Programme:
Part I :
Franz Schubert – Three Military Marches (with Three Military Interludes by Mikhail Shilyaev) – performed by Mikhail Shilyaev and Sasha Grynyuk.
Schubert’s Three Military Marches for four hands (piano) combined with Three Military Interludes by Mikhail Shilyaev explore the “military” character of Schubert’s entertaining music by mixing it with Mikhail’s musical reflections on wartime.
Frank Bridge – Lament – performed by Nikita Demidenko
Lament was written in response to the sinking of the liner RMS Lusitania by a German U-boat on 7 May 1915. The disaster claimed 1,197 civilian lives, including 94 children. Bridge dedicated the work to Catherine Crompton, a child who perished in the tragedy together with her entire family.
Edward Tait – Ashes Beneath the Ice – performed by Edward Tait and Ivanna Oliinyk
Ashes Beneath the Ice is an abstract meditation on stillness in the aftermath of war, where the violence has passed but its presence is maintained beneath ice. It is scored for cello and piano, unfolding sparsely and in a very restrained way.
Gustav Holst – Four Songs for Voice and Violin – performed by Eve Kim and Yuri Zhislin
Four Songs for Voice and Violin was written in 1916, shortly before Gustav Holst left England to work with the British YMCA’s music programme for troops stationed in the eastern Mediterranean, where he organised and directed musical activities for soldiers. Setting devotional texts by the seventeenth-century poet George Herbert, the work creates a moment of quiet contemplation and spiritual calm amid the turmoil of wartime Europe.
Part II :
Dmitri Shostakovich – Piano Sonata No.2, Allegretto – performed by Petr Limonov
Piano Sonata No. 2, Op. 61 was composed by Dmitri Shostakovich in 1943 during World War II. At that time the composer was living in evacuation in Kuybyshev, having been relocated from Leningrad during the siege of the city. The sonata was written shortly after the death of his teacher, the pianist Leonid Nikolayev, and is dedicated to his memory.
Igor Vdovin – Sonata for Piano and Violin – performed by Irina Marchuk and Mikhail Shilyaev
The piece for violin and piano unfolds a sonic panorama of war — from the fragile human voice to the overwhelming, almost impersonal noise of destruction. Through the contrast between sharp dissonance and rare moments of lyricism, it conveys the scale of a catastrophe in which individual tragedy dissolves into collective chaos.
Alexey Kurbatov – Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 5 – performed by Dina Parakhina and Yuri Torchinsky
Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 5 was composed by Alexey Kurbatov in September 2022 and was the composer’s first work written after leaving Russia in March of the same year. This influenced the musical imagery of the piece, making it especially symbolic that the premiere took place in The Hague at a concert marking the anniversary of the start of the war.
List of performers:
Mikhail Shilyaev, piano — Piano Professor at Trinity Laban Conservatoire. He has performed with Musikkollegium Winterthur, the London Soloists Chamber Orchestra, the Georgian Philharmonic Orchestra and with the Gulbenkian Symphony Orchestra.
Sasha Grynyuk, piano — Artistic Director of the Elgar International Music Festival in Alassio, Italy. Has performed with orchestras such as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Orquestra Sinfônica Brasileira, the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, and the Kyiv Philharmonic Orchestra.
Yuri Zhislin, violin — Professor of violin and viola at the Royal College of Music. He has performed with the Oxford Philharmonic, the BBC Concert Orchestra, the London Mozart Players, the Lithuanian State Symphony and the Santiago de Chile Symphony.
Eve Yuin Kim, voice — Royal College of Music student. She has appeared as a soloist at festivals in Valencia and Perugia, and in Korea has performed under conductor Hun-Joung Lim. She has also performed in recital at the Westminster Parliament hosted by the British Korean Society.
Ivanna Oliinyk, cello — Royal Academy of Music student. She became a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain in 2023 with which she performed in the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall. The same year she participated in the Royal Concertgebouw Young Orchestra programme.
Nikita Demidenko, piano — Royal College of Music student, London Symphony Orchestra scholar. He received the Grand Prix and the “Most Promising Pianist” award at the Golden Piano Talents, London, First Prizes at the Orbetello Piano Competition and the Anatolia International Music Competition in Budapest.
Petr Limonov, piano — Winner of the Nikolai Rubinstein Piano Competition. He has performed at the La Roque d’Anthéron Festival, Belgais Center for Arts, Wigmore Hall, Southbank Centre, Cadogan Hall, Salle Cortot, Kolarac Hall, Romanian Athenaeum, Lerici Music Festival, the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, and has given a solo recital in the Duke’s Hall for His Majesty King Charles III.
Edward Tait, composer and piano — Royal Academy of Music student. He won the NCEM Young Composer Award in 2026. His music has been performed across the United Kingdom, Ireland, and the United States, at venues including the Royal Festival Hall, St John’s Smith Square, and Westminster Abbey.
Dina Parakhina, piano — Piano Professor at the Royal College of Music. Her engagements have included appearances with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra at the Proms, performances with the London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican, the Worthing Symphony Orchestra, and a solo recital at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester.
Yuri Torchinsky, violin — Violin professor at the Royal Northern College of Music. He has worked with conductors including Vladimir Ashkenazy, Yevgeny Svetlanov, Georg Solti, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Mstislav Rostropovich and Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos. Yuri joined the BBC Philharmonic as Leader in 1996.
ChristopherAxworthy-MusicCommentary 