Online concerts at Hatchlands Park
Yulia Chaplina
Programme:
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
Selected Pieces from The Nutcracker (arr. Pletnev)
Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy; Andante maestoso
Valse, Op. 40, No.8
March, April, May, June, October, December from The Seasons
Méditation, Op. 72, No.5
Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953)
Movements from Romeo & Juliet
Dance of the girls with lilies; Balcony Scene
Sergei Rachmaninov (1873-1943)
Vocalise, Op. 34, No.14
Elégie, Op. 3, No.1
Alexander Scriabin (1871-1915)
Etude, Op. 8, No.12
London-based pianist, Yulia Chaplina, was born in Rostov-on-Don (Russia) and gave her debut performance aged 7, performing Bach’s Keyboard Concerto in F minor with Rostov State Symphony Orchestra. She has won many competitions, including the 2004 Tchaikovsky International Competition for Young Musicians. Yulia holds a degree from the University of Arts (Berlin), a Masters in Music and Fellowship from the Royal College of Music and was described by International Piano Magazine as ‘quintessentially Russian, …… with technical fluency and rich tonal shading’. She has performed as a soloist in many of the world’s finest venues, including Wigmore Hall, Berlin’s Philharmonie, the Grand Halls of the Moscow Conservatory and the St. Petersburg Philharmonia, and Bunka Kaikan Hall in Tokyo.
Yulia’s recent career highlights include curating London Prokofiev Weekend at Southbank Centre, appearances on ‘In Tune’ on BBC Radio 3 and a recital at Rachmaninov Hall, Moscow. Her solo CD of Russian Music, recorded by Champs Hill Records and released worldwide, was described as ‘outstanding’.
https://www.yuliachaplina.com
Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/yuliachaplina/
Twitter @ChaplinaYulia
Yulia is performing on the grand piano by Steinway, New York, c. 1864
(Adopted for 2020 by The Meakin Family)
The piano played by Yulia Chaplina in this recital is the Cobbe Collection’s very early Steinway concert grand piano. In 1853, Steinway had opened their first factory in New York. By 1859 they patented a model of grand piano that combined a cast iron frame such as had been employed by Chickering of Chicago, with the innovation of ‘overstringing’, in which, for the first time in a grand, the bass strings cross over the tenor region. This makes it possible for the tenor strings to be closer to their optimum lengths while the bass strings have a more favourable position on the soundboard,
resulting in a powerfully enhanced sonority. The new overstrung Steinway model won a first rank medal at the London Exhibition of 1862. The makers claimed that each instrument contained, including the screws, 40,000 parts, and that each one took a year to make.
The Cobbe Collection instrument dates from 1864, and is basically the 1859 model with a few action improvements. Its case is of richly figured rosewood and its soundboard is gilded – an expensive model that would have been priced at $1300, equivalent to £31000 of today’s money. Many would claim that with this model Steinway created, in effect, the modern piano. On the experience of playing on it Yulia says “It was a pure joy getting to know this wonderful instrument – the action is wonderfully responsive and is in top condition, its tone is sheer delight – so golden and warm, something that many modern pianos lack completely. It’s just simply a privilege and honour to play a recital on this extraordinary Steinway!”
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This concert was kindly sponsored by
Smith & Williamson
Holland Park Opera Gang