Geniušas’ critically acclaimed discography, which includes works by Beethoven, Brahms, Rachmaninov (the complete Preludes); Chopin (Etudes opus 10 and 25), and recordings of chamber music (Ravel, Stravinsky, Desyatnikov, Shostakovich and Tchaïkovsky with Aylen Pritchin and Alexander Buzlov for Melodiya. His first recording on MIRARE Prokofiev Sonatas was awarded the ‘Choc’ de Classica and the Diapason ‘Recital CD of the Year’ in 2019, whilst his second CD for the same label, dedicated to Chopin (Sonata no. 3 and a selection of Mazurkas) was released digitally in May 2020. 

Born in Moscow in 1990, Lukas Geniušas graduated from the Chopin Music College Moscow, in 2008. He is the laureate of several prestigious international competitions, notably Silver Medalist at the 2015 Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow and at the 2010 International Chopin competition. 

Since 2015, Lukas Geniušas has been a featured artist of "Looking at the stars" a philanthropy project based in Toronto, whose purpose is to bring classical music to institutions and organizations (prisons, hospitals and shelters) where people may not have an opportunity to experience it live in a traditional setting.